As I walked into the City Hall office of the Mayor of Burlington, I was greeted by skyline views of the city stretching towards the shores of Lake Ontario. It was gorgeous. What a way to start the day. I nervously walked in to meet Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, who has famously run undefeated since the start of her mayorship in 2018.
What I was most curious about was: Who is Marianne?
Marianne stepped out of her office with a winning smile, ready to go. She seems like she was born ready. Marianne was born in Colorado to a Canadian father and an American mother. Her father was studying at the University of Minnesota where he met and fell in love with her mom. They settled in Minneapolis for a time, and had four kids.
“I'm the middle child. I'm kind of like the middle and the oldest because my older sister was gone from the house for a number of years before the rest of us left,” Marianne explained. “I'm a Capricorn too. I’m a hard worker. I have a t-shirt at home that says I'm Capricorn, I'm too busy for my nap. That pretty much exactly describes who I am.”
I was not expecting the Capricorn references that would come along the way throughout the entirety of our meeting. But as I listened, I noticed that this go-getter was relentless and very driven. So, definitely a Capricorn.
Eventually Marianne’s parents wanted to leave the United States for, as she put it, a calmer environment.
“I was born in the 60s in the U.S. and cities were burning, there was the Civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the U.S. conscription—and with all that my parents wanted a calmer place to raise their kids. We moved to Toronto, then lived in Kingston and finally landed in Ottawa,” Marianne said. “I did the balance of high school and university in Ottawa, met my husband in Ottawa, and then moved to Toronto for work. We got married and started a family and ultimately decided that a mid-sized city was where we wanted to raise our family.”
Burlington was ultimately the place they chose. In 2000, they moved out to the 905 and raised their three children; a daughter and fraternal twins—a boy and a girl.
Before Marianne entered politics, her chosen profession was journalism. She studied journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa, and it was a huge part of her life. Little did she know that this would help her later in politics.
“I got into journalism by default. I didn't love, nor was I good at, math or science. What I did love to do mostly was read; and I wrote stories. I think I wrote my first book when I was 6 or 7,” Marianne said. “When I was thinking about what to do, I knew I loved English and got involved in the dramatic arts in high school… doing all this helped with the public speaking aspect of my current job, which is required.”
Marianne noted that when she was training as a journalist, social media was non-existent, but finds that her training in writing and broadcasting was invaluable to the public speaking aspect of her job as mayor. Especially with social media now being a ubiquitous tool for communication.
“I don't know how an elected official in this environment with social media being what it is and the demands for elected officials to be transparent and communicate… I don't know how you can do it without having some of that training and background,” Marianne explained, “I feel like I have a bit of an advantage there.”
One of her favourite roles in journalism was having a column in the Toronto Sun, a post she held for 11 years.
“I was their diversity quotient. What I mean by that is they liked to have different viewpoints, and they knew I was skewed left-of-centre, rather than them being right-of-centre. They also liked the fact that I was a woman and had a family,” Marianne said. “I checked all those boxes for them and loved it. I was getting paid to tell people what I think; to say my opinions. What's not to like about that?”
Eventually, Marianne ventured into the small business world and started her own communications business, Meed Ward Media. Of her experience, she said it suited her Capricorn personality well because she never slept.
“Leading up to me running my business, there was a change in the leadership at the organization I was at, so we parted company. That was my first experience of being packaged out,” Marianne said. “I tell people, don't worry about getting fired ever, because often it sets you up for success. If things aren't working, as tough as that is, I have seen time and again in my own experience, where the next thing that you do is way better. It is way better.”
As someone who had her first child on a Saturday and returned to the office the following Monday, her boundless energy as a small business owner is super unique.
“My business was wildly successful. I could pick my clients. I could work at home. I could be with my daughter. I could avoid clients I didn't want to work with. There were huge benefits I found at being my own boss,” Marianne said. “The downside is you don't work, you don't eat. You don't work, you don't get a paycheque. There's no sick leave, there's no benefits, and it's a gig economy so it's precarious.”
Marianne loved journalism and media, but ultimately it lacked meaning for her in the long-term. She not only wanted to tell people what to do; she wanted to actually do it. She wanted to influence events in her community. This led to her decision to enter politics.
“I wanted to actually be involved in making the decisions. I wanted to be involved in advancing things. And as a columnist and a commentator, as wonderful as that was, you don’t get to make the decisions,” Marianne said. “The best way to start is to get involved in your community and find an issue.”
