Jennifer Smith

There are now eleven candidates registered in Milton for the upcoming election, including three in Ward 2: myself, and incumbents Mike Boughton and Greg Nelson.

You read that right. Thanks to the reorganization of Milton into eight wards, Ward 2 has two incumbents. Other wards may end up in a similar spot, which is going to make this a very interesting election.

There are already some other interesting races shaping up. Jan Mowbray, current councillor for Ward 3, is going for the Regional seat this time for Wards 2, 3, 4 and 5 (the 'northern wards'). This will leave Ward 3 for Cindy Lunau if she runs again for local, but puts Mowbray up against Colin Best. Both are such excellent councillors, it's going to be a tough choice!

Another interesting trend: there are so many bloggers in this race, I've suggested forming the Milton Blogger Party. Besides myself, we have Zeeshan Hamid for Ward 8, and Mike Cluett in Ward 6. If the three of us are elected, you can be sure that your town council will become a lot more communicative.

Meanwhile, today's Champion has an article about the race for Ward 2. Greg hadn't registered at that point, so it's all about me and Barber Mike.

One challenger so far in Ward 2
Political blogger announces plan to run against Boughton
By Melanie Hennessey, Canadian Champion Staff

Incumbent Ward 2 Councillor Mike Boughton already has some competition for his seat on council in this fall’s municipal election.

The local barber, who’s currently serving his second term on council, will go up against newcomer Jennifer Smith for the spot on October 25.

Smith, a known political blogger and woman of many trades, said she put her name forward because she’s tired of simply talking about local issues and decided it’s time to do something about them.

The mother of one is also motivated by her concern over the lack of affordable housing in Milton.

“I have a 17-year-old son, and I don’t know where he’s going to live in Milton,” she said. “We need to do something.”

In addition to writing a movie review column for the Champion, Smith is also a semiprofessional singer and entrepreneur who runs her own on-line crafts business.

(read the rest here)