County of Brant Chamber of Commerce is partnering with the Brant County Federation of Agriculture to host a 2026 municipal election Meet the Candidates Forum on Wednesday, October 7, 2026.
With residents set to soon elect a new mayor, ward councillors and school board trustees, the event gives the public the opportunity to meet and mingle with candidates ahead of voting day on Monday, October 26.
A total of 38 residents have put their names forward for the various positions, including six mayoral candidates, 27 candidates running for council and five seeking school board trustee positions.
Given the number of candidates running in the election, Sue Morton, Executive Director for the County of Brant Chamber of Commerce, said the forum will not follow a traditional moderated question-and-answer format.
“There’s just so many ward candidates, so we knew we couldn’t do it that way. Instead, we’re going to have them in the gymnasium of Sojourn Church for an open meet and greet,” she said. “We’ll just section them off by ward, and then the public can go in and speak with those candidates directly, ask them any questions they wish to ask them, and get a feel for their viewpoints and how they present themselves. And the same goes for the school board trustees. We invited them as well, so they’re more than welcome to come and take part.”
Morton continued, “As for the mayoral candidates, we’re going to have them set up in the sanctuary side of the church so they can speak for themselves, but we won’t be asking them any specific questions. We’ll probably give them about five minutes each to stand up there and talk about their vision for the County and and we’ll leave it up to them to touch on what they would like. Now, we may have to run that more than once in case we get an overflow situation where not enough people can fit in the sanctuary to hear them, but afterwards, they’ll get the chance to mingle with the public too.”
With all that in mind, the chamber has provided each candidate with a questionnaire, giving them an opportunity to share their viewpoints on a selection of topics. The completed questionnaires are expected to be posted on the organization’s website on September 30.
“One of our advocacy committee members, Dave Cash, created a series of 11 questions in total, and they are all issues that are very much related to the County of Brant and things that we feel are pertinent to the residents,” said Morton. “Those will all be posted on the County of Brant Chamber of Commerce website, as of September 30 and everybody’s responses will be launched at the same time. So, if the public doesn’t get an opportunity to come out and speak to them directly, they can always go to the website and take a look at the responses of those who provided them.”
The executive director went on to say that the event is free and fully open to the public, allowing any County residents who are interested the chance to connect with local candidates.
“I think it’s really important to engage with politics at the local level like this, because these people are the ones who are going to determine the direction the County is going to take for the next four years, and the public needs to know where they stand on issues that are relevant,” said Morton. “Municipal politics covers things like your local taxes, infrastructure, schools, libraries, transportation systems and your economic development. It’s all tied together with how well the community is supported, and in turn, how well the community thrives. People need to understand what the issues are and know what the candidates’ viewpoints are on whatever issue matters the most to them.”
She continued, “I encourage everyone to come on out and talk to the candidates if they can, check out the questionnaires on our website when they’re up, educate themselves on local politics and get involved, because this all impacts your day-to-day lives.”
For those interested in attending, the event will take place at Sojourn Church, 112 Scott Ave. in Paris, from 7 to 9 p.m.
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.
