London, Ont., voters have named Josh Morgan as the city’s 65th mayor in the 2022 municipal election.
The former deputy mayor and Ward 7 councillor was elected on Monday, repelling nine other challengers including former London-Fanshawe MPP Khalil Ramal who took second place in the mayoral race.
Morgan, 44, has served as Ward 7 councillor for two terms and was first elected in 2014. He was elected deputy mayor by council in 2020, after being nominated for the role by Holder, replacing Ward 4 councillor Jesse Helmer.
Six council seats are guaranteed to see new faces this next term.
Among the departures are Ward 3 Coun. Mo Salih, Ward 4 Coun. Jesse Helmer, Ward 5 Coun. Maureen Cassidy, Ward 7 Coun. Josh Morgan, and Ward 11 Coun. Stephen Turner, and previous mayor Ed Holder.
After 11 years in politics, Holder announced back in May that he would not be seeking re-election in the fall, retiring from the profession altogether.
Holder was elected as London’s 64th mayor during the October 2018 municipal election, after serving two terms as London West MP from 2008 to 2015.
During that time, Holder also served as the federal minister of science and technology.
Before entering politics he was the president of Stevenson & Hunt Insurance Brokers and served on the board of the London Chamber of Commerce.
Following his announcement, Holder told Global News that he was not sure he could serve another four years as mayor with the commitment it requires given some recent health issues.
“It’s made me think about this last three and a half years and what the role of a mayor requires,” he said. “You have got to run 100 miles an hour, and you have got to do 70 hours a week. That’s absolutely true, and I suppose what’s happened in the last while is if I were going to commit to another term of four years, can I with certainty make that guarantee to Londoners? And I wasn’t sure that I could.”
Morgan, who’s grabbed the city’s top job, praised Holder for his accomplished career, saying his volunteerism has been recognized with more than two dozen awards including the Canada 125 medal, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the sovereign’s medal for volunteerism.
However, Morgan will might find himself in uncharted territory as so-called strong mayor powers may hit the decision-making table in London.
The province-granted powers are already set to give the mayors of Ottawa and Toronto the power to veto certain bylaws that conflict with provincial priorities such as housing construction. In these situations, council can still override the veto with a two-thirds majority.
Mayors will also be given the responsibility to prepare budgets, appoint the city’s chief administrative staff officer and hire or fire department heads.
Recently, Premier Doug Ford announced that his government intends to expand these powers as a way to get more housing built amid a housing crisis, in order to boost housing supply across the province.
However, the possibility of expanding this legislation to London was not very well received by some previous term members of council, including Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis and former Ward 4 Coun. Jesse Helmer.
Ford said that the extension of strong-mayor powers to other cities, including London, will be decided at a later date following a one-year analysis of how effectively the legislation works in Ottawa and Toronto.
There were 281,073 eligible voters in London’s fall municipal election.
The following are the winners of London’s mayoral, city council, and school board trustees race in the 2022 municipal election. Names will be bolded as winners are declared.
Mayor
- Sean O’Connell
- Josh Morgan
- Daniel Lanart
- Khalil Ramal
- Daniel Jeffery
- Johanne Nichols
- Brandon Ellis
- Norman Robert Miles
- Carlos Murray
- Sandie Thomas
City council
Ward 1
- Oberon Goodden
- Janette Cameron
- Kenneth Saunders
- Ryan Cadden
- Michael van Holst (incumbent)
- Julie Reynolds
- Hadleigh Mcalister
- Shirley Wilton
- Ken Fischer
Ward 2
- Shawn Lewis (incumbent)
- Mike Yohnicki
Ward 3
- Peter Cuddy
- Ainsley Graham
- Prabh Gill
- Bob Wright
- Saifullah Qasimi
Ward 4
- Matt Nicolaidis
- Susan Steveson
- Stephen Orser
- Jarad Fisher
- Raymond Daamen
- Colleen Murphy
- Sylvia Nagy
Ward 5
- Jerry Pribil
- Connor Pierotti
Ward 6
- Mariam Hamou (incumbent)
- Sam Trosow
- Becky Williamson
Ward 7
- Corrine Rahman
- Evan Wee
- Tommy Caldwell
- Sharon Deebrah
Ward 8
- Steve Lehman (incumbent)
- Sarvarinder Dohil
- Colleen McCauley
- Patrick O’Connor
Ward 9
- Anna Hopkins (incumbent)
- Baqar Khan
- Veronica Warner
- Jacob Novick
- Mario Jozic
Ward 10
- Kevin May
- Claire Grant
- Michael McMullen
- Paul Van Meerbergen (incumbent)
- John Kuypers
Ward 11
- Skylar Franke
- Jeremy McCall
- Paul-Michael Anderson
- Cole Fobert
- Christine Oliver
Ward 12
- Elizabeth Peloza (incumbent)
- Alexander Main
- David Goodwin
Ward 13
- John Fyfe-Millar (incumbent)
- David Ferreira
- David Millie
- Alexandria Hames
Ward 14
- Steve Hillier (incumbent)
- Danalynn Williams
- Sarah Lehman
School board trustees
Thames Valley District School Board, wards 1, 11, 12, 14
- Christine Morgan
- Tristan Squire-Smith
- Lori-Ann Pizzolato (incumbent)
- Sheri Polhill
- David Sabine
- Alejandra Valencia
Thames Valley District School Board, wards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
- Julie Wedlake
- Tracey Aquilina
- Laura Gonzalez
- Leroy Osbourne
- Marianne Larsen
- Paul Gray
- Lamise Kablawi
- Gabrielle Strum
- Violet Lema
Thames Valley District School Board, wards 7, 8, 9, 10, 13
- Mathew Reid
- Christopher Morgan
- Beth Mai
- Sherri Moore
- Eric Michael Vallillee
- Mike Bloxam
- Mike Jones
- Claire Roberts
- Shari Hall
London District Catholic School Board, wards 1, 14
- Matthew Pizzuti
- Pedro Almeida
- Odilia Gouveia
- Denise Singh
London District Catholic School Board, wards 2, 3, 4
- Sandra Cruz
- Rejose Mathew Arackal
London District Catholic School Board, wards 5, 6, 7
- Gabe Pizzuti
- Bill Rueger
- Lucie Alves
London District Catholic School Board, wards 8, 9, 10
- Linda Steel (Acclaimed)
London District Catholic School Board, wards 11, 12, 13
- Nando Favaro
- John Jevnikar
- Aurther Patrick Mcleod
Conseil scolaire catholique Providence
- Philippe Morin (Acclaimed)
Conseil scolaire Viamonde
- Joseph Vandermeer
- David O’Hara
Vandermeer and O’Hara’s race ended in a tie, both receiving 190 votes.
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