It’s not as quiet than it looks…
Greetings, watchers of issues that matter in London, Ontario’s local government. It’s Wednesday and that means an Executive Briefing to guide the Forest City’s leaders, now and in the future. Happy hump day and here we go with City Hall Notes, even if City Hall is apparently quite sleepy.
But - and this is the point I keeping making - that’s the news agenda, not the public need; it serves news orgs better than communities. In fact, the business of local government continues, even if a proportion of those involved are at their cottages1. And, the election campaign continues too, with a crowded field in some wards and more candidates still coming forward - we now have 82 in total, across mayor, council and school board trustees, and there are still three weeks until noms close on August 21. It’s a busy year, even with a quiet week in it.
Of course, there are still stories out there, such as the acute funding crisis facing homelessness services (CTV London story here); however, with fewer wet fish being thrown in our faces all day, we can take a breath and do something thoughtful. So here’s an ELECTION SPECIAL, bringing you up-to-date and sharing some interesting bits.
Thanks, of course, for reading this. Every click helps. And it’s Free content for all subscribers, for now, although that will likely change to our new model soon. More to come on that. Special thanks to our sponsors - see that full list down at the end - especially Spero Law, who sponsor this malarkey.
The full list - phew
There is so much information in the MEGAPOST of all races that I question its value sometimes, but there it is if you want to look up your ward and use it as a resource. Wow, sometimes you have a good idea and...
Anyway, I added most of the latest folks to that and had a tidy-up. It still needs some work. Take a look if you like: LINK.
In this article - election issues
The mayoral race
Ward 4
More wards
Education
And an update on our wards guide
Good? I’ll assume so and get going.
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The race for the mayor’s chain
We still haven’t seen much in the way of open campaigning from incumbent mayor Josh Morgan and his in-house challenger, Ward 4 councillor Susan Stevenson. Obviously, they can’t really agree on much in the chamber, but tbh that’s largely the normal business of scrutiny. There’s a good example in the special constables debate, which was a Morgan plan, criticized and opposed by Stevenson, and went through anyway, for action after the election. (Morgan was on CBC this morning, defending the plan. LINK)
You can find out all about the Morgan re-election campaign here, and here’s Stevenson’s website.
What about the candidates without a seat on council? Let’s run through them and add our new people at the end.
Kirsten Krose, former Stephen Harper staffer and part of the local business community, is actively campaigning and has lots of content on her website here. She talks about “reliable services, shorter commutes, safer neighbourhoods, and respect for every tax dollar”.
Bronagh Joyce Morgan, an artist and small business owner, is a Londoner with a lot of varied experience and her new website is here. She says she wants to “reform how City Hall actually works” with a new, clearer approach2.
Lawrence-Zachary Howe has a website here. It doesn’t have too much information on the site itself, but you can download documents including a campaign platform that talks about an “economic crisis” and the need for public safety, among other issues.
You can find out about John Fehr here. He’s a local businessman whose platform talks about infrastructure, business, housing and more.
In the last few weeks, we’ve had filings from three new candidates for mayor:
Mustafa Zebuun filed on June 16 and his website here talks about housing, walkable streets, housing and more.
Christine Rosehart filed on July 10.
Jeff Yam filed on July 22.
I’ll share more details of the last two candidates when they emerge.
Analysis (kinda): this race needs to get louder before anything becomes clear. But, simply put, Morgan is a strong incumbent, and in Stevenson he has a challenger perfectly capable of eating into his support. It remains to be seen whether anybody else will be a serious prospect, although five of the remaining seven have actual platforms and at least a couple of them think they can win it. We shall see, of course.
Let’s get into the ward races now, with the busiest one - east London’s Ward 4.
Candidates crowd into Ward 4
Welcome to the new Ward 4, which you can find out about here in our 14 Wards guide. Updating that, we can see this one’s getting crowded – four more candidates make it eight people seeking to succeed Susan Stevenson as she goes for the brass ring.
Randi Prunner filed on June 15, Bonnie Baleck on June 25, Alicia Caskey on July 14, and Elivis Birindwa on July 15. Meanwhile, we already have Stephen Orser, Tom Cull, Mario Jozic and Bob Wright.
How on earth will voters make a choice here? I know some candidates have been campaigning hard already - Cull and Jozic, in particular, have been wearing out their shoes - but with no profiles for anyone (except arguably Orser, former councillor and neighbourhood character) it’s hard to predict what will happen here.
Just know there are real candidates in there - passionate, driven Londoners who want to make a change. I’m looking forward to the debate in Ward 4, which is my home ward.
And some highlights from around the wards
Recent filings have thrown a few interesting potential stories our way, and let’s start with northwest London’s Ward 7, which is now almost as crowded as Ward 4.
There’s plenty of information about candidate Sam Hajar, who filed on July 6. His website here shows he worked at City Hall for 25 years in an administrative role, and he provides links to all the social media platforms, including a Pinterest (no posts yet).
