Voters pick Annette Groves to be Caledon’s next Mayor

October 27, 2022 · 0 Comments

Mayor-elect said she’s ready to unite Caledon and move Town forward

By Zachary Roman

Caledon was the only municipality in the Region of Peel that didn’t have an incumbent mayor seeking re-election on October 24 — change was inevitable.

While Brampton re-elected Patrick Brown and Mississauga re-elected Bonnie Crombie, Caledon elected Annette Groves.

The former Ward 5 Regional Councillor is Caledon’s first new mayor in eight years, succeeding Allan Thompson who spent two terms in office.

Groves defeated former Ward 3 and 4 Regional Councillor Jennifer Innis, who had received endorsements from Thompson and three other past mayors: Emil Kolb, Carol Seglins and Marolyn Morrison. Groves has been an elected representative in Caledon since 2000, only missing one term of office due to a previous unsuccessful mayoral bid against Morrison in 2010.

Groves ran a campaign she described as grassroots, with several progressive items on her agenda such as her opposition to the proposed Highway 413.

Her campaign office for the election was the former restaurant building near the Albion-Bolton Community Centre, and that’s where she and her supporters were stationed on election night.

It was around 10 p.m. when television news station CP24 called the mayoral race for Groves. Unofficial Town of Caledon election results show Groves as receiving 10,270 votes to Innis’ 7,524.

“I’m grateful. That’s the word, ‘grateful.’ I am thankful to the people of Caledon for putting their trust in me, believing in me, and putting their confidence in me,” said Groves after her win. “I’m looking forward to working with the community, and I ask for the community to stand with me and help me for the next four years.”

Without her dedicated team of volunteers and campaign manager, Groves said she couldn’t have won. She said people have been volunteering for her campaign since July; standing with her throughout the entirety of Caledon’s municipal election. Groves said one of the best parts of her campaign was the connections and friendships she was able to make.

“It’s time to unite. Caledon is a very diverse community and we saw that here this evening at the campaign office,” said Groves. “Our job now as Mayor and Councillors is to unite Caledon.”

Groves said her win is a message to developers that they need to work with the people of Caledon if they want to do business here.

She said she’s going to be making traffic safety a priority and is committed to ensuring the growth coming to Caledon reflects “who we are.”

Groves said it was a great race for mayor and she wishes Innis all the best in her future endeavours.