Make this a three-way race by Terry Carroll As of early August, 2026, two cand- idates are brave or silly enough to run for mayor, replacing Joe Preston (age 70) in the October 26 municipal election. The “brave or silly enough” part isn’t about the mayor’s job be-
accidentally logged out by touching the screen by mistake. “The screen was too sensitive,” he said, “Just like me” … you get the picture!); – introduced customer service at City Hall (apparently nothing is impossible!). In St. Thomas, we pride ourselves on doing things dif- ferently. Take the mythic story of Steve Peters. In 1988 at age 25, he went from bag boy at the A & P grocery store to alderman. Three years later, he was elected mayor for the first (but not the last) time. In that 1991 three-way race, two more experienced candidates fought it out vigorously, splitting the vote. Steve quietly walked up the middle, making national headlines as the youngest mayor in Canada, at age 28. This year (as of this writing), it’s a two-way race featuring: Aidan Frederick, junior staff accountant at Graham Scott Enns, looking to best Peters’ achievement by coming out of nowhere to be elected mayor at the age of 27; Jeff Kohler, who served as mayor in the early 2000s and has been elected to City Council multiple times. He’s a young 58. Can Frederick beat Kohler? Does a snowball stand a chance in Hades? The answer is “Nein,” but nobody thought anyone could save the federal Liberals last year until Mark Carney, with no political experience, took over as leader. Fellow seniors, following the Peters playbook, we need to make this a three-way race. By the time this column appears, it will be too late to nominate someone. A write- in candidate’s our only option. His last name is spelled L-A-I-N-G. Having studied at the feet of the master, he’s ready. Certain officials will call these spoiled ballots. Should we write Grayden in anyway, to spite these spoilsports? The master’s answer to all questions is, “Yes.” P.S. After deadline for this issue, Corey Janzen filed his nomination papers for mayor, making it a three-way race. (Guess he knew the history here!)
Geoffrey Rae Managing Editor / Sales Geoff@villagerpublications.com 519-495-7177 Copy Editor: Peter Bloch-Hansen Publisher: Barb Botten barb@villagerpublications.com Graphic Artist – Cathy Wood Photos, community events and article suggestions welcome. Please email hometown@villagerpublications.com. We look forward to hearing from you. oomers oomers B and B EYOND – fielded softball questions from Grayden Laing on Mayor’s Update, a Rogers TV show selected as a “standout project” in the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario’s Transparency Showcase (a show so chummy, yet industry-recognized!); ing too demanding with too little pay, although the time commitment and the pay would scare off any sensible person. It’s about electing someone better than our “The answer is yes, now what was the question?” mayor. That’s a tall order. Over two terms, Joe has: – herded, supported and flattered city councillors into acting together (There’re eight of them, and they’re so different!); –said “Ja” to Volkswagen and secured potentially billions of dollars in federal and provincial support for EV manu- facturing on former farmland (potentially up to Drei tausend jobs, not that a good politician would exaggerate!); – made great strides toward ending homelessness (the west end of Talbot Street is not what it used to be, thank goodness!); – thrown in humour, often cornball (for example, when he was late to a Mayor’s Update online, Joe said he’d
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Page 14 Boomers and Beyond – Elgin • September 2026
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