Municipal Politics

[MolsonExport]

Brown with a healthy lead over Cheng. Swan is gone.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1627402/li...-results-2014/

[MolsonExport]

ctv declares Matt Brown Mayor: http://london.ctvnews.ca/municipal-election/results

[MolsonExport]

big changes on the council. many long in the tooth councillors are gone. like Orser

[GreatTallNorth2]

Wow! This is the most progressive council we will have ever had. Even Paul, Dr No, Van Meerbergen is going down. Great news.

[K85]

I was honestly looking at moving in with the gf sooner if he was reelected to get out of his ward...

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

Wow! This is the most progressive council we will have ever had. Even Paul, Dr No, Van Meerbergen is going down. Great news.

Yep the whole Fontana 8 could bite the dust.

Still some polls to report though, so won't say for sure.


London's election results is trending #2 on Twitter in Canada, only behind Toronto's. The exact opposite is happening there, with all but 1 incumbent keeping their seat.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/ldnvotes?src=hash

[MolsonExport]

Newly-elected London Mayor Matt Brown trumpets fresh blood at city hall

[MolsonExport]

London voters turf five incumbents from office

Only those incumbents who didn’t ally themselves with Fontana kept their seats: Harold Usher, Bill Armstrong and Paul Hubert.

[manny_santos]

I'm pretty happy with how London's election turned out. I was very surprised, however, at how low the vote was for Joe Swan.

The (second) biggest win for London will be the replacement of Paul Van Meerbergen.

Here's to hoping this council has the courage to bring London into the 21st century.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Bascially, London has overnight gone from an "old boys" network council to a progressive council. Almost all the new councillors support The London Plan, BRT and are anti-sprawl. I am pretty surprised by my ward (10) voting out Paul VMB. I went to the debate and followed Virginia Ridley, but thought she was way too "nice" to beat Paul, meaning she never took direct shots at him, even though he was so venerable.

I think we are going to see a whole new London in the future days, a city that we can actually be proud of.

[HillStreetBlues]

The results from last night are shocking to me. To have thrown out five incumbents is admirable (contrast that with Toronto, where only one bit the dust; and Hamilton, where all won and most by insanely huge margins). I would not have predicted that.

I was in London for the weekend to survey the new sprawl. My mother, who had attended a Brown fundraiser and chatted with him for a while, was talking about his policies. I had never heard her use the word “infill” before, and suspect she hadn’t known it. Brown has resonated somehow, even among my suburban extended family.

Someone I was talking to on Saturday commented that, if Brown were to win, we would owe a debt of thanks to Fontana. He was a terrible mayor and a horrible development for London, but if he and Tim Best hadn’t brought about DeCicco’s defeat in 2010, she’d probably be starting a fifth term right now.

The next four years will be very exciting for London.

[tyeman200]

I'm pretty happy with the way council turned out this election! Looks like the next four years will actually be interesting.

Although I have been hearing some londoners complaining about the election results. Mostly about how inexperienced the council is and that it's not going to look good for the years ahead or whatever.

[MolsonExport]

speaking of which, I kinda wonder who the Witch Queen of Angmar and her no-good sodden rascal of a consort voted for:

ctvnews

[Pimpmasterdac]

^^^
I doubt Tim even bothered to vote, he's packing up his shot and getting out of London soon. I'm surprised they're publicly together still; was at Solid Gold's a few months ago, and saw him and another woman (non-stripper) came in. Tim got real loaded, buying shots, was making out with this woman...
---
Aside quite the turnover in the election. Didn't expect soo many incumbents to get the boot, especially ones like Polhill & Van Meerbergen, but there near unwavering support of Fontana until he was convicted and general shadiness sealed their fate.

Be interesting to see how this new council will act and shape London. Being on the progressive side, there's lots of great potential I could see (new ideas, pushing BRT through, expanded transit, stopping unfettered sprawl, food trucks downtown, better citizen engagement) but I can also see some challenges (tax increases, more NIMBY than development, new special interests). It's only right though to give them time to get in the role and see how things will fall, and see then!

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

I am pretty surprised by my ward (10) voting out Paul VMB. I went to the debate and followed Virginia Ridley, but thought she was way too "nice" to beat Paul, meaning she never took direct shots at him, even though he was so venerable.

Quote from LFPRESS.COM

"
The other Fontana-tied incumbent who lost, Paul Van Meerbergen, earned a reputation as a difficult-to-reach councillor, something his opponent used to unseat him. Van Meerbergen could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"

[Stevo26]

I'm not unhappy with the outcome of the election. I didn't vote because I had a pretty good feeling that Matt Brown was going to win, and he is the mayoral candidate I would have voted for anyway.

It is interesting to see that Paul Cheng trailed Brown by a considerable margin. I think many Londoners, myself included, were dissuaded from voting for him because he's basically just an extreme cost-cutter type with no vision for moving the city forward.

It was also interesting to see how Roger Caranci effectively conceded the campaign to Cheng. He seemed to understand, at last, that his too-close connection with Fontana was going to hurt him badly at the polls.

The biggest reason why I would have voted for Brown is that rather than taking a typical approach and saying, "Vote for me, and I'll put a chicken in every pot", he didn't really make any promises. What he did do was lay out a fairly cogent and comprehensive plan for moving the city forward with fresher thinking than we've seen in a very long time. Yes, his vision is going to cost taxpayers. But, as the saying goes, you can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.

Many will criticize Brown and the new cohort of young councillors for their lack of experience. But if previous, more experienced city administrations have been any indication, all that that experience has brought us is a pat, maintain-the-status-quo-and-take-no-risks at all costs, and a ever-shrinking, moribund local economy.

I've read that some pundits were expecting Brown to lose because London's overall demographic has been shifting such that most voters are older people who don't relish change. I beg to differ.

I might be classed as an 'older' voter, but over the last 20 years, I've found the city becoming progressively stodgier, with only incremental changes, and more like a very big retirement village. I want to live in a city that is vibrant, forward-thinking and progressive. I'm not yet ready to live in a retirement village where nothing happens, thanks very much.

[MolsonExport]

^well put. I agree on all counts.

[MolsonExport]

I for one am glad to see the back of this turkey. Never could stand him, even though I live quite far away from his ward. Orser is little more than a loose cannon grandstander. I am in Matt Brown's former ward, won by Josh Morgan.

ctv

blowhard namedropper and general bloviating asshole extraordinaire.
• Video Link

[jaradthescot]

Wow. How did we let such a great councillor slip through our fingers?

I love how one of his first lines, in defending a companies interests, begins with "Now this company has backed my campaign..." Oh you didn't tell us that, Orser. In that case, we'll do whatever they ask, policy be damned. It was basically a glimpse into Orser's mind and how he made decisions during his time in office. Looking forward to these new faces. Does anyone know when the official changing of personel takes place?

[Blitz]

^ The new terms begin on Dec. 1st. Great to see Orser go. I'm a bit concerned about the lack of overall experience and I'm not sure Park was the best choice for the downtown ward but we'll see what happens and hope for the best.