The nomination period has ended, and the roster of candidates for the October 26 municipal election is set.
The candidate nomination period for October’s municipal election ended on the afternoon of Friday, August 21, and on the afternoon of Monday, August 24, the municipal Clerk posted the Official List of Certified Candidates to the municipal website.
Typically, once the Clerk has published that list, we the voters know the full roster of candidates from which we will choose on election day. But there has been a snag.
As happened in the 2022 municipal election, the position of deputy mayor would have been won by acclamation, with only current member of council Rob Uhrig registering to run for the position. In 2022, Shirley Keaveney was also unopposed in her bid for the deputy mayor’s seat, and so was acclaimed. However, it was announced on Monday afternoon that Uhrig’s nomination was rejected by the municipal Clerk.
“One nomination was received for the office of Deputy Mayor, however the Clerk rejected this nomination because it did not comply with the requirements of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996,” said the municipality after the release of the official list of certified candidates on Monday afternoon. “As per the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, the Clerk/Returning Officer for the Municipality of Meaford is providing notice that additional nominations for the office of Deputy Mayor will be accepted on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The certification of additional candidate nominations will be completed by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26, 2026.”
I spoke to Councillor Uhrig on Monday afternoon, and he confirmed that there were errors in his paperwork, and that he would be re-submitting his nomination papers for Deputy Mayor on Wednesday.
By the time you read this editorial, which was written on Tuesday morning, that issue will have been sorted, and we will know if a last minute challenger for deputy mayor steps up, given the unexpected extra couple of days to register, or if Uhrig will remain the sole candidate, which would mean a win by acclamation.
**Update: On Wednesday, August 26, Rob Uhrig re-submitted his nomination paperwork, and remained the sole candidate for deputy mayor, and has therefore been acclaimed.
As for the rest of the candidates that have been confirmed and certified by the Clerk, Meaford voters have three candidates to consider for the mayor’s chair. Current Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney is hoping to move up to the mayor’s position, and she will be challenged by Justin Perks and Caryn Colman. I suspect that pumped storage will be a hot topic among the mayoral candidates over the next couple of months.
According to the list of certified candidates, there are nine candidates vying for the five regular council seats – incumbents Tony Bell, Brandon Forder, and Eric Ennis, as well as former member of council Jim McPherson, and some new faces, candidates Adam Vaughan, former Meaford Treasurer Darcy Chapman, Amanda Greenfield, Elgin Pecjak, and John Clark.
Over the next two months voters will learn more about the candidates as they will be knocking on doors and attending community events in hopes of securing votes on October 26. We will see candidates at the farmers’ market, community breakfasts, and anywhere else that voters might gather.
This week I will be sending each candidate an email with some questions to gather information for our special municipal election issue that will be published at the end of September.
Our municipal election issue is well received each election year as it contains the profiles, photos, and positions of every candidate all in one place, making it easy for voters to sift through the candidates and learn about their opinions and ideas before casting their ballots on election day.
One of the certified candidates for council, a John Clark, has not provided contact information for publication by the municipal Clerk, so I will be unable to send him the candidate profile package, so I hope that he reads this editorial (every candidate should be reading all local media) and contacts me (editor@themeafordindependent.ca) in order that I can get the email with the questions to him so that he can be included in our municipal election special issue.
Each election year I am often asked which candidates I think are the best choices, and the answer to that question I leave to the voters, as everyone has their own set of criteria for what makes for a candidate worthy of their vote.
While I do not offer support for any candidate, and this newspaper has never published endorsements of any candidates for any level of government, each municipal election year I offer my thoughts on what I am looking for when it comes to council candidates.
As I have written many times over the years, single issue candidates can be a problem. Having issues for which a candidate is passionate is fine, but for a candidate to focus on just one or two issues does not make for an effective member of council over the long term. So be sure to press candidates on other issues if they seem to be focused on just one or two.
As the October 26 municipal election approaches, I will be looking for candidates who have an understanding of the role and responsibilities of a municipal council as well as the limitations of what individual councillors as well as council as a whole can actually do. I will be looking for candidates that will continue to focus on our infrastructure needs while also working to limit property tax increases as much as possible through efficient management of municipal operations, careful planning, and the strategic use of long-term debt, which can allow for major projects to be undertaken without overburdening the ratepayers of today, but rather spreading that cost over time.
Others will have their own list of priorities, and that doesn’t make my list wrong and theirs right, it just means that we all have different views about how a council should determine priorities.
As I have written many times, the job of a municipal councillor is far from easy. It requires a significant dedication of time, not just for the Monday afternoon council meetings, but the time required to read through and understand the meeting agenda packages, often several hundred pages in length, and the time required for the handful of boards and committees on which you would sit, not to mention the time to respond to phone calls and email messages from ratepayers. And for all of that hard work and for all of that time dedicated you will be paid less than $30,000 per year, or roughly $50,000 if you run for mayor and win.
As I wrote on this page back in January, for those who are truly built for the job of municipal councillor (not many of us are), the many hours and low pay are insignificant, as the motivation for all the best councillors I have seen over the past 35 years is to make their communities better, to offer their time and skills for the greater good.
For the October 26 municipal election, Meaford voters will cast their ballots by internet or telephone. The voting period will be open from 10 a.m. on Friday, October 16, 2026, until 8 p.m. on Monday, October 26.
All election information, including voting information, and the official list of certified candidates can be found at: https://www.meaford.ca/en/our-government/election.aspx
