County of Brant Council unanimously decided to hold a by-election for the vacant Ward five seat during its regular Council meeting on Tuesday, November 25, 2025.
The decision comes after former Councillor Christine Garneau took to social media to announce she would be leaving her Ward 5 position on Friday, October 17, 2025, and submitted her formal resignation to the County on Monday, October 20.
While Council members filled the former councillor’s committee roles during the October 28 Council meeting, staff were directed to come back with a report detailing different options in regards to filling her seat by the Tuesday, November 18 Administration and Operations meeting.
The options that ultimately came forward included:
- Appointment of a 2022 election candidate: This would have allowed Council to appoint one of three eligible candidates from the 2022 election including: Ella Haley (665 votes), Mike Gatopoulos (500 votes), or John Starkey (357 votes).
- Appointment by open call for applications: This would have allowed Council to issue a call for applications from interested and eligible individuals.
- Direct appointment: A member of Council would have been able to put forward a recommendation to appoint an individual (a former councillor, for example) for Council’s consideration.
- By-Election: This option would enable Council to fill the vacancy through a by-election. Staff recommended that it be done through internet voting with one physical polling station located in Ward 5.
While Council initially supported option three, the item was brought forward for further discussion during the November 25 meeting.
“If anybody watched the video of that [Administration and Operations] meeting, they would have seen a pretty muddled several minutes where we seem to attempt to pass different motions and solutions related to the [different options],” said Ward 2 Councillor Steve Howes. “It was pretty messy, and it clearly illustrated that left in the hands of ourselves, there are a lot of different opinions on how to approach this and it gets really messy really fast. I think with the benefit of some second thoughts since that meeting, I would like to propose that we go back to revisiting and supporting option number four, which is the option of a by-election.”
“I do believe that this is a situation where the residents of Ward 5 need to be the ones who determine who represents them,” he continued. “I know there’s a timeline factor involved, it doesn’t happen quickly, and I also know that there’s some cost involved; we had discussed this at the last meeting that some of the costs related to a by-election, are covered by the fact that the second Ward 5 councillor is not being paid for several months. So with that said, I would like to see us revisit that.”
Mayor David Bailey then agreed that a by-election was the right option.
“I think it’s the fairest thing to do and the most transparent thing for us to do, especially when we’ve had elections in surrounding municipalities where we spoke out against what we thought was transparent,” he said. “So for us to do something that’s not transparent, I think it just doesn’t suit us.”
Councillor John Bell then asked staff how soon someone could be seated in the Ward 5 position if Council chose to hold the by-election, and the clerk, Sunayana Katikapalli, confirmed it would be around March 2026.
It was then clarified that if they decided to go with option three, that date would change to January.
“My question to all my colleagues is, are we comfortable as a council, running with only ten people? I think we have seen quite a number of five-five decisions in the last couple of months, and they would have not been five-five if we had a full suite of councillors,” said Bell. “So are we comfortable running until March with only ten of us around the horseshoe? I’m not, so I will not support this.”
Councillor Jennifer Kyle went on to say that she herself was comfortable with supporting a by-election.
“I realize it takes a little bit more time and there’s more cost associated with it, but I think it’s the option that does provide the most transparency, the most clarity, and it allows the residents of the ward to select the person they want in the chair,” she said. “If we think about over the course of the term, there’ve been many times when there’s been one person who’s been away for vacation or whatnot, and we’ve managed to pass motions and to carry on with County business even though that person was absent.”
“I think it’s probably just coincidence that we’ve had a number of things that have been kind of contentious in the last couple of meetings, that have made that potential option [two] a little bit more obvious, but it is something that we have dealt with throughout the course of the term,” continued Kyle.
The now lone Ward 5 Councillor, Brian Coleman, said he too was supportive of holding a by-election.
“After seeing and witnessing the cluster of what happened last Tuesday morning, the by-election is much easier,” he said. “Let the residents of Ward 5 decide.”
Councillor Robert Chambers asked how the by-election would work as far as the nomination process and the timeline.
It was later confirmed that once the by-law detailing key election dates for the by-election is passed during the Tuesday, December 2 meeting, nomination day must be scheduled no less than 30 days, and no more than 60 days later.
As per the Municipal Elections Act, once nomination day occurs, the by-election has to take place 45 days after that.
While a by-law with the official dates has yet to come forward and be approved, with the upcoming budget discussions, County will likely hold the by-election in early March 2026, and administer the oath of office in advance of the March 24 Council meeting.
The vote to move forward with option four was then carried unanimously. The online by-election is expected to cost approximately $20,000 to $25,000 and can be covered by the County’s election reserve.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
