5 mayoral candidates highlight wild 2018 Stouffville election

5 mayoral candidates highlight 2018 Stouffville election

Yorkregion.com
July 31, 2018
Simon Martin

The names have been officially entered and the 2018 municipal election campaign is underway in Whitchurch-Stouffville.

The town has one of the more interesting mayoral races in the region if not the most interesting. There is the incumbent Justin Altmann who has been plagued by controversy throughout his first term in office and has upcoming legal battles with the town. Current Ward 5 Coun. Iain Lovatt is the only challenger that is part of the current council. Phil Bannon lost to Altmann in 2014 by just 359 votes and was previously Ward 2 councillor. Anand Date is a local businessperson who has taken a keen interest to happenings around the town and at town council. Finally former NHL player and coach local resident and business owner Keith Acton has entered his name into the fray for the mayor’s chair.

Every member of the current council is running for re-election. The only position where a new member of council is guaranteed is Ward 5 where six candidates are running. Even so, the elected member of council could end up being Richard Bartley who served as the ward’s representative from 2006 to 2014 before running for mayor last election.

Another new feature the 2018 election is that Mayor Altmann is running a slate of candidates across the town’s wards including his wife Jenny Altmann in Ward 5 and current Ward 6 Coun. Rob Hargrave.  The, C3 slate, as it is known share a website. Municipal elections don’t usually have a slate of candidates run together.

Candidates:

Mayor
Keith Acton, Justin Altmann, Phil Bannon, Anand Date and Iain Lovatt.

Ward 1
Ken Ferdinands, Elizabeth Johnston and Kesha Wint.

Ward 2
Ellen Gowland and Maurice Smith.

Ward 3
Hugo Kroon, Stephen Rogers and Keith Singer.

Ward 4
James Liaros, Brian Sankarsingh and Rick Upton.

Ward 5
Jenny Altmann, Richard Bartley, Steve Downs, Michael Humphreys, Rose Pizzulo and Garland Zheng.

Ward 6
Rob Hargrave, Sue Sherban and Bryan Stott.

York Region District School Board trustee
Lena Singh and Elizabeth Terrell-Tracey.

York Catholic District School Board
Elizabeth Crowe, Paul de Roos and Laura Ronco.