A number of queer and trans candidates put their names forward during the municipal elections across Ontario this month. Who managed to win, and who lost?
Note that this is not an exhaustive list, but is based on the information available.
Toronto
While the forces of status quo prevailed in Toronto’s mayoral race, with John Tory winning a third term in office, there were openly LGBTQ2S+ candidates in three ward races for council, but only one was successful.
In Ward 9 (Davenport), Grant Gonzales came in second to former federal and provincial NDP candidate Alejandra Bravo.
In Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), Robin Buxton-Potts came in third place, while Andrew Layman was fifth place, the ward having been won by former Ontario environmental commissioner and later Green Party deputy leader Dianne Saxe.
In Ward 13 (Toronto Centre), queer candidate Chris Moise was successful over fellow LGBTQ2S+ candidates.
Ottawa
Queer trans non-binary candidate Catherine McKenney was unsuccessful in their bid for the mayoralty race, losing to newcomer Mark Sutcliffe. During the campaign, a 2006 column from Sutcliffe surfaced where he questioned funding for festivals like Capital Pride, but Sutcliffe insisted that his platform included $2 million in new funding for arts and culture over the next four years. There were a handful of other queer or trans candidates in ward races:
In Ward 6, Kevin Hua was resoundingly defeated in his bid.
In Ward 14, which includes the city’s Village, queer candidate Ariel Troster was successful over fellow queer candidate Brandon Russell. Troster takes over for McKenney, who represented the ward in the previous term.
As well, school trustee Lyra Evans, the first openly trans school trustee in the country (who has recently been joined by a second in British Columbia’s recent municipal elections), resoundingly defended her seat against an anti-trans challenger, securing a majority of the vote share. Another anti-trans candidate also running for school board trustee in Ottawa, Chanel Pfahl, also lost her bid to win a seat.
Hamilton
Two queer candidates each won their seats on council.
In Ward 2, Cameron Kroetsch was successful in his bid, as was Ward 13 candidate Alex Wilson, who defeated the ward’s incumbent.
Rest of the province
In Thunder Bay, queer mayoral candidate Gary Mack came a close second to victor Kenneth Boshcoff. As well, in the city’s Red River Ward, queer candidate Jason Veltri came a close second to his challenger.
In Kitchener, trans candidate Brooklin Wallis came in second in the Ward 9 race, while Matt Rodrigues was unsuccessful in his bid to become a regional councillor, but was fairly close to the threshold to have won one of the four seats.
In Sault Ste. Marie, Marek McLeod was unsuccessful in his bid for the Ward 4 council seat.
In Pembroke, Dorian Pearce was 140 votes away from winning the seat on city council.
Nic Edge was unsuccessful in a bid for council in Arnprior.
In Peel Region, Paul Skippen was unsuccessful in his bid to win a position as School Board Trustee in Wards 1 and 7.
Trans candidate Hale Ferguson was also unsuccessful in a bid for Hastings and Prince Edward School Board Trustee Wards 3, 4, 6 and 7, losing to an anti-trans candidate. Also in Prince Edward County, LGBTQ2S+ candidate Elis Ziegler lost their bid for Prince Edward County’s Athol Ward.
Overall, while the only successful bids were in the cities, we did see a number of those races wind up in close contests, which could indicate room for growth for those who plan to enter the races again in four years.
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