There is No Joy In London
Mighty Susan has struck out.
This will be a short post about the results of the municipal election in London this week. Short, because who wants to dwell on disappointment?
Incumbent Mayor Josh Morgan was re-elected easily, getting 46,405 votes to Susan Stevenson’s 27,259 and third-place finisher Kirstin Krose’s 10,984.
I got it right when I predicted KK as a distant 3rd, but there is no way to call that a close election. Interestingly, a candidate with the name Morgan, one Bronagh Joyce Morgan, came in fourth with more than 7400 votes. There is a story there, maybe, but not for now.
According to the CBC, turnout was up a bit from the last muni election at 31% versus 25% in 2022, and that would again be the percentage of provincially registered voters who turned out. Still a pathetic turnout, and a sad result from that sad turnout, in my view.
It gets worse if one looks at City Council generally. Ten incumbent councillors ran for re-election, and nine of them won. In my ward, incumbent Skylar Franke was re-elected with 6,740 votes to second-place finisher – and my candidate – Denise Brown’s 1,464. A landslide by any measure.
So, we will get more of the same from this not-at-all-new council and mayor. Why would any of these people think they should do anything differently? Were I them, I would certainly be confident that I could keep on doing the same things without fear of being turfed out of office in four years.
That the city might continue to go to hell over that four years is neither here nor there. None of these people have businesses or live in the parts of London that are heading to hell the fastest.
My Gal told me she heard Ms Stevenson say in a post-election interview that she intended to continue to devote time to holding the city admin to account for how things go from here on out. I hope that is true, but who knows? People have lives, after all. If SS does anything of note, I will certainly do what I can to aid her. And, if that does transpire, you may be sure you will read about it here.
Epilogue
I came home from playing bridge with a friend on Wednesday afternoon, two days after the election. I headed out to my front yard to take down my Susan Stevenson sign, only to find it gone. Obviously the Susan Stevenson campaign workers were still at work. They had put that sign up (at my request) so they thought it their responsibility to take it down and dispose of it. If only the City operated with similar speed and integrity.