Ward 3 candidates share their political outlooks

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Ward 3 is home to many of Oakville’s most iconic landscapes and neighbourhoods.

Downtown Oakville’s shopping district, the town’s well-preserved collection of heritage homes and leafy Lakeshore Road are all part of the town’s most southeastern ward. But the ward, which runs to Oakville’s eastern boundary, is also home to communities facing the potentially disruptive impact of warehouse developments.

Ward 3 is bordered by Lake Ontario in the south and the QEW in the north. It runs from the Sixteen Mile Creek in the west to the town’s eastern boundary, including the neighbourhoods of Old Oakville, Morrison, Ford and Clearview.

Each ward elects two councillors. One serves on town council only, in a $53,964 position considered part-time. The other sits on both town and Halton Region council, earning a total salary of about $114,000.

Ward 3 Town council candidates

Dyanne Dumas

Dyanne Dumas, a challenger for the Ward 3 town seat, is a resident whose political advocacy was born in a successful battle against an Amazon distribution centre planned for Cornwall Road.

While her name will appear on the ballot as a registered candidate, she now says she is withdrawing her bid and won’t be campaigning for the position. The deadline to officially withdraw has past. 

"I took on a leadership role in standing up and representing the people which lead me to register as a candidate for town councillor for Ward 3.

I believe we need new ideas, a new perspective and we must be open to figuring things out so we don’t make the wrong decisions and deteriorate people’s lives and the area that they live in.

After consulting with members of my community, my family, and members of my campaign team I have determined that I can best serve my community as an advocate and not as a town councillor.

As a result, I will be withdrawing my candidacy but my goal going forward is to continuously hold councillors Haslett-Theall and Gittings accountable.

It’s regrettable that I am not able to pursue a council position at this time. My family and I are so passionate about all that the town of Oakville has to offer, and my intention is to be proactive in our community and hopefully run in the next municipal election.”

Dave Gittings

A retired media advertising manager, Dave Gittings was first elected to represent Ward 3 in 2010. He served as town councillor for two terms before winning the town and regional councillor seat in 2018. In this election, he is again running for the town council seat.

Gittings says he has played a meaningful role in achieving important benefits for the local community, including the opening of the new Oakville Trafalgar Community Centre and the renewal of Lakeshore Road through Downtown Oakville.

He adds that maintaining ongoing relations with residents, business and community groups is imperative to understanding the community, and says that managing growth in Midtown, protecting the environment and maintaining fiscal responsibility are his top three priorities.

“Topping the list of our local issues is the Midtown Oakville growth area. We must ensure this new ‘community within a community’ preserves the liveability and sense of belonging that Ward 3 is home to. Meeting provincially mandated density increases are necessary; however, creating a well-planned, vibrant and complete community must be at the core of our commitment moving forward. Likewise, the upcoming comprehensive zoning review will play an important role in how Ward 3 deals with the changing nature of business, scale and intensity of warehousing and local zoning permissions.

Next is our environment. We must continue to expand and evolve the electrification of our Oakville Transit fleet and our transportation programs to reflect the need for a comprehensive approach that will have more of us leave our cars at home. We must introduce an ever-growing number of EV chargers to more locations across town. We must act on flood mitigation strategies, adopt increased active transportation opportunities and ensure that we increase green space, especially in our high-density neighbourhoods.

Rounding out my top three areas of interest is a continued commitment to fiscal responsibility. Council has held tax increases at or below the rate of inflation for my past three terms on council. As a result of the inflation pressures that are currently facing Oakville families and businesses, it is imperative that we continue to hold the line on tax increases.

Janet Haslett-Theall has been acclaimed as the Ward 3 town and regional councillor.