As we close in on a new decade, Global News is reflecting on the last 10 years with some of the Hamilton and area’s most well-known personalities.
Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward has been in politics since 2006. She joined Burlington’s city council in 2010 before being elected mayor in 2018.
Prior to that, Meed Ward worked for Faith Today magazine before launching her own communications business in 1999, which included work as a columnist at the Toronto Sun.
In the last decade, the mayor has fought for the modernization of Burlington’s downtown, enjoyed success in building transit and seen the city recognized as one of the best places to live in Canada.
Global News: What were you doing in 2010?
I was campaigning to be a councillor. So I was transitioning from my previous life and decided that instead of telling other folks what I thought they should do, I wanted to be part of the decision-making and get in there and do it myself. I wanted to make better decisions than the ones that I saw being made then. So I ran actually the third time I’d run for office in 2010, and the third time was the charm for me.
Global News: When you got into the mayor’s chair, what was the biggest issue you had to deal with for the future of the city?
Fighting for community vision and community control of planning for the future of our city. The work that we’re doing right now through the interim control by law and the refresh of the official plan, that is the work that really I’ve been focused on and working on since I started in 2010 and this last year, we’re now finally able to see the fruits of that labour. And I’m confident that as we head into 2020, we are going to get a better plan for the downtown that truly reflects the community and council’s vision for the downtown.
Global News: What is the single biggest change you’ve seen to Burlington over the past 10 years?
Well, there’s a couple of things that have changed. We have about 11 per cent new Canadians and immigrants to the country that have chosen to make Burlington their home, which is great. So we are now as a city looking at translating, providing translation services into a number of different languages.
And we are very interested in trees for Burlington. So literally we planted on the streets. Council in the past year has invested $100,000 and another $100,000 in this year’s budget for tree planting, plus a tree bylaw. People will literally see over time a city that looks more green.
Global News: What has been your biggest win as mayor between 2010 and now?
Investments we’ve made in transit, including free transit, has dramatically increased. About a 10 per cent increase in transit this year because of improvements to service, adding more money to it, making it free for low income, free for students under 12 and free for seniors at off-peak. In 2020, we’ll talk about free for high school students. That’s huge.
Also, in January of this year, when Mike Taylor, a Burlington resident and member of Walk Off The Earth died, we had no way to recognize his contribution to arts and culture in our community. And I thought, well, let’s give him the key to the city. I found that we didn’t actually have a key to the city program. So we created one. We worked with the local artists to create a stained glass key — very unique from what you see in other cities as the city crafts district made it blue, green and yellow in the colours of the city.
Global News: What has been your biggest disappointment?
City-owned land between St. Paul and market streets, right on the water just sort of east of the downtown area, was sold to residents and they closed it off. I think that was the worst decision that was ever made. Biggest disappointment. My goal for Burlington over the next hundred years is to do what I can to build a continuous trail right along the waterfront from Hamilton to Toronto, Oshawa and beyond. The fact that that one little strip that we used to own has been sold to residents, will make it that much more difficult to reclaim that.
Global News: What do you think is the biggest story of the last decade in Burlington?
I would say being recognized this year as the number one city in the country by McLeans. No caveats, no midsize, no qualifiers. That’s the first time it’s ever happened in terms of being the best city overall and best city to raise a family. I think that’s a huge recognition of all the efforts we’ve done.
Global News: What is the biggest challenge facing Burlington over the next decade?
I think affordability is going to be our biggest challenge. The federal government has recognized that they need to implement a national housing strategy. It’s the biggest challenge of the next decade aside from climate. We’re doing really good things on the climate plan. But we need to focus now on housing.
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This interview may have been edited for length and clarity.
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