Marianne Meed Ward
Encyclopedia
Marianne Meed Ward is a politician and journalist, currently elected as city councillor for Ward 2
Burlington City Council
Burlington City Council is the city council responsible for the city of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the mayor plus six councillors.-2006-2010:Council elected in the 2006 municipal election:*Cam Jackson - Mayor...

  in Burlington, Ontario
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington , is a city located in Halton Region at the western end of Lake Ontario. Burlington is part of the Greater Toronto Area, and is also included in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area. Physically, Burlington lies between the north shore of Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment...


Career before 2010

A graduate of Carleton University, Meed Ward worked for Faith Today Magazine from 1989, becoming managing editor in 1996. She resigned her position in February 1999 following a 'change in direction' at the magazine.

Thereafter Meed Ward was employed by the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...

 as a columnist providing weekly columns on affairs in the '905' area of the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...

. She stood down from the position to contest the election.

In 2007, Meed Ward ran as the Ontario Liberal Party
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

 candidate for Burlington
Burlington (provincial electoral district)
Burlington is a provincial electoral district in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It elects one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.It was created in 1999 from parts of Burlington South, Halton Centre, and a small part of South Oakville....

, coming second by only 1824 votes, and receiving 37.81% of the vote. After 2007 Meed Ward returned to journalism, before deciding to run for election municipally.

2010 Municipal Election

At the 2010 Municipal Election
Halton Region municipal elections, 2010
Elections will be held in the Regional Municipality of Halton of Ontario on October 25, 2010 in conjunction with municipal elections across the province.-Halton Regional Council:-Burlington:-Halton Hills:-Milton:-Oakville:...

, Meed Ward defeated incumbent Peter Thoem by a large margin, pushing him into third place behind runner-up Dave Bedini. Meed Ward ran a highly successful activist campaign in advance of the election, exploiting social media, creating the 'A Better Burlington' and 'Save Our Waterfront' websites, building extensive mailing lists of supporters, and raising her profile by publicly criticizing the council, especially with regard to downtown high-rise development.In particular she raised her profile by campaigning against changes to the city's official plan that enabled high-rise development along Old Lakeshore Road, a campaign that led directly to the creation of the Burlington Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory Committee.

Career as a Councillor

Since her election, Meed Ward has continued to publicly question development projects in Ward 2, to call for more citizen consultation, and has established a Ward 2 Advisory Committee.

Career in Media

Meed Ward appears as a regular Wednesday panelist on the Michael Coren Show on multi-faith channel VisionTV as the resident left-leaning pundit.
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