The 2010 Brantford municipal election was held on October 25, 2010, to elect a mayor, city councillors, and school trustees in the city of Brantford, Ontario.
Results
John Sless has worked at the Brantford Charity Casino and as an independent consultant.Ross Marowits, "Ward 2 traditionally a place of quiet politics," Brantford Expositor, 21 October 2000, A13; Michael-Allan Marion, "City voters will have choices for council," Brantford Expositor, 26 September 2003, A6. He ran for the Brantford city council in 1974 and 1976 and was defeated both times; on the latter occasion, he was backed by the United Auto Workers.Brantford Expositor, 3 December 1976, p. 17. He was elected for the city's second ward in 1991 and was re-elected in 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006. Sless was regarded as an ally of mayor Chris Friel on council until the latter's defeat in 2003."Down to the wire," Brantford Expositor, 11 November 2003, A12. He supported a long-term plan for downtown revitalization in 2002, was known as a supporter of sports and recreation programs, and in general opposed proposals for harsh cuts in municipal services.Michael-Allan Marion, "Council backs core plan," Brantford Expositor, 5 March 2002, A1; Michael-Allan Marion, "Revamping sport facilities requires political will," Brantford Expositor, 8 December 2008; Tim Philp, "Quality of life at stake in city reviews," Brantford Expositor, 9 May 2005, A10. Some local writers have noted that Sless was a clear and articulate, but not a frequent speaker on council.Dan McCreary, "Are councillors making the grade?", Brantford Expositor, 20 December 1999, A3; Tim Philp, "My choices for city council," Brantford Expositor, 8 November 2003, A13. He was the most prominent opponent of a plan to demolish several buildings on the south side of Colbourne Street in 2010; he argued that the demolition was not properly budgeted and that there was no plan for redevelopment.Denise Balkissoon, "Heritage treasures or hopeless hovels?", Brantford Expositor, 2 February 2010, A4. Mark Littell is a businessperson in Brantford.Ross Marowits, "Businesses still looking for pot of gold," Brantford Expositor, 30 November 2000, A4. He is the founding chair of Brantford's Habitat for Humanity, has been president of the city's Rotary Club and Community Reserve Board, and has served on the Grand Erie Training and Adjustment Board.Ross Marowits, "Canadian airports and business charters struggle to cope with customs changes," Canadian PressWire, 20 December 2001; "GETAB successful thanks to good partners," Brantford Expositor, 17 July 2002, C3; Tom Kennedy, "Littell mayoral bid falls short", Brant News, 26 October 2010, accessed 15 February 2011. He also chaired the Brantford Airport Commission in the early 2000s.Susan Gamble, "Ron gets Queen's Park payout," Brantford Expositor, 8 April 1999, A3. Littell was elected to the Brantford city council in 2006, winning a seat in the city's first ward.2006 Election Results Summary , City of Brantford, accessed 14 February 2011. While on council, he chaired a city taskforce that recommended demolishing several buildings on the south side of Colborne Street. Littell argued that the buildings had blighted the community for several years, while opponents argued that they had historical and cultural value.Paul Morse, "Brantford debates bulldozing history," Hamilton Spectator, 29 January 2010, A1; Denise Balkissoon, "Heritage treasures or hopeless hovels?", Toronto Star, 2 February 2010, A4. Council endorsed demolition on June 7, 2010, and work crews began talking down the buildings the following day.Denise Balkissoon, "Brantford votes to raze downtown buildings," Hamilton Spectator, 8 June 2010, GT2; Jim Wilkes, "170 years demolished in Brantford; 41 historic buildings to be destroyed in the city's core," Hamilton Spectator, 9 June 2010, GT2. Littell was fifty-five years old in the 2010 campaign and proposed integrating more services with Brant County in a bud to reduce property taxes.Michael-Allan Marion, "Littell makes case for sharing services to cut costs" , Brantford Expositor, 2010, accessed 15 February 2011; Brant News Municipal Election 2010, 12 October 2010, accessed 15 February 2011. Dianne M. Austin was born in Etobicoke, Toronto and later moved to Norland to raise a family.Lance Anderson, "Fighting injustice on many fronts," Peterborough This Week, 27 April 2005, p. 08. She is a veteran community organizer.Kathleen Keena, "Old 1-room schoolhouses at centre of education furor," Toronto Star, 29 August 1987, A4. In the 1980s, she led in a public campaign against school closures. The campaign was initially targeted against the Victoria County Board of Education's decision to close five village schools in favour of larger, consolidated units.John McFadden, "5 Kawartha-area schools ordered closed by board," Toronto Star, 17 October 1986, A7. Later, she joined with other groups across the province to form a group called the Save Our Schools coalition.Rudy Platiel, "Boards accused of violating guidelines," Globe and Mail, 1 September 1987, A13. She herself was elected as a school trustee to the Victoria County board in the 1988 municipal election and sought to