Election day is this Monday. Polls are open until 8 p.m. and some local municipalities offer online voting. Go to https://wrvotes.com/ to get more information.
This post covers Kitchener. For Waterloo/Wilmot, Woolwich/Wellesley, and Cambridge/North Dumfries, see the region-wide post on /r/waterloo.
Many people here have said they're struggling to find information on the WRDSB trustee candidates. Here's what I've found, building on Lauren Weinberg's excellent roundup in Citified: https://citified.substack.com/p/municipal-election-2026
Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), a hard-right religious lobby, has green-lit enough candidates to fill 10 of the board's 11 seats, including three of Kitchener's four. Trustee races get almost no attention and it feels like even fewer people are paying attention this election, so their green-lit candidates could win control of the school board without most of us noticing until it's done.
Consider this a list of who not to vote for. If you like what CLC is selling, well then I guess it's a list of who to vote for.
If you're not familiar with CLC, their agenda includes fighting sex ed that teaches kids consent and how to recognize and report abuse, banning books, attacking anti-racism and inclusion work, opposing acceptance of LGBTQ people, and outing trans kids. Listen for their dog whistles: "parental rights," "gender ideology," "age-appropriate," and, ironically, "keep politics out of schools."
Kitchener elects four trustees, and CLC voters tend to vote as a bloc. If votes are split among the non-CLC candidates, CLC picks can win seats with a small share. The names recommended below are candidates who look like the strongest opposition or keep getting suggested to me by people who are following these elections closely. If you prefer another non-CLC candidate, go for it. I'm just one guy on the internet.
Every "Avoid" name below has a CLC green light, except Julia Malott. Names are listed alphabetically by last name.
- Avoid:
- Ahmed Kassad
- Mandy Kaur
- Sajid Kolsawala
- Also avoid:
- Julia Malott. CLC hasn't published an evaluation of her positions, so she has no green or red light. She's a trans woman, but she's a conservative who argues against trans-inclusive school policies and has become a go-to trans voice for people pushing policies that hurt trans kids. Her National Post columns say making schools tell parents about a student's new name or pronouns isn't "outing," and she has pushed that policy at the WRDSB.
- Vote:
- Mark Cairns
- Brent Hutzal
- Rachel McQuail
- Sara Taghizadeh-Heroux
Please vote in the trustee race, and use all your votes.
Source for CLC's trustee ratings: https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/compare-candidates/level/pst/province/on