Rob Burton Joins The Oakville Mayoral Race, Making It A Five-Way Contest

Oakville's ballot for mayor filled up at the last possible moment. Rob Burton, mayor since 2006, filed his nomination papers on Friday before nominations closed at 2 p.m., and his name went up on the town's list of registered candidates that afternoon.

That makes the October 26 election a five-way race. Burton is running against two sitting councillors, Sean O'Meara of Ward 1 and Jeff Knoll of Ward 5, plus first-time candidate Arvind Choudhary and Julia Hanna, who is making her third run at the job. Hanna, a north Oakville restaurant owner and former chair of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, came within 1,000 votes of beating Burton in 2022.

Burton had said nothing publicly about his plans for months, and he released no statement on Friday either. Whoever wins takes over a council about to change more than it has in decades. At least six of Oakville's 14 ward seats will be held by someone new.

Three of those openings come from councillors stepping away: Cathy Duddeck in Ward 2, Dave Gittings in Ward 3 and Allan Elgar in Ward 4. The other three follow from O'Meara and Knoll giving up their seats to run for mayor, and from the death of Ward 5 councillor Marc Grant in July.

Three seats are already decided. Jonathan McNeice was acclaimed to the Ward 1 town and regional seat, Janet Haslett-Theall to a second term in Ward 3, and Tom Adams to a third straight term in Ward 6.

What council can and cannot do until October

Because fewer than 75 per cent of councillors are seeking election, Oakville council is now a "lame duck" council under Ontario's Municipal Act. For its final months it cannot make major hiring, firing, spending or selling decisions. Anything that size waits for the people elected in the fall.