Regional council considering 44 candidates to fill vacant councillor seat
Posted Aug 7, 2025 07:32:02 AM.
Last Updated Aug 7, 2025 10:22:05 AM.
In just one week, regional councillors will decide who will fill the vacant seat at the horseshoe.
On Wednesday, the Region of Waterloo unveiled the 44 names of candidates who applied to be considered for appointment to regional council.
The list includes familiar names who have ran for political office in the past, but also lawyers, ministers, doctors, social advocates, a popular former radio personality, and even a musician.
Council decided to fill the vacant seat by appointment at a meeting on June 25. The seat was vacated following the death of former councillor Kari Williams, who passed away following a long battle with cancer.
This will be the second time in 2025 that the Region of Waterloo council will fill a vacant seat around the horseshoe by appointment.
In March, Matt Rodrigues was appointed to the council seat vacated by former councillor Rob Deutschmann who left council to focus on his campaign to be elected as a member of parliament.
More in politics
In that case, council opted to select Rodrigues because, in the 2022 municipal election, he finished closely behind Deutschmann, garnering more than 9,000 votes.
Regional staff determined that hosting a byelection to fill Deutschmann’s seat would come with an $800,000 price tag and would delay filling the chair for multiple months.
This time around, council has decided to appoint one of the long list of applicants who will sell themselves as candidates in five-minute presentations at a special council meeting on Aug. 14. The application process was open for nearly a month and closed on Aug. 1.
Of those 44 applicants, the majority represent either Kitchener, Waterloo, or Cambridge, while one candidate is from Wellesley and one is from Wilmot.
Although a byelection was deemed to be costly, Peter Woolstencroft, a professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, believes residents should be given the ability to vote for the person who is meant to represent them at regional council.
“No doubt, the election is an expensive proposition, but I believe in the importance of democracy,” said Woolstencroft. “I think citizens should be given the right to decide who represents them.”
When it comes time to appoint, councillors will vote in rounds until one candidate receives more than half of the votes. That means, given that 15 people currently hold a seat around the horseshoe, the candidate must receive eight votes.
Woolstencroft added that the process of appointing a councillor could stifle alternative views that are held by many members of the community but not by those who have held positions at regional headquarters for the past four years, including issues like the Wilmot land assembly.
“How many of the 44 people who are running have views about Wilmot, and will they be talking about those views?” said Woolstencroft. “I suspect not, because the council has made it clear because they look at the matter of the land acquisition in one way, while lots of other people in the community look at it another way.”
The person selected to the vacant council seat will take part in their first official council meeting on Aug. 27.
