2022 London Election

[MolsonExport]

I hope this knuckle-dragging face-for-radio doesn't throw his hat into the ring.

[Djeffery]

I don't think he will. I think he got that out of his system in 2018 when Doug Ford talked him into running after he lost his radio job. I still follow him on social media and he likes to run around the country or the world chasing whatever conservative story is popular at the time, I don't think city hall suits his new lifestyle.

[Djeffery]

And we are down to 1 ward without an opponent as Ward 12's Elizabeth Peloza now has to pretend to work for re-election. Alex Main ran for mayor in 2014 and got 87 votes, probably mostly from Flesh Gordons strip club where he was a DJ. He registered today, no idea what he does now, and his website is still under construction. Only ward 2 remains with one candidate, incumbent Shawn Lewis.

In Ward 5, still no sign of Maureen Cassidy running for re-election. In ward 10, Paul Van Meerbergen also hasn't registered yet although it's been reported he will. Former councillor Virginia Ridley has endorsed Kevin May, who was a very distant third place in 2018.

One week to go for candidates to register. Will be interesting to see if someone else of significance enters the mayoral race to make it a contest. Still radio silence from Kamil Ramal, the only other mayoral candidate with any public profile.

[CanadianTalk]

Thanks for the updates.

Something I have been thinking about lately is that ward 1 has the most number of candidates registered so far out of the 14 ward races. At this time, there are 9 people registered, including Michael van Holst, the incumbent.

I think it is quite obvious that the majority of the residents of ward 1 here are not pleased with their current representation which is why there are many people registered, but my thinking is that having this many candidates will effectively split the "against van Holst vote", especially if some of them are running on similar platforms, which could lead van Holst to win.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

Thanks for the updates.

Something I have been thinking about lately is that ward 1 has the most number of candidates registered so far out of the 14 ward races. At this time, there are 9 people registered, including Michael van Holst, the incumbent.

I think it is quite obvious that the majority of the residents of ward 1 here are not pleased with their current representation which is why there are many people registered, but my thinking is that having this many candidates will effectively split the "against van Holst vote", especially if some of them are running on similar platforms, which could lead van Holst to win.

I don't think he is in too much danger anyway. He won it on the first ballot last time, and that was also against a former long term councillor in Bud Polhill. There aren't any what I would call strong challengers so far in that group even if there are a bunch of people sick of MVH.

[CanadianTalk]

Ward 2 (currently represented by Shawn Lewis) is now officially a contest. This means that no current councillor will be acclaimed come nomination day on Friday.

https://london.ca/list-candidates

[Djeffery]

And Paul VanMeerbergen is in. Leaves only Maureen Cassidy as the question mark of current councillors.

Also, heard of a little controversy in Ward 14, where candidate Danalynn Williams is accusing Steve Hillier of trying to bully her into dropping out. In a Facebook video, she says she met with him recently where he asked her to drop out. One comment he made was that it's a tough scary neighbourhood and a 6 foot man would be better to get things done.

[CanadianTalk]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Also, heard of a little controversy in Ward 14, where candidate Danalynn Williams is accusing Steve Hillier of trying to bully her into dropping out. In a Facebook video, she says she met with him recently where he asked her to drop out. One comment he made was that it's a tough scary neighbourhood and a 6 foot man would be better to get things done.

LFP article on this meeting between Hillier and Williams: https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...of-coffee-chat

[CanadianTalk]

Final update regarding current councillors seeking re-election:

• Maureen Cassidy (Ward 5) announced this morning that she will not be seeking re-election. Cassidy now joins Mohamed Salih (Ward 3), Jesse Helmer (Ward 4), and Stephen Turner (Ward 11), and Ed Holder (Mayor) who will also not be seeking re-election.
  
  
• Josh Morgan (Ward 7) is seeking to be elected for Mayor.
  
  
• All of the other councillors are seeking to be re-elected; Michael van Holst (Ward 1), Shawn Lewis (Ward 2), Mariam Hamou (Ward 6, appointed after Squire left office), Steve Lehman (Ward 8), Anna Hopkins (Ward 9), Paul van Meerbergen (Ward 10), Elizabeth Peloza (Ward 12), John Fyfe-Millar (Ward 13, appointed after Kayabaga left office), and Steve Hillier (Ward 14)

Nominations close at 2pm today

[Djeffery]

The Aug 19 episode of the Craig Needles Podcast is a good listen regarding how the races look. He ranks them in order of least interesting to most interesting in his opinion.

[CanadianTalk]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

The Aug 19 episode of the Craig Needles Podcast is a good listen regarding how the races look. He ranks them in order of least interesting to most interesting in his opinion.

Thanks. I listened to it and it was a good podcast.

I'm very interested to see what happens in Ward 5, which is my ward. I wish Cassidy were running again, but I respect her choice.

