Kitchener council votes in favour of runner-up becoming next ward 10 councillor

On Monday afternoon, Kitchener City Council voted in favour of letting the runner-up from the 2022 municipal election become the next Ward 10 councillor.

The seat has been vacant for the past few months, after Aislinn Clancy had to step down to fulfill her new role as MPP of Kitchener Centre. Clancy has been councillor for Ward 10 for a little over a year and there is still close to three years left before another municipal election is set to take place.

Stephanie Stretch, the runner-up in the last municipal election, finished in second behind Clancy by only 115 votes.

Council had a few options on the table to look at. They could have decided to appoint someone they think best suits the position, however, some councillors referred to that option as “undemocratic”. The other option that was considered was to hold a by-election for the empty seat, but that would have cost over $90,000.

Ward 6 councillor, Paul Singh, put forward a motion on Monday to make the runner-up the next Ward 10 councillor, suggesting it was the better option. It was a 7-3 vote in favour of the idea.

“I think appointing the runner-up is the right course to do and looking at the total tally of the votes cast about 4,500 plus, and the runner-up was only 115 votes away from winning,” said Singh.

Three councillors voted against the motion, including Dave Schneider, Debbie Chapman and Jason Deneault.

Deneault said $97,000 is a lot of money to spend on another election but that council shouldn’t put a price on the citizens’ right to vote.

Some other councillors cited a decline in people voting as a reason not to hold another election.

“We still continue to hold elections no matter how many voters turn out,” said Deneault. “If one person turns out then that’s democracy. Democracy is having the ability to vote or not to vote, it’s not based on how many people do vote,” added Deneault.

Stretch will be formally asked to accept the role as Ward 10 councillor for Kitchener by the city clerk. It will become official at an upcoming public meeting with Stretch set to be sworn into office at the end of January.