Hajar makes it seven candidates in Ward 7, the second-busiest part of town after Ward 4. It’s another place where it will be hard to stand out.
LATE ADDITION: Andrew Lupton at CBC London happens to have profiled Ward 7 today and you can find the story by clicking this link.
Over in Ward 5, Mary Blake Rose filed on July 13, and she has an Instagram post about it here. She’s running in the ward without an incumbent, after Jerry Pribil said he won’t seek a new term. But this ward does include sitting councillor Corrine Rahman - who’s looking to move over from Ward 7 and is effectively an incumbent because the boundary changes complicate things - and an existing challenger, Abid Raza.
Others who are new to the fray:
In south London’s Ward 12: Alexander Main filed on July 6, challenging Councillor Elizabeth Peloza. Back in 2014, Main was one of several mayoral candidates who combined to try to get some media attention, and it worked on me. (If not for big media’s approach to online archiving, I’d link to the interview. Ah well.) You can find out more about Main’s platform on his website here. That’s the first website I’ve seen that mentions e-scooter safety.
Two other council candidates: in Ward 10, Juman Al-Jumaili filed on June 17, and in Ward 13, Christopher “Tony” Biviano filed on July 10, making it six candidates in the downtown ward.
Education update
And a quick stop in the education sphere, where democracy is looking a little healthier than it did recently.
With three weeks left to file, all races now have candidates, and all TVDSB polls are actual races, with more than the two candidates needed to fill the seats. There could still be acclimations for the French and/or Catholic boards, with just one candidate in each race there. To update us all, here are some recent filings.
Thames Valley District School Board trustee, Wards 1, 11, 12 and 14: Lori-Ann Pizzolato filed on June 17 and Sheri Polhill filed on June 19, 2026. Both are incumbents.
Thames Valley District School Board trustee, Wards 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6: Paras Mehta filed on July 13 and Andrew Bawden filed on July 21.
Thames Valley District School Board trustee, Wards 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13: Archana Patel filed on June 16.
London District Catholic School Board trustee, Wards 2, 3 and 4: Sandra Cruz filed on July 6. Another incumbent going for it again.
London District Catholic School Board trustee, Wards 11, 12 and 13: Joanne Andrews filed on July 22.
Conseil scolaire catholique Providence French-language separate district school board trustee: Philippe Morin filed on June 26. He’s an incumbent and was acclaimed last time.
How am I doing? Had enough? Almost there…
The 14 Wards of London Ontario - 8/14
Want to find out more about London and its wards? If only there were two local guys determined to get up at stupid o’clock and witter on and on about it…
As anyone with a Tuesday will know, I’m merrily touring the city with guidance from Cedric Richards, whose local knowledge is unique and incredible. Here’s what we’ve done so far. Please note the publication dates on each of these, and know that in some cases events have moved on - for example, the additional candidates, as above. And we’re still moving along, providing new information, and enjoying it immensely - we’re bringing you more all summer!
Eight down and six to go! Follow along and, if it’s your ward and you want a say - get in touch.
I’ll group them by general area, and if you’re in a particular ward and object to my characterization of it, you should totally report that to someone who’s not going to just smile and nod. Thanks.
East London
Ward 1 - Where The Wooden Things Are
Ward 2 - With More Than A Commercial Corridor
Ward 3 - Coming in September
Ward 4 - All About Neighbourhoods Now
South London
Ward 12 - Coming in August
Ward 14 - With All The Rural Areas Now
West London
Ward 8 - With A Bog And Many Beds
Ward 9 - Coming in August
Ward 10 - Coming in August
North London
Ward 5 - Coming in August
Ward 7 - With The Mayors
Central London
Ward 11 - With The Village
Ward 13 - Downtown. This will be our final stop. Coming in September.
Enough
My goodness, it must be. There’s your election update. How did it work for you? Tell me, and look out for the Loon Reader survey, coming soon.
And we still have more candidates to file. Notably, Ward 10 incumbent Paul Van Meerbergen, notorious for filing late, has still to show up at City Hall with his paperwork. We also know that the deadline day (this time it’s August 21) can be busy with last-minute additions, so we will look out for those. The last time I did this, in 2014, we had about 80 people in total, and we’ve already surpassed that this time.
Most of those folks won’t win, so why run? Because people have something to say.
What a fun summer we’re having! Stick with us for more.
- Mike
Really, enough.
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Tell me you’re affluent after you drive for four hours to unblock a chemical toilet. (I’ve never understood cottages.)
Non-political opinion alert: Bronagh is a lovely person who leaves chalk drawings on sidewalks everywhere. She transformed my driveway for a little kid’s birthday and it was amazing.
I'm very much looking forward to the municipal debates. On a related note, I've been following Kristen Krose's campaign closely. While this is still very much a 2 person race in my opinion, Krose's content and messaging has been very refreshing and poignant in these "early" stages