We only have two candidates in Ward 5 (which is the least number of people registered in a ward race without an incumbent). They are Jerry Pribil who was the PC candidate in the recent provincial election for London North Centre, and Connor Pierotti. When I went to Pribil's website, he uses the exact same introductory video he used for his PC MPP campaign, and just swapped out the "MPP" terminology for "councillor". In addition, his website does not say what he plans to campaign on, but of course, the website could be updated as campaign season begins.

I would argue that Pribil is more well-known now since he was on a ballot earlier this year, which could be a big advantage, but I followed Pierotti on Twitter yesterday, and he seems to have a good start so far (website with brief platform, campaign social media accounts, flyers, canvassing with a goal to make it through the entire ward, etc). Looking forward to seeing the outcome of this ward race.

[jaradthescot]

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.

You rang? Very disappointed that Helmer's not running but out of determination to prevent Orser returning to the horseshoe, I've throne my hat in the ring. My website is www.fisherforward4.ca and it's a little sparse on platform at the moment as we're putting finishing touches on the wording, but the more detailed bits should be up by end-of-day tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any.

I'm posting here to see if any of you like-minded folk would help out my campaign in any way. Ideally, I'd love to have you volunteer and help canvass (or volunteer any other talents you can share). If that doesn't work for you, every financial contribution goes a long way. And if you're in the area (Ward 4) and would like a sign, please let me know as well!

Thank you in advance!

[K85]

fuck orser

also, https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/7c373d8...0-9a2a0a280eda

Originally Posted by jaradthescot

Very disappointed that Helmer's not running but out of determination to prevent Orser returning to the horseshoe, I've throne my hat in the ring.

[haljackey]

Ward 2 councilor Shawn Lewis did a AMA on reddit last night. Hope more do too as we get closer to election time.

https://www.reddit.com/r/londonontar...ty_councillor/

[jaradthescot]

Mine's coming up on the 22nd

[CanadianTalk]

Here is a LFP article with certain predictions/thoughts regarding the election, which I think did a good job summarizing the races.

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...unicipal-races

Biggest takeaway is that this election is highly unlikely to be as divisive as the most recent ones, such as the one in 2018 (due to the BRT debate) and 2014 (Fontana 8).

There are some ward races that could be interesting. IMO, the most interesting ones for me will be 1, 4 (good luck @jaradthescot!), 6 and 11.

Although I think the incumbents will win in 10 (Van Meerbergen) and 14 (Hillier), it would not surprise me if they lose, depending on whether their leading opponent runs a strong campaign. I think the incumbents in the other wards will win a lot more easily.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

Here is a good LFP analysis regarding the election.

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...unicipal-races

Biggest takeaway is that this election is highly unlikely to be as divisive as the most recent ones, such as the one in 2018 (due to the BRT debate) and 2014 (Fontana 8).

There are some ward races that could be interesting. IMO, the most interesting ones for me will be 1, 4 (good luck @jaradthescot!), 6 and 11.

Although I think the incumbents will win in 10 (Van Meerbergen) and 14 (Hillier), it would not surprise me if they lose, depending on whether their leading opponent runs a strong campaign. I think the incumbents in the other wards will win.

7 is vacant due to Morgan running for Mayor. I want to think Corrine Rahman is the frontrunner, but you never know if Caldwell putting his MBA degree on his signs will sway anyone (I kid lol). Surprised he didn't run in the area that he ran in provincially to try to build on a slight bit of name recognition from a few months ago.

[haljackey]

Khalil Ramal is throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks apparently

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...transit-system

-----

Among those campaign promises:

Build 6,000 truly affordable homes including “hundreds” within the first month as mayor
Build transitional housing on city-owned land
Launch a RentSafe program to inspect rental properties
Construct the north and west legs of bus rapid transit that were cancelled by this council
Free public transit for seniors
Boost London’s tree canopy goal to 40%
Hire 50 new frontline police officers
Increase downtown police patrols by 75%

His platform is full of goals but light on the details of how to pay for them. When quizzed by reporters, Ramal said he’s committed to fulfilling his campaign pledges.

-----

I mean I was thinking about voting for this guy but now? Seems like a desperation move. There's no way he could get any of this done without major support from council.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

7 is vacant due to Morgan running for Mayor. I want to think Corrine Rahman is the frontrunner, but you never know if Caldwell putting his MBA degree on his signs will sway anyone (I kid lol). Surprised he didn't run in the area that he ran in provincially to try to build on a slight bit of name recognition from a few months ago.

It makes me laugh when people have to put their degrees on their campaign signs. Sad, actually. Caldwell looks like he spends 15 hours at the gym everyday, just doing neck exercises.

Corrine has my vote.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by haljackey

Boost London’s tree canopy goal to 40%

Funny that I just saw on CTV news the story of giving away a couple thousand trees today and the city official mentioned the goal of the tree canopy being at 35% by 2065. Over 40 years away. Did Ramal say what his target date is for his 40% proposal? I honestly have no idea how easy or difficult either of these targets are, but I don't think 40 years from now is something that is really going to grab people. I guess not every proposal can be big and sexy though.