Ward 4 – Oakville’s most populous ward with 26,573 eligible electors at last count – is solidly suburban.
Single-family homes built on winding crescents and cul-de-sacs dominate the ward. Most streets exude the leafy, stable, upper-middle-class feel that typified the town’s growth in previous decades.
Ward 4 is bounded on the north by Dundas Street, on the south by the QEW and on the west by Bronte Road. Its eastern boundary follows the Sixteen Mile Creek between Dundas and Upper Middle, then jogs eastward along Upper Middle Road and southward along Taplow Creek Trail.
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.
The candidates for both town council and town and regional council seats are presented in alphabetical order. All live in ward 4 unless otherwise noted.
Ward 4 town council candidates
Real estate agent Gordon Brennan, who ran unsuccessfully in the ward in 2018 and for the mayor’s job in 2014, says he’s a good candidate for council because he is not biased toward any political party but simply wants to address the needs of local residents.
"I have never been a politician, just politically involved," he says.
A local resident for nearly 30 years, Brennan has volunteered with Oakvillegreen, Big Brothers of Halton and local school councils.
His platform ideas include offering a $100,000 municipal grant for first-time Oakville homebuyers and reducing property taxes on industrial, commercial and institutional properties in exchange for reduced rent for business tenants.
"Ward 4 is a beautiful, affluent enclave of mostly residential areas that have enjoyed a relatively peaceful existence with Mother Nature and our man-made environment. For many years, caring residents have voiced their concerted concerns with overdevelopment and the removal of what was thought to be long-term permanent green space.
Those green spaces have been repeatedly violated with New Home Subdivisions, and Mayor Rob Burton and some councillors have used this issue by making unfounded promises that they will save it all. Every four years, more green space disappears, and every four years, additional promises are made to save it. This nonsense must stop.
Residents have been complaining about the excessive speeding and congestion on our roadways for many years with no abatement despite the constant promises made by our councillors to stop it. While we all live in a safe ward, the incidences of violent crimes have escalated in our neighbourhoods and photo-ops with other politicians is not going to help. We need real solutions for real issues, now."
First appointed to town council in May 2018 after the resignation of councillor Roger Lapworth, Longo won the Ward 4 seat in the 2018 election.
He now lives outside Ward 4, but his home was within the ward until the 2018 boundary changes.
Currently the chief operating officer for a not-for-profit organization in the healthcare industry, Longo led the COVID-19 supply chain task force for Ontario, securing PPE and medical supplies during the pandemic.
He serves on the board of directors of Future Energy Oakville, is a member of the Town of Oakville Water Air Rescue Force (TOWARF) executive, and is a long-time soccer coach with the Oakville Soccer Club - coaching 46 teams over 12 years.
"I believe Oakville needs to continue to control debt and taxes, manage urban growth and improve traffic calming.
Oakville has done a tremendous job keeping overall property taxes in line with inflation, building strong reserves and carefully managing debt levels. This has been the foundation that has allowed our community to do so much over the years to improve our facilities and maintain our infrastructure. We must continue this sound financial management.
Our community faces substantial growth over the coming 30 years, and we need to manage this growth by creating and protecting our own plans for how and where new growth will occur. This includes protecting our green spaces, allowing attainable housing to be built and creating plans for high-quality employment to continue to flourish in our community. All this needs to be done while ensuring new development pays for the costs of new infrastructure.
Finally, our community needs to continue to recognize the need for safe streets. We need to continue to improve our traffic safety plans with better traffic calming on our local roads. We need to adopt new traffic technologies like automated speed enforcement, red light cameras and advanced traffic signal control systems to efficiently supplement our police enforcement."
Ward 4 town and regional council candidates
A former Bell Canada manager, Allan Elgar has served as Ward 4 town and regional councillor since 2000.
His involvement in local politics began when he volunteered as founding director and the first president of Oakvillegreen Conservation Association. Over the last two decades, he has served on numerous boards, including as a member of the Conservation Halton board of directors since 2001.
His top priorities are protecting green space, managing finances and traffic calming.
"Preventing unwanted development and degradation of natural areas is an ongoing challenge. Protecting greenspace is an important component in our battle with climate change. Parks, natural areas and trails are essential for the quality of life of our residents.
Ensuring fiscal responsibility at the town and region is an issue that I promise I will continue to insist upon. Developers must be pressured to continue paying their full share of the costs of growth. Although the region has succeeded in keeping taxes at or below the rate of inflation for the last 12 years, with rising inflation rates, it will be more important than ever to ensure that hard-earned tax dollars are spent carefully.
On a local level, however, traffic calming is the issue I am contacted about most often by residents. They are concerned about the safety of their children as some drivers are casual about speed limits and stop signs. Flashing lights at crosswalks, speed bumps, traffic islands, and increased police enforcement have all helped. Coming soon are Automated Speed Enforcement cameras which will help identify and charge offenders."
Gilbert Jubinville ran as the North Oakville-Burlington candidate for the People’s Party of Canada in the 2021 federal election.
A certified engineering technician and owner of a civil engineering design company, he says his experience with planning, zoning, stormwater management and road design issues will allow him to make the correct decision on the town’s most important issues.
His top priorities are fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability, sustainable and transparent development, and dealing with crime.
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"I would support a complete independent audit of the city’s budget to find savings without removing services and confirm that it would be reasonable to freeze or lower property taxes.
I would advocate for transparency and efficiency with site plans and zoning applications. Lower the cost and speed up the process for environmentally sustainable projects. Reduce bottlenecks in traffic, which will increase productivity and boost the economy.
I will support our front-line police and advocate for accurate crime data reporting that is not based on politics and seek advice from the community and front-line police for lowering crime."