The Good, The Bad and The Unexpected - City Council 2022 - 2026 (Featuring Panelists Steve Cordes and Devon Peacock)

Ward 1 Council Race: Incumbent Hadleigh McAlister and Challenger Roger Caranci join us to share their visions for London

Between now and election day, I hope to have many candidates join the show to give us a sense of why they’re running, and what their vision for London is. Today, we’re speaking with the candidates from Ward 1. Today, it's Ward 1 Incument, Hadleigh McAlister during the second segment of this episode. First up is challenger, Roger Caranci. London’s municipal election is underway. We’re still in the early days with the vote scheduled for October 26th. At the time of recording, there are 5 candidates running for mayor and 33 candidates running for one Ward seat or another. Based on these numbers, and considering that the 2022 election had a record setting low voter turnout, at just over 25 percent, there is a sense that the field of candidates running for office might be larger this time around, which could translate into greater interest and possibly higher voter turnout too. Naturally, a good deal of attention is directed to the City Wide Race which means it can be more difficult to find out about any given Ward Race. Here on Newsmakers, between now and election day, we’re going to take a look at as many of those Ward Races as possible, with specific attention given to the most contentious ones.For each of these episodes, all candidates running will be invited to participate and the questions will be fair and balanced. Thanks for listening!

The Municipal Election, What the Urban League of London Can Do For You.

What can the Urban League of London do for you? Luis Patricio, the volunteer president of the organization, is joining us for this next segment. Luis is an urbanist, an educator and a community organizer. He’s also a PhD candidate over at the Geography Department at Western University and a lecturer in the Governance Leadership and Ethics program at Huron University College. Luis is going to join us to give us a sense of how this volunteer organization supports neighbourhood associations right across the city during election periods AND outside of them, too. He’s here to tell us all about it. Thanks for listening!

The Election is Upon Us! Mike Donachie joins to tell us about the first days and what might happen next.

The Municipal Election is upon us. What should we be looking between now and the end of June? At the beginning of May, nominations for the municipal election opened, and now, close to 30 campaigns for seats around the council horseshoe are underway. Journalist Mike Donachie is joining us to give us an update about what’s happening in these early days of London’s municipal election. On May 1st, when City Hall’s Election Office opened, almost two dozen Londoners lined up,some for hours, to file what’s called their “nomination papers”. What does that mean? Essentially, this is the final step a Londoner must take before officially becoming a candidate in this election. There is some leg work involved leading up to this step - including a requirement to collect 25 signatures from other Londoners who are “nominating them” to stand for office. The candidate must also provide additional information within this paper work to demonstrate they are eligible to run in this election. So, They stand in line, submit their forms, pay a fee - $100 to run as a Ward Councillor and $200 to run for mayor - and they’re off. With over 20 candidates filing to run for office on day one and a total of 27 at the recording of this episode and more today, things are happening. What does all of this activity and this number of candidates coming forward in these early days mean? Mike’s Donachie is here to tell us all about it. So let’s go. Thanks for listening! Also, Mike may be clairvoyant. Listen to what hew has to say about Susan Stephenson!

The Good, The Bad and The Unexpected - City Council 2022 - 2026 (Featuring Panelists Steve Cordes and Devon Peacock)

City Hall Watchers Steve Cordes and Devon Peacock are joining the show to take one last look back at the 2022 - 2026 term of London City Council. In this episode we take a look at the Good, the Bad and the Unexpected. By and large, this term of London City Council is coming to a close as our local government switches gears and the focus shifts to election ahead. If you're listening to this on, or after, May 1st - the race is on. Candidates are filing their nomination papers and throwing their hats in the ring. With the election upon us, this current City Council is coming closer and closer to the end of its term. Over the months to come, the topics our panelists speak about today are likely to be the topics that are top of mind for candidates, voters and pundits alike. Our panelists today have seen their fair share of elections. Steve Cordes is the recently Retired Chief Executive Officer of Youth Opportunities Unlimited and he’s also the brand new host of the YouTube Video Blog: “Community Matters”. Devon Peacock is a person you’re probably familiar with. He’s the host of 980 CFPL’s “The Morning Show” and, if you can believe it, he’s been talking politics - on and off the air - here in London for the past 25 years. Thanks for listening!

The Municipal Election is Almost Upon Us. Nathan Caranci and Mike Donachie provide insight about where we are today and what might happen next.

The 2026 Municipal Election that is nearly upon us. Political Organizer, Nathan Caranci & Journalist, Mike Donachie join the show to provide some to provide some analysis about what’s happening right now, and what we can anticipate in the weeks and months ahead. At the beginning of May, candidates, both sitting members and challengers alike, will start registering their campaigns down at City Hall - and then the race is on. Running for a seat on a City Council is not for the faint of heart. It's a grueling, months-long endeavour. Picture knocking on hundreds of doors each day, thousands of doors each month; meeting and speaking with thousands of residents - right up to election day - sharing your message as far and as wide as you possibly can. These days, there is a whole digital element to campaigning too. This means that when serious contenders return home after a long day of knocking on doors, they are likely to fill the rest of their evening and early morning hours answering online surveys for this interest group, or that one, posting key messages on social media, returning residents calls and answering their emails too. After all this work, based on the odds, they are experiencing a months-long interview for a job that they probably won’t get. For successful candidates the reward, in terms of public service, is significant - AND - so is the workload. Most members of a council work impossibly hard - attending meetings during the day and events many evenings during the week. On the weekends? Community events and constituency work. Among all of this busy, they also have to find time to respond to emails and calls from constituents, read hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pages of reports in preparation for upcoming council, committee, board and commission meetings. In short, they make sacrifices to serve their constituents and their community. Keep in mind that these 4 years of hard work are then followed by, you guessed it, another months long, gruelling job interview. It’s democracy, and it’s a beautiful thing. London is on the cusp of the 2026 municipal election. As I said off the top, it also means that it’s time for our political panel to join us to provide insight and analysis to help you understand this process better. Nathan Caranci and Mike Donachie are two London Leaders joining us today. Nathan is a Political Insider who has worked on many Municipal Campaigns as well as many Conservative Campaigns, Provincially and Federally. He is also the newly appointed Executive Director of the London Property Management Association. Mike is Communications leader and journalist, and engaged Londoner for many years. A former City Hall reporter for the Metro London newspaper, he now writes about municipal matters here in London, as a public interest reporting project. Thanks for listening!