In 2006, Marianne ran for municipal office for the first time and lost. She ran in Ward 1, against an incumbent.
“In that election, I realized that it was for me, I loved it. I loved talking to people at the door. I loved thinking about, well, if we just did this policy or that bylaw or brought this forward, or whatever, you know, we could really do some good things. I was hooked, absolutely, utterly hooked.” Marianne shared.
The following year in 2007, the opportunity to run in the provincial election came.
“I ran for the Liberal Party in 2007 against an incumbent. Also lost, but came again extraordinarily close, three votes a poll roughly, is what differentiated myself from the incumbent,” Marianne said. “This second loss, taught me that I love running and wanted to pursue it. And it also taught me that I didn’t love partisan politics. Municipal was really what was for me.”
Marianne clearly stated that she prefers the municipal level, over the federal and provincial levels.
“At the federal and provincial level, you have parties. You have party whips, caucuses told how to vote. That's one of the reasons why I don't know that it would ever be for me,” Marianne said. “I'm too independent. I would probably get kicked out of caucus relatively quickly, because I want to be able to speak my mind and follow my conscience.”
Even after two losses, the fighter in Marianne was just getting started.
“I tell folks, failure is not failure. It's learning. It teaches you something. It teaches you this is for you or not. Most people get a taste and lose and say that’s not for me. But some people continue. I was one of those that continued,” Marianne said. “In the 2010 municipal council election, I was running against an incumbent and four others; including someone who had run against the incumbent in the previous election. They had a head start on name recognition, which is critical in a municipal election. I won that by majority. It wasn't even close."
It was in 2018, when Marianne decided she wanted to step away from being councillor and take a chance at running for mayor of Burlington.
“In the end, I decided that I could not continue to spin my wheels as a councillor and feel like I was having any kind of meaning in my work,” Marianne shared. “Mental health was important to me and it became a very toxic environment on council; especially when you're in the minority.”
With the election for mayor in 2018, Marianne ran again against an incumbent.
“My political journey is, I've always run against incumbents, I’ve beaten them, I’ve also been beaten by incumbents,” Marianne said. “It's not easy, but it's not impossible to win.”
Marianne said she was very “zen” about the whole thing and if she won—great, and if she didn’t, that was fine too. Winning is exactly what she did—and she’s been the mayor of Burlington ever since. She won 46% of the vote at the time. In her re-election in 2022, she won approximately 78% of the vote.
Marianne’s main message is that, “when we come together with common purpose and values, we can conquer the world. We can do anything we want. And every issue can fit into that.”
Her continued vision for Burlington is to protect the quality of life as the community continues to grow.
“We want to make sure there's appropriate places for people to go play hockey and walk on our trails and go to parks, etc. We need good community centres.” Marianne shared.
But most importantly, she wants to protect that community feel.
“That spirit of looking out for each other, we saw it during COVID. We see the community coming together again around the tariffs and Buy Canadian. You know that spirit of looking out for each other,” Marianne said. “You know Burlington's motto on our crest is Stand By, and it means that we stand by each other, we stand by to be ready to go into action when needed. And I see that all the time.”
One of her proudest moments as mayor was saving the Freeman Station from being demolished.
“I love history and heritage. Yeah, even though this is my adopted city, I didn't grow up here. I've always been very protective of the history. It’s only Burlington that's ever going to tell Burlington's history. Oakville is not going to tell Burlington's history,” Marianne insisted. “I had to rally the community. I had to get three votes on council to stop the wrecking ball. You don't do any of this alone, but if you're at the table to even try to do that work, you have a chance.”
With a confirmed run for mayor in the next municipal election in 2026, Marianne doesn’t look like she’ll be stopping for quite a while.
Whenever Marianne needs a reality check, one of her favourite things to do is meet the community that inspires her; particularly at the Breakfast at the Bistro, held at the Burlington Seniors Centre.
“If you actually get out there and meet people and talk to them, you have a whole different perspective,” Marianne said. “I absolutely believe I have more to give in this role, and things that I want to complete. I’m not finished.”
What a way to finish that meeting. Marianne is definitely classic Capricorn energy at its finest.
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1. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Coffee.
2. What is your favorite thing to wear?
Boots and a jacket.
3. If you could pick one word to describe you what would it be?
Helpful.
4. What’s one beauty tip you would pass on?
Moisturize.
5. Everyday is better with:
Friends.
