Rob Burton is a Canadian businessman, journalist and politician. He currently serves as the mayor of Oakville,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He was elected in the municipal elections of 2006, having failed to unseat

Ann Mulvale Ann Mulvale (born 1949) is a Canadian politician. She served as mayor of Oakville, Ontario for 18 years, from 1988 to 2006. Mayor of Oakville Mulvale was first elected mayor in 1988, defeating incumbent Bill Perras, after unsuccessfully running ...

in 2003. He was re-elected to office in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 municipal elections. In a 2014 endorsement of his re-election campaign, the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

editorial board called Burton "among the best mayors in the Greater Toronto Area."

Early career and education

Burton graduated from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

with a degree in history and economics before receiving a Master's of Science in Journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. After receiving his master's degree in 1971, he became a journalist for the ''

Watertown Daily Times The ''Watertown Daily Times'' is a newspaper published six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, in Watertown, New York. It provides coverage of Jefferson County, Lewis County, St. Lawrence County and Oswego County. It was founded in 1861 and ...

'' in New York State. He was recruited shortly after by CBC to help establish their new consumer rights programme ''

Marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

''. He worked as a journalist and television producer until 1988, when he led the creation of the youth-focused television station YTV. After founding the station, he went on to work as the general manager and vice-president of programming and production.

Political career

Burton first ran for Mayor in 2003. A dark-horse candidate up against five-term incumbent Ann Mulvale, Burton ultimately lost his first bid for Mayor by a grand total of 28 votes. Burton ran again in 2006, managing to unseat Mulvale by a nearly 2000-vote margin. Mulvale challenged Burton for the mayorship once again in 2010, but was soundly defeated by over 4000 votes. In his time as Mayor, Burton has been an outspoken advocate for growth control, environmental protection and greenspace. He is a vocal supporter of Ontario's

Greenbelt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

, founding the "Municipal Leaders for the Greenbelt" alongside Ajax Mayor Steve Parrish and Toronto Councillor Glenn de Baeremaker, which he still chairs today. He is a vocal critic of Ontario's development industry, describing large developers as a 'cartel' in 2017, after suggestions that developers wanted to ease planning restrictions and greenspace protections to improve housing affordability. In 2015, Burton apologized for a series of tweets comparing Stephen Harper's use of veterans in the

Canadian Corps of Commissionaires Commissionaires Canada is a Canadian non-profit security firm, originally established to provide employment to ex-servicemen. History Modeled after the British Corps of Commissionaires, the Canadian Corps was formed in 1925 with the opening of offi ...

to Mussolini's

Blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Natio ...

and Hitler's

Brownshirts The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ralli ...

. Burton is the founder and chair of the Ontario Auto Mayors, a group of municipal leaders in communities with a large automotive manufacturing presence, advocating for more coordinated support of Ontario's automotive sector among all three levels of government. He has also served as the Chair of the Halton Police Services Board since 2014. Rob Burton won reelection in October 2022 by a narrow margin.

References

External links

Rob Burton official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Rob Living people Mayors of Oakville, Ontario Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Year of birth missing (living people)

Early career and education

Political career

See also

References

External links