Affordability, traffic top of mind for Burlington voters in municipal election

Burlington, Ont. residents casting their advanced votes Tuesday at Tansley Woods Community Centre had money — and traffic congestion — on their minds.

“The affordability of life,” says one voter.

“Housing is another big one that people can’t afford right now,” says another local.

“I feel sorry for the younger folk, because the money just doesn’t add up for them,” states another Burlington resident.

Burlington mayoral candidate Rory Nisan voted today and is promising what he calls “The Burlington Affordability Guarantee” that would anchor the city’s budget to the rate of inflation.

“We are talking about an inflationary budget. The mindset that you have to cut things in order for the budget to go up by two per cent is just wrong. But that’s exactly the kind of mindset we have had for eight years and that’s exactly how we’ve had a 42 per cent budget increase over the last four,” says Nisan.

Incumbent mayoral candidate Marianne Meed Ward says she won’t make a guarantee when it comes to the budget.

“It’s something that we as a council have already directed our staff to do, is bring a budget at inflation and at zero, and it could be between the two. It could be actually less than inflation. So that is already underway. Council will get those options and council as a whole makes a decision,” says Meed Ward.

And mayoral candidate Lisa Kearns says residents don’t feel like their tax dollars are being respected.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate at this moment to anchor ourselves to a particular number. We’ve asked for that report back from staff. What I can say is I will respect every tax dollar and tax penny, but we do have obligations that we have to meet, including trying to tackle a $350 million infrastructure deficit,” says Kearns.

And then there’s traffic.

“Traffic is huge. Going north–south in Burlington is really difficult,” remarks one voter.

The three mayoral candidates CHCH News spoke with say traffic is a big concern in Burlington, not only in the downtown core but in neighbourhoods around the city.

“I’m going to bring advance traffic management systems to the city that have been shown to reduce traffic by 15 percent,” says Nisan.

“… So that’s already underway. Council received that action plan and directed staff to come forward with our very first costed congestion management plan for Burlington in the new term of council,” says Meed Ward.

“We’ve been waiting for our lights to be synchronized for a really long time, we have to update our transit master plan to get our transit system working in a way that helps people choose it as their first choice, and I’ll also continue to host traffic and congestion town halls,” says Kearns.

There are a total of five mayoral candidates in Burlington, including Keith Demoe who ran for Ward 2 councillor in the 2022 election, and Yugalkeesor Ramdhonee is new to politics, but has a background in hospitality.

Today is the last day for in person advanced voting in Burlington.