Mlynarz Decides to Try for Mayor Instead

She came within a quarter of a per cent of  taking second place in Guelph's provincial election race, but it sounds like she's not prepared to settle for second this fall by running in the municipal election. Aggie Mlynarz has announced that she intends to run for Mayor of Guelph against the incumbent Cam Guthrie on October 22.

A press release sent to the local press late last night announced that Mlynarz will be filing her papers at City Hall at 9 am Monday, and will be holding a press availability at 10C at 10 am. 

"As Guelph moves into its largest phase of new development, citizens deserve bold and visionary leadership that puts community interests first.  On October 22, citizens will have the opportunity to vote for progress, equality and prosperity," said the press release. 

"Inspired by incredible women like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Aggie will press on, undeterred, to make positive changes in her community."

To date, Guthrie has run unopposed in his re-election bid. Last week, Gerry Barker speculated about running for mayor in a post on his Guelph Speaks blog, but so far he's only unveiled a platform.

Another blast from the past now on the ballot in Ward 4 is Peter Hamtak. Hamtak won a seat in Ward 6 in 2003 by coming in first place with 19.68 per cent of the vote, and was part of a strong centre right showing led by the election of Mayor Kate Quarrie. Of course, Hamtak was one of the nine that were swept out of office with Quarrie in 2006, where he came in fourth place with 16.81 per cent. 

The other two additions to the council ballot this week were Anshu Khurana, an employee of Immigrant Services in Guelph who's running in the very busy Ward 6 race, and local business owner Dave Heffernan who's running in the equally busy Ward 1 race. Of course, Wards 1, 4 and 6 are the three wards where one of the incumbents has yet to announce that they're running for re-election.

The deadline to submit nomination papers in order to run for mayor, school trustee, or city council is next Friday at 2 pm.