The 2018 Waterloo Region municipal elections were held on October 22, 2018 in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, to elect Waterloo Regional Council, the mayors and city councils of Cambridge, Kitchener, North Dumfries, Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich, the Waterloo Region District School Board (Public), the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, and the regional members of Conseil Scolaire de District Catholiques Centre-Sud and Conseil Scolaire Viamonde (Public). The election was held in conjunction with the province wide 2018 municipal elections.
Names in bold denotes elected candidates. (X) denotes incumbent.
Waterloo Regional Council
Chair
Candidate
Vote
%
Karen Redman
66,370
62.40
Robert Deutschmann
19,966
18.77
Jan d'Ailly
10,353
9.73
Jay Aissa
9,675
9.10
The election for Regional Chair was marked by the departure of Ken Seiling, who served 33 years as chair.[1] Karen Redman ran with experience as a regional councillor and former Member of Parliament for Kitchener Centre.[2] Also running were a former mayor of the North Dumfries Rob Deutschmann, who as mayor also served as a regional councillor,[3] former councillor in the lower-tier municipality of the City of Waterloo Jan d'Ailly, and businessman Jay Aissa, both of whom overperformed in the City of Cambridge.[4]
The CBC received responses on priorities from each candidate.[5] Redman ran on a message of both economic development and some progressive priorities, including opioid, mental health and social housing issues. Deutschmann ran on a similar tone on issues, with an additional focus on increasing funding to police and emergency response services. d'Ailly ran on a progressive platform, with emphasis placed on the opioid crisis, inclusionary zoning, increasing social supports, reducing deaths due to automobiles, and increasing economic progressivity in the taxation and benefit structure of the Region's finances. Aissa ran on construction of a new hospital, fiscal conservatism, increasing geographic access of rapid transit to less-served municipalities, road state of repair and increasing funding to police and other first responders
Redman won majorities in all seven cities and municipalities of Waterloo Region, including North Dumfries, where Deutschmann served as mayor.[6] Results were slow, with official results not announced until two days after the election, not due to a close ballot count, but due to province-wide technical issues with the electronic voting system that required some extensions to voting in certain areas in the Region.[7][8]
Council
Waterloo Regional Council includes the chair, the mayors of the seven constituent municipalities (see below) plus the following council races:
Candidate
Vote
%
Cambridge (2 to be elected)
Karl Kiefer (X)
13,209
32.50
Helen G. Jowett (X)
12,801
31.49
John Florence
7,726
19.01
Jeffrey Shaver
4,019
9.89
Rob Brunette
2,890
7.11
Kitchener (4 to be elected)
Tom Galloway (X)
23,078
19.15
Elizabeth Clarke (X)
21,037
17.46
Michael D. Harris
16,935
14.06
Geoff Lorentz (X)
16,599
13.78
Kari Williams
11,326
9.40
Ted Martin
11,286
9.37
Fauzia Mazhar
9,942
8.25
Tom Hiller
5,497
4.56
Jason House
4,787
3.97
Waterloo (2 to be elected)
Jim Erb
13,089
32.68
Sean Strickland (X)
10,776
26.90
Jane Mitchell (X)
9,472
23.65
Beisan Zubi
5,147
12.85
Bob Oberholtzer
1,572
3.92
Cambridge
Referendum
Referendum on ranked ballots: "Are you in favour of the City of Cambridge using a ranked ballot system for the 2022 municipal election?"
Choice
Vote
%
Yes
13,488
56.35
No
10,449
43.65
As the only 27.27% of eligible voters voted in the referendum, the results are non binding.[9]
^James Jackson (2018), Tribute to Ken Seiling will benefit Hospice of Waterloo Region. Waterloo Region Record. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/09/05/tribute-to-ken-seiling-will-benefit-hospice-of-waterloo-region.html
^Waterloo Region Record (2018), Former North Dumfries mayor Deutschmann enters race to replace Seiling as regional chair. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/07/05/former-north-dumfries-mayor-deutschmann-enters-race-to-replace-seiling-as-regional-chair.html
^Waterloo Region Record (2018), Former North Dumfries mayor Deutschmann enters race to replace Seiling as regional chair. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/07/05/former-north-dumfries-mayor-deutschmann-enters-race-to-replace-seiling-as-regional-chair.html
^Catherine Thompson (2018), Broad support across region pushed Redman to victory. Waterloo Region Record. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/10/24/broad-support-across-region-pushed-redman-to-victory.html
^CBC News Kitchener-Waterloo (2018), Waterloo Region Votes: Region chair candidates on why they're running. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-region-votes-2018-region-chair-candidates-1.4807139
^Catherine Thompson (2018), Broad support across region pushed Redman to victory. Waterloo Region Record. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/10/24/broad-support-across-region-pushed-redman-to-victory.html
^Greg Mercer (2018), Municipal vote plagued by delays. Waterloo Region Record. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/10/22/municipal-vote-plagued-by-delays.html
^Anam Latif (2018), New regional chair still up in the air. Waterloo Region Record. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2018/10/23/new-regional-chair-still-up-in-the-air.html
^"Official election results - City of Cambridge". Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.