Six New Councillors Join Oakville Town Council

Oakville's next council will have more new faces at the table than at any point in the last 20 years. Six new councillors won seats on October 26 alongside mayor elect Jeff Knoll, and the group is sworn in on Monday, November 16.

The newcomers are Alexandra Caldwell in Ward 1, Stacey Saunders in Ward 2, Morgan Elliott in Ward 3, Roger Lapworth in Ward 4, and Audrey Wubbenhorst and Mackenzie Grant, both in Ward 5.

Ward 5 turned over completely. Knoll is moving to the mayor's chair from the ward's town and regional seat, and town councillor Marc Grant died in office earlier this year. Mackenzie Grant, Marc Grant's daughter, took the town and regional seat with 3,910 votes, and Wubbenhorst won the town councillor race.

Elsewhere most incumbents held. Ray Chisholm, Peter Longo and Natalia Lishchyna all kept their town councillor seats, Jonathan McNeice, Janet Haslett-Theall and Tom Adams were acclaimed, and Ward 7 was the only ward in Oakville to re-elect both of its councillors.

60,638 ballots were cast, a turnout of 34.26 per cent, up from 28.30 per cent in 2022. Knoll took the mayor's race with 36.31 per cent of the vote, ahead of Sean O'Meara, Rob Burton, Julia Hanna and Arvind Choudhary.

How fast the new council moves is the open question. "Residents are going to expect a brisk pace of change. They should expect to see some immediate changes around transparency, citizen involvement and a whole new attitude when it comes to dealing with Queen's Park," Knoll said. Results are posted on the Town of Oakville's elections page.