reduce the power of unelected directors of education.Orlando French, "Trustees' group wants more power," Globe and Mail, 17 July 1990, A8. She was re-elected in 1991 and 1994. In 1995, Austin became executive director of Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Victoria-Haliburton. She was elected as reeve of Somerville Township in the 1997 municipal election; by virtue of this position, she also served as a regional councillor for Victoria County.Ingrid Nielsen, "Group brings in new leader," Peterborough Examiner, 27 June 2000, A1. She opposed her community's amalgamation into Kawartha Lakes in 2000.Jeffrey Ferrier, "Restructuring report expected," Peterborough Examiner, 11 April 2000, B3. Austin moved to Peterborough shortly before her term ended and was appointed as chief executive officer of the Peterborough and District Association for Community Living, a group that assists people with developmental disabilities.Marion Rankin, "Events put focus on community living," Peterborough Examiner, 1 May 2002, C3; Ingrid Nielsen, "Group brings in new leader," Peterborough Examiner, 27 June 2000, A1. In 2001, she led a campaign to ensure low-income disabled people would receive subsidized bus passes.Joseph Kim, "Bus pass plan given group endorsement," Peterborough Examiner, 21 May 2001, A1. She also oversaw the building of new group homes to provide greater privacy and independence.MaryEllen McManamy, "Focusing on abilities, celebrating changes," Peterborough Examiner, 11 July 2002, A6. She later moved to Brantford, where she served as executive director of the Brant United Way from 2007 to 2009 and subsequently became a regional manager for the ALS Society of Ontario. She was fifty-four years old during the 2010 election and focused on targeting unemployment.Sean Allen, "Austin makes it official", Brant News, 12 April 2010, accessed 15 February 2011; Brant News Municipal Election 2010, 12 October 2010, accessed 15 February 2011. Her campaign included both Liberal and Conservative organizers, although she stressed that she was not representing any party ideology.Michael-Allan Marion, "Austin says it's 'right time' to run" , Brantford Expositor, 2010, accessed 15 February 2011. Mike Quattrociocchi was born and raised in Brantford and graduated in law and security from Mohawk College."Local builder running in Ward 1," Brantford Expositor, 28 August 2000, A5. He is a property developer and has been active with Habitat for Humanity.Vincent Ball, "Vacant seat attracts Ward 1 candidates," Brantford Expositor, 20 October 2000. A9. Before running for office, he was a citizen member of Brantford's community development committee."Adjustment committee named," Brantford Expositor, 28 October 1999, A9. He sought election to the Brantford city council in 2000, at age thirty-two, and finished third in the city's first ward. He was elected on his second attempt in 2003 and was appointed to serve on the city's brownfields committee. Nominated for the Canadian Urban Institute's brownfield cleanup and redevelopment award in 2004, he lost to fellow Brantford councillor Marguerite Ceschi-Smith."City councillors up for 'Brownie' awards," Brantford Expositor, 15 October 2004, A6; "'Brownie' points awarded to 'tireless' Ceschi-Smith," Brantford Expositor, 22 October 2004, A6; Tim Philp, "Political plots twist and turn in brownfields advisory group," Brantford Expositor, 22 November 2004, A8. He was appointed to the city's police services board and corporate services committee in December 2005.Michael-Allan Marion, "McCreary loses police board seat," Brantford Expositor, 1 December 2005, A5; "Ceschi-Smith to head committee," Brantford Expositor, 19 December 2005, A4. In 2006, he was one of two councillors to vote against maintaining a legacy account for Laurier Brantford.Michael-Allan Marion, "Have we done enough for Laurier?", Brantford Expositor, 22 February 2006, A3. Quattrociocchi supported the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2006 federal election and was himself defeated in the 2006 municipal campaign.Michael-Allan Marion, "Tories will clean up brownfields: Harper makes pledge during campaign stop in city," Brantford Expositor, 6 January 2006, A1; 2006 Election Results Summary , City of Brantford, accessed 14 February 2011. He became involved in a dispute with the Haudenosaunee Development Institute in 2007, over what he described as mafia-like extortion on a construction project he had started on disputed land (he has said that he attempted to contact the HDI several times before starting construction, and assumed when he did not receive a response that the project could go ahead).John Burman, "Native protest stalls Brantford project," Brantford Expositor, 5 September 2007, A12; James Rusk, "Six Nations development fee refused," Globe and Mail, 7 September 2007, A17. Concerning the "mafia" comment, Quattrociocchi added, "I'm Italian. I can say those politically incorrect things." See Paul Legall, "Builder calls natives' fees 'Mafia shakedown'," Hamilton Spectator, 14 September 2007, A1. In the 2010 campaign, he focused on transparency in government.Sean Allen, "Mike Q into the race", Brant News, 9 April 2010, accessed 14 February 2011.