2022 London Election

[MolsonExport]

Former Liberal MPP enters London mayor's race

Former Liberal MPP Khalil Ramal announced on Monday he's running for mayor of London in this fall's civic election.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Former Liberal MPP enters London mayor's race

I don't give this guy much of a chance. He was a 2 term MPP, defeated by Bill Armstrong's wife 11 years ago and other than his failed MP bid trying to ride on Trudeau's coat tails in 2015, he has largely been invisible since. He was also largely invisible in his 8 years in office as well and I lived in his riding for 6 of his 8 years.

[Djeffery]

Mayor Ed Holder has officially endorsed Josh Morgan to be the next Mayor. Been a long time since a mayor chose to not run again without controversy (I don't care what Matt Brown said in 2018, he didn't run because of his affair with Maureen, otherwise he would have ran), so we haven't had an outgoing endorsement for a successor in many years. I don't remember if Diane Haskett endorsed anyone in 2000, although Anne-Marie Cecicco was the only name candidate in that election as far as I recall. I don't think Tom Gosnell endorsed either of his council colleagues in the battle of "Jack and Diane" in 1994 either.

2 weeks left for people to register. Looking like a pretty boring campaign so far. Ward 11 has a couple really popular neighbourhood organizers. Ward 3 has Peter Cuddy, a current schoolboard trustee, and all his opponents so far are named "who?".

Ward 6 could be a good one as it is held by an unelected appointed councillor, Miriam Hamou. She is being challenged by UWO professor Sam Trosow and this is a university area ward and he has a pretty high profile in that community.

The current councilor in 10 hasn't announced his intentions yet, so if he doesn't run, that one is wide open. One of the 2 candidates there so far got 4% of the vote last time.

[ssiguy]

What kind of person is Morgan? Is he just another steady-as-she-goes or more of a visionary?

If only London could get another Jane Bigelow.

[Djeffery]

I would say more steady rather than visionary. He's not going to come out with something like building a boomerang shaped bridge over the forks or anything like that. He's smart as a whip though, and knows his way through the rules of the city. He's not going to give a speech that makes you stand up and cheer. I think he will be able to make things work with all factions on council, where some prior mayors definitely had their group of typical supporters (Fontana 8).

2 weeks left, I don't know who could come along at this point to register to run and be a serious contender. Been 6 weeks since Ramal entered the race and he's done zero, as expected. He's not even being mentioned ahead of the no name candidates in the news when mentioning who is running for mayor. Lack of a mayoral race is going to affect turnout and that could be bad for some of the ward races too.

[ssiguy]

Where does Morgan stand on the West/North BRT?

[CanadianTalk]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Where does Morgan stand on the West/North BRT?

Morgan voted against the west leg of the BRT. He recused himself from voting on the north leg since he worked at Western (same with Helmer).

He did, however, vote in support for the other three BRT routes.

[Djeffery]

He also said recently on the Craig Needles podcast that he was in favour of a west leg that went as far as West 5 but that it needed it's own lanes, not the mixed lane "dog's breakfast" that was the original proposal.

[Spoofy]

.

[ssiguy]

what is West 5 ?

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

what is West 5 ?

The neighbourhood along Oxford St W adjacent to Riverbend. On the map, it would be Oxford to the south, Shore to the north, Kains to the east, and Westdell Bourne to the west.

www.west5.ca

[CanadianTalk]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

what fun would an election be if Steven Orser didn't run lol.

Well... you predicted the future! Lol.

Stephen Orser filed his nomination papers today and is seeking to be elected in Ward 4. Helmer is not seeking re-election (who beat Orser twice), so I hope that there is a strong enough candidate in that ward.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

Well... you predicted the future! Lol.

Stephen Orser filed his nomination papers today and is seeking to be elected in Ward 4. Helmer is not seeking re-election (who beat Orser twice), so I hope that there is a strong enough candidate in that ward.

