Marianne Meed Ward ( Meed; born January 4, 1966) is an American-born Canadian politician and former journalist who has served as the 29th and current mayor of

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

since December 3, 2018.

Early life and education

Born in

Greeley, Colorado Greeley is the home rule municipality city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Weld County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,795 at the 2020 United States Census, an increase of 17.12% since the 2010 ...

, to a Canadian father and American mother, Ward grew up in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

before moving to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

where she earned a

Bachelor of Journalism The Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) degree is a degree awarded at some universities to students who have studied journalism in a three or four year undergraduate program. In the United States, some schools that do not award the B.J. degree instead c ...

from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

in 1989.

Career in media

Ward worked for ''Faith Today'' magazine from 1989, becoming managing editor in 1996. She resigned her position in February 1999 following a 'change in direction' at the magazine. She launched her own communications business, Meed Ward Media, providing writing, editorial, consulting or teaching services to a range of clients including Chatelaine, Vision TV, Ryerson University, Tyndale College, CHCH TV, Crossroads Communications, and the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'' where she served as a weekly columnist covering faith and ethics, and later covering the 905 area of the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...

. She stood down from the position to contest the 2010 election.

Career in politics

Ward first entered politics by running for Ward 1 councillor in the 2006 municipal election, losing to Rick Craven. In 2007, she Ward ran as the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser (Ontario MPP), John Fraser since August 2022. The party esp ...

candidate for

, coming second to PC candidate Joyce Savoline by only 1824 votes, and receiving 37.81% of the vote. After 2007, Ward returned to journalism, before deciding to run for election municipally. After moving to downtown Burlington (Ward 2), she ran for municipal council again in 2010, defeating incumbent Peter Thoem. She was re-elected in 2014, before running in 2018 for mayor, and defeating incumbent Rick Goldring.

2018 Municipal election

Ward was up against two-term incumbent

Rick Goldring Patrick "Rick" Goldring (born August 23, 1957) is a Canadian politician who served as the 28th mayor of Burlington, Ontario from 2010 to 2018. He graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Politics Goldrin ...

. She campaigned on stopping overdevelopment in Burlington, specifically downtown. She had also campaigned on addressing traffic congestion, flood risk, protecting the city's tree canopy, tax reform and building trust between the community and council, although it was revealed during the Burlington Mayoral Candidates Meeting on October 4th, 2022 that Ward would not take calls, respond to emails from, or meet with another candidate, and during the course of her four-year term, citizens had posted on social media about how accounts of her critics were routinely blocked. Ward won the 2018 municipal election with 23,360 votes and receiving 46.04% of the vote. In December 2018, Ward had police lay charges against a third-party advertiser she felt had targeted her campaign. By April 2022, all charges had been withdrawn.

Controversies

Ward announced on the 23rd November 2022 that she was mandating all employees to wear a facemask due to a "perfect storm" of illness in both the community and among city staff, despite there being no recommendation for mask mandates from either provincial or federal governments.

Personal life

Ward currently resides in Burlington with her husband Peter and their three children.

References

External links

Burlington City Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Marianne Meed 1966 births Living people American emigrants to Canada Journalists from Ontario Mayors of Burlington, Ontario Ontario Liberal Party candidates in Ontario provincial elections People from Greeley, Colorado Women mayors of places in Ontario Carleton University alumni