A Ministry of Municipal Affairs spokesman warned before the municipal elections last fall that there would be a number of candidates who failed to file their election expenses by March 31.
Anyone betting it would be a political candidate in Wellington County would have lost that bet. All candidates filed their expenses by the deadline.
Municipalities are also required now to post those expenses on their web sites. Several municipalities have already done that. Others are pending.
The spending limits for candidates, depended upon a provincially set formula and determined by the number of eligible voters in each electoral district.
Centre Wellington
There were two candidates for mayor in the municipality.
Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj and Bob Foster had a spending limit of $24,945. Ross-Zuj spent $5,946. Foster spent $4,494.
Councillors were allowed to spend $8,495 in Ward 1. Winner Kelly Linton spent $1,107. Candidate Ian Rice spent 1,022.
In Ward 2, candidates were allowed to spend $6,574. Winner Kirk McElwain spent $843. Eric Van Grootheest spent $3,486.
In Ward 3, the limit was $8,279. Winner Mary Lloyd spent $2,025. In that race, Frederick de Vries spent $792; Vinnie Green spent $800, and Jeremy Vink spent $314.
Lloyd had first filed to run in Ward 6. She spent $100 before switching. Green first filed to run in Ward 5. He did not have any expenditures before switching.
In Ward 4, the spending limit was $8,139. Winner Fred Morris spent $2,845. Jason Weeks spent $911.
In Ward 5, the limit was $8,507. Winner Walt Visser spent $7,686, and John Ortt spent $1,180.
In Ward 6, the spending limit was $7,211. Winner Steve VanLeeuwen spent $676. Mike Wisniewski spent $5,073.
In Centre Wellington’s county council elections, there were two wards reporting to the township.
In Ward 5, the spending limit was $12,737. Winner Jean Innes spent $3,195, while Bob Wilson spent $2,250. Wilson first filed to run in Ward 6, but had no campaign expenses to declare there.
In Ward 6, the limit was $11,903. Councillor Shawn Watters was acclaimed. He spent $100. He had also filed to run in Centre Wellington Ward 1. He spent $100 there. In both cases that was the filing fee.
In the English Catholic Separate School race, the spending limit was $9,350. Winner James Coffey spent $100. Stephen Kitras spent $926.
David Gohn was acclaimed to the Upper Grand District School Board. His spending limit was $19,857. He spend $100.
Puslinch Township
The spending limit for mayor here was $12,373.
Winner Dennis Lever spent $9,575. Challenger Dick Visser spent $4,292, and Brad Whitcombe spent $5,274.
There were seven people running for four seats on council. They had a spending limit of $9,873.
The expenditures for each were:
– David Billings, $219;
– Matthew Bulmer, $504;
– Susan Fielding, $1,223;
– Manfred Ganning, $241;
– Ken A. Roth, $1,965;
– Gerald Schmidt, $2,022; and,
– Wayne Stokley, $995.
Fielding, Roth, Schmidt, and Stokley were elected.
County council Ward 7 had a spending limit of $11,648. Winner Don McKay spent $3,105 and Bill Cloutis spent $267.
Guelph-Eramosa Township
The spending limit for mayor here was $15,521. Winner Chris White spent $547. Clint Martin spent $860.
David Wolk was acclaimed in Ward 1 with a spending limit of $6,163. He spent $100.
In Ward 2, the limit was $6,464. Winner Corey Woods spent $2,227. Nicholas Dalton spent $1,876. John Gough spent $946.
In Ward 3, the limit was $7,655. Winner Doug Breen spent $1,157. Teressa Gibson-Smye spent $246.
In Ward 4, the limit was $7134. Winner John Scott spent $1,196. Steve Leiebig spent $557.
In County Ward 8, Gordon Tosh was acclaimed. He spent $100.
In the Upper Grand School board race for Erin, Guelph-Eramosa and East Garafraxa, the spending limit was $19,534. Ralph Edwards spent $570. Kathryn Cooper spent $1,939.
In the Wellington Catholic District School Board race, the limit was $7,979. Steve Redmond spent $184.
Town of Erin
The spending limit here was $14,596. Winner Lou Maieron spent $5057. Rod Finnie spent $3,802.
Seven people ran for council, with a spending limit of $12,096. The candidates spent:
– John Brennan, $2,030;
– Barb Tocher. $399;
– Josie Wintersinger, $1,764;
– Deb Callaghan, $1,134;
– Craig Porterfield, $536;
– George Silva, $1,306; and
– Shawn Wilson, $2,046.
The winners were Tocher, Wintersinger, Brennan, and Callaghan.
In the county council race for Ward 9, the spending limit was $12,096. Winner Ken Chapman spent $1,923. George Root spent $2,708.
As of press time, a number of municipalities had yet to publicly post the amounts.