That's hilarious. I think he's going to win too, barring someone else with a profile entering the race. Tariq Khan looks like a great councilor, he's a CEO, has several City appointments and a Masters Degree. However, not sure all that and that fact he lives on Stoneybrook in ward 5 is going to play well in blue collar ward 4. Which reminds me, did I miss where Maureen Cassidy said she wasn't running? If she isn't running, I wonder why Khan isn't running there?

Still 10 more days to register, I'm surprised another old timer hasn't decided to run again. Bill Armstrong in Ward 2. He was the longest serving councilor before his defeat and he kept an almost Trumpian amount of complaints going regarding Stephen Lewis' victory. So far, Lewis is unopposed.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

Well... you predicted the future! Lol.

Stephen Orser filed his nomination papers today and is seeking to be elected in Ward 4. Helmer is not seeking re-election (who beat Orser twice), so I hope that there is a strong enough candidate in that ward.

Oh God not that tub of lard again.

[CanadianTalk]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Tariq Khan looks like a great councilor, he's a CEO, has several City appointments and a Masters Degree. However, not sure all that and that fact he lives on Stoneybrook in ward 5 is going to play well in blue collar ward 4. Which reminds me, did I miss where Maureen Cassidy said she wasn't running? If she isn't running, I wonder why Khan isn't running there?

Tariq Khan actually withdrew his nomination today. It is definitely strange that he initially applied to run in ward 4 as Stoneybrook is not near the ward boundaries. I wonder if he will re-apply for ward 5.

The LFP article from today (with regards to Orser running) mentions that Cassidy is the only current councillor who is still undecided. Van Meerbergen also hasn't applied yet, but confirmed today to LFP that he still intends to run. IIRC, last election, he waited until the very last day to file. All other current councillors already filed or declared that they will not run in the election, except for Morgan, of course, who is running for mayor.

[Djeffery]

Council is kind of boring now, we can use a little Orser to spice things up lol.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

Van Meerbergen also hasn't applied yet, but confirmed today to LFP that he still intends to run. IIRC, last election, he waited until the very last day to file.

Is there any well-established contender in Ward 10 yet? I remember he played real dirty politics against Ridley to win his seat back, and I don't see her running again.

-----

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Council is kind of boring now, we can use a little Orser to spice things up lol.

Be careful what you wish for.

Jesse Helmer said he was not running to "make space for more diverse voices".

If no major candidate appears to challenge Orser, perhaps he may file again on the last day to keep this turd from winning.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by haljackey

-----



Be careful what you wish for.

Jesse Helmer said he was not running to "make space for more diverse voices".

If no major candidate appears to challenge Orser, perhaps he may file again on the last day to keep this turd from winning.

I wouldn't be surprised if he does get back in the race in order to "take care of unfinished business" etc. I think what he originally meant when he said he wasn't running was "I think my wife has a really good shot at winning election to Queens Park so I don't need this crap".

Yes council is looking pretty diverse. Mo Salih is out, probably going to be replaced by a white man. Mariam Hamou is on a strong race against a white man. If Maureen Cassidy doesn't run, that probably goes to a white man. The black woman from downtown moved to higher office and was replaced with a white man, who is likely pretty safer to be elected. Ward 11 could get a woman, but probably another white man. Ward 7 be the lone person of colour as I think Corrine Rahman is probably the leading candidate out there.

[inimrepus]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Council is kind of boring now, we can use a little Orser to spice things up lol.

I like the idea of a boring council that can just focus on improving the city

[Djeffery]

As I was driving by the old Free Press building I remembered the proposal that Farhi had put out a few years ago. Then I remembered one of the other proponents was Amir Farahi, who operated a couple companies named The London Institute and the infamous Blackridge Strategy. The London Institute was going to be in on the Free Press development, and Blackridge of course was the company behind the smear website that led to the defeat of ward 10 councillor Virginia Ridley last election. I remember Amir was the media darling during the last election and people were putting him forward as being the next mayor. He did run in ward 6 in 2014 and came in 4th with 13% of the vote.

I wonder whatever became of him? I had read he was named in a lawsuit Ridley launched last year. Must have been hard on him the last few years to be out of the public eye and be quiet. Wonder what rock he is hiding under now?