Joey’s Notepad: Final Day to Register. I’m at City Hall

Good morning.

Today is the final day for candidates to register to run in this year’s municipal election. There are 112 candidates already registered, a number consistent with past elections. Over 30 registrations have come in during the past 10 days, and the final day for registrations is typically one of the busiest of the entire nomination period. The workplaces of some candidates may require them to take an unpaid leave of absence, meaning many wait until the end to officially declare.

There will be no federal employees registering today, a change from usual. Federal employees must receive permission from the Public Service Commission of Canada to run, and a notice of the Commission’s decision is published in the Canada Gazette.

There have been no Hamilton candidacy permissions published in the Gazette.

(A good example of this process in practice is that Kingston’s full-time mayor, Bryan Paterson, is also an assistant professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. The Commission granted him permission to seek re-election, published June 13.)

Two weeks ago, the lobbying organization for Ontario’s municipalities issued a press release noting a downward trend in the number of candidates running each cycle in Ontario’s municipal elections.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s statement noted there remain many races across Ontario with only one, or no, candidates registered. Here in Hamilton, the Ward 5 Council incumbent still has no challenger.

The two French language school trustee races only have a single candidate as well.

Nominations close today at 2:00 p.m.

Mayor

• Sasha Austin
• Ejaz Butt
• Rob Cooper
• Paul Fromm
• Scarlett Gillespie
• Andrea Horwath (incumbent)
• Keanin Loomis
• Pamela Mitchell
• Nathalie Xian Yi Yan
• Kevin Walker

City Councillor

Ward 1

• Mark Powell
• Nathan Savelli
• Maureen Wilson (incumbent)

Ward 2

• Eisham Abdulkarim
• Daniel Greene
• Bill Houston
• Cameron Kroetsch (incumbent)
• Brian Lewis
• Kelly Oucharek
• Tony Sciara
• Bernard Tompkins

(Withdrawn: Daniel Myles, following inquiries regarding the criminal record of a Daniel Myles with the same date of birth and similar residency history.)

Ward 3

• Wade Campbell
• Christine Cayuga
• Christopher DeMelo
• Nrinder Nann (incumbent)
• Andrew Selman
• Graham Schreiber
• Kristeen Sprague

Ward 4

• Todd Anderson
• Jason Farr
• Tammy Hwang (incumbent)
• Tony Mamone

(Withdrawn: Rod Douglas)

Ward 5

• Matt Francis (incumbent)

Ward 6

• Melissa Debicki
• Tom Jackson (incumbent)
• Peter Werhun

Ward 7

• Heather Beale
• Mark Daly
• Gordon Leslie
• Esther Pauls (incumbent)

Ward 8

• Nenos Damerchie
• Dawn Danko
• Pat Piro
• Jacob Tenbrinke

Ward 9

• Brad Clark (incumbent)
• Abhijeet Gill
• Brad Stapleton
• Jonathan Stathakos
• Eileen Walker

(Withdrawn: Michael T. Loomans)

Ward 10

• Cal DiFalco
• Olivia Fung
• Sam Gamble
• Akash Grewal
• Michael T. Loomans
• Tanjoban Nijjar
• Larry Paletta
• Vince Rigitano
• Nicole Trombetta

(Withdrawn: Jeff Beattie)

Ward 11

• Damon Mombourquette
• Aaron Post
• Mark Tadeson (incumbent)

Ward 12

• Fred Bennink
• Craig Cassar (incumbent)

Ward 13

• Gary Aikema
• Rick Kunc
• Loren Lieberman
• Spencer Naylor

Ward 14

• Kojo Damptey
• Mike Spadafora (incumbent)

Ward 15

• Chase Alford
• Ted McMeekin (incumbent)
• Colleen Stewart
• Zac Wrobel
• Jeff Yaeger

School Board Trustee (English Public)

Ward 1

• Blake Hambly
• Shawn McMullin
• Jonathan Noble

Ward 2

• Sabreina Dahab (incumbent)

Shawn McMullin (Withdrawn)

Ward 3

• Frank Crowder

Ward 4

• Abby Zaitley (incumbent)

Ward 5 & 10

• Anthony Caputo
• Logan Shields
• Todd White (incumbent)

Ward 6 & 9

• Kathy Archer (incumbent)
• Todd May

Ward 7

• Seth Floyd
• Bill Kin

Ward 8 & 14

• Ben O’Reilly

Ward 11 & 12

• Melissa Baxter
• Amanda Fehrman (incumbent)

Ward 13

• Chris Slye
• Andrea Wappel

Ward 15

• Graeme Noble

School Board Trustee – English Separate (Catholic)

Wards 1, 2 & 15

• Mark Valvasori (incumbent)

Wards 3 & 4

• Ralph Agostino

Ward 5

• Aldo D’Intino (incumbent)

Ward 6

• Ellen Agostino (incumbent)
• Joanne Belanger
• Anthony Mari

Ward 7

• Nick Agostino
• Kevin Duffy
• Luca Filice

Ward 8 & 14

• John Valvasori (incumbent)

Ward 9 & 11

• Tyler Iorio (presently the Ward 7 Catholic Trustee)

Ward 10

• Andrea Di Nicola
• Mary Nardini (incumbent)

Ward 12 & 13

• Phil Homerski (incumbent)
• Kevin McKenna
• Paul Mercante

(Withdrawn: Paul Mercanti)

Conseil Scolaire Catholique MonAvenir (French Catholic)

• Nathalie Dufour Seguin

Conseil Scolaire Viamonde (French Public)

• Sonia Macaluso

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Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: August 21, 2026
Last updated: August 21, 2026
Author: Joey Coleman

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