Seven Candidates for Seven Seats: Owen Sound Council Could Be Acclaimed if No One Else Files
With the council and deputy mayor races holding exactly enough candidates to fill every seat, only the five-candidate mayoral contest is certain to go to a vote.
Seven candidates have registered for Owen Sound’s seven council seats, meaning the ballot is now exactly full. If no one else files by the August 21 deadline, there would be no council race to vote in.
Under the Municipal Elections Act, where the number of certified candidates does not exceed the number of seats, the clerk declares those candidates elected. Voters would still cast ballots for mayor, where there are five contenders registered to date.
The same applies to the deputy mayor’s seat. Incumbent Scott Greig remains the only registered candidate.
Nominations close Friday, August 21 at 2 p.m. — 18 days out.
Council field reaches seven, with one withdrawal
Thomas Arakal, Brock Hamley, Suneet Kukreja, Meghan Robertson, Tamara Sargent, David William Schinbein and Angela Stow are registered for council, according to the City’s candidates list.
Four of those — Hamley, Kukreja, Schinbein and Stow — have registered since the Current last reported the field on July 5, when four candidates had filed.
Jacob Morris-Wheeler, who was among that earlier group, has withdrawn. The City’s list marks his entry as withdrawn and posts his financial statement, which candidates who withdraw are still required to file. The list gives no reason for the withdrawal, and Morris-Wheeler did not offer one when contacted to confirm his withdrawal.
Candidates may withdraw up to the same 2 p.m. deadline, so the field can shrink as well as grow.
Two sitting councillors seek re-election
Hamley and Kukreja are the first sitting councillors to register for their own seats this cycle. Both were elected in 2022 — Hamley with 3,201 votes, fifth among 13 council candidates, and Kukreja with 2,916, taking the seventh and final seat.
Hamley was first elected in 2018 and is seeking a third term. Kukreja is seeking a second.
Both have voted with the majority on the two decisions that drew the most public criticism of this council’s handling of resident input.
In September 2024, Council voted 7-2 to cut speaking time at public question period from five minutes to three, cap the question period at 15 minutes, end the reading of emailed public comments, and give the Mayor and chair the power to keep items off agendas.
Hamley, Kukreja and Greig were among the seven in favour. Only Councillors Jon Farmer and Carol Merton opposed.
In April 2026, Council voted 6-2 in a recorded vote to approve a 2027 committee structure removing public members from the body overseeing the operating and capital budget, union mandates and internal operations.
Hamley, Kukreja and Greig again voted in favour, along with Councillors Travis Dodd and Marion Koepke and Mayor Ian Boddy. Farmer and Merton opposed. Councillor Melanie Middlebro' was absent.
Neither Hamley nor Kukreja has published a platform on the City's candidate list, though each listed an email where they can be contacted directly.
Councillor Jon Farmer, who has said publicly he is not seeking re-election, was the top vote-getter in 2022 with 3,942 votes.
Greig seeks a second term as deputy mayor, unopposed so far
Greig has held a seat on Owen Sound council since 2014, serving two terms as a councillor before winning the deputy mayor’s race in 2022 with 3,717 votes, defeating incumbent Brian O’Leary, who took 2,233.
The deputy mayor sits on Grey County Council alongside the mayor. No one has filed to run against Greig, and no one filed against him at this point in the last cycle either — the challenge came later.
Mayor’s race unchanged since May
Five candidates remain registered for mayor: Ray Botten, Jodi King, Carol Merton, Richard Thomas and Andrii Zvorygin. The field has not changed since the City’s May list.
Merton is a sitting councillor, elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 with 3,534 votes, third among council candidates.
Thomas sat on council from 2014 to 2022 and ran for mayor in 2022, losing to Boddy. Botten has run for mayor before, including in 2018.
Boddy is not seeking re-election. He has been mayor since 2014 and on council since 2010.
It is the only Owen Sound race currently contested.
A familiar name among the newcomers
Robertson is the only registered council candidate who has run for the seat before. In 2022 she finished eighth with 2,723 votes — 193 short of Kukreja and the last seat.
Arakal, Sargent, Schinbein and Stow did not appear on the City’s 2022 candidate list.
One trustee candidate on the City’s list
Eric Lapointe is registered as a candidate for the French-language public board, Conseil scolaire Viamonde. He ran for the same seat in 2022. He is the only school board candidate on the City of Owen Sound’s list.
What’s next
Whether the council field grows past seven determines whether Owen Sound votes for its council at all this fall. The City adds names as candidates file, and the list can change until 2 p.m. on August 21.
The City has said the final list of certified candidates will be available September 1.
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