Several Major Upsets in Municipal Elections

Jim Diodati among those losing, along with Wayne Redekop.

It was a night of upsets in several cities across Ontario on Monday evening in the municipal elections, and none bigger than in Niagara Falls, where 16-year incumbent Jim Diodati was defeated by former City Councillor Lori Lococo.

The first thing for her to do... the budget, looking at where money is spent, and justify expenses.

She wants to find if there's a better plan.  "Maybe we're not spending money effectively, it could be done better.  I want to review CIP programs, to see if we're getting a return on investment.  We're putting a lot of money into these, but what is the return."

She admits she was planning to go for council again, but enough people convinced her otherwise this time.

She also wants a more collaborative approach to leadership, saying there's a lot of experience coming to the new council.  "We have a lot of experience at the table, everybody has some different experience.  Let's see who likes doing different things, who's better at certain things.  We have some (former) regional councillors at the table, which will be very important to know for me, as a mayor sitting at the table."

It was much the same in Fort Erie, where incumbent Wayne Redekop was taken down by Tom Insinna, and Pat Chiocchio takes over as mayor in Welland.

But there wasn't much in the way of drama in St. Catharines, where Mat Siscoe was easily re-elected to a second-term, which he previously has stated would be his last. Jeff Jordan returns to office in Grimsby and Brian Grant in Wainfleet.

In Port Colborne, Bea Kenny ousted incumbent Bill Steele, Thorold's new mayor is Tim Whalen, who narrowly beat Henry D'Angela, at last count.  Jeff Jordan is back in Grimsby, Adam Russell takes over in Lincoln, Cheryl Ganann was acclaimed in West Lincoln, Niagara on the Lake's new Lord Mayor is Vaughn Goettler, and incumbent Marvin Junkin beating Frank Adamson by 15 votes in Pelham.  

There will be a new mayor in Hamilton. Keanin Loomis scored a huge victory over Andrea Horwath, who as of late Monday night was a distant third in the crowded 13-person race.

Another major upset took place in Mississauga, where relative unknown Alvin Tedjo shocked incumbent Carolyn Parrish and former mayor Bonnie Crombie.

In Milton, Gordon Krantz has been ousted by George Minakakis. The significance? Krantz had been mayor since 1980, making his 46 years in office the longest in Ontario's history. 

In Toronto, despite closing the gap significantly in recent weeks, Brad Bradford was unable to unseat Olivia Chow.