Councillors for the Region of Waterloo have voted to appoint the runner-up from the 2022 municipal election to fill the seat left vacant by Rob Deutschmann’s recent resignation.
Matt Rodrigues received 9,714 votes, or 9.7 per cent, of the total vote in 2022. He was less than 400 votes behind Deutschmann.
In January, Deutschmann resigned his seat in order to focus on running as the Ontario Liberal Party candidate for Cambridge and North Dumfries. He finished second in Thursday’s election to Ontario Progressive Conservative incumbent Brian Riddell.
Regional councillors opted to appoint Rodrigues to the vacant seat rather than hold a byelection, which could have cost an estimated $800,000.
Councillors who spoke at the meeting cited several factors that led to their decision, including the cost of a byelection, the number of votes Rodrigues received in 2022 and the fact that there’s only about a year and a half left of their term.
“I feel it’s too close to the next election to go into an election,” explained North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton. “I don’t want to spend the money.”
“He did receive many votes from his constituents in Kitchener and we do have to trust the electorate,” added Regional Councillor Pam Wolf.
Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe was the only one to voice support for a different option – advertising for the vacant seat, letting people apply and pitch to council, and appoint the new councillor from that pool of candidates.
“There’s a lot of issues that we’ve discussed, and a lot of things that have changed in our community in two and a half years and are going to continue to change, and I personally would prefer to just open it up,” McCabe said during the meeting.
It took only about 20 minutes for councillors to vote in favour of appointing Rodrigues, who told CTV News he was excited to get started, noting his term will include one more budget cycle.
“There’s a number of big decisions coming to council, whether it’s related to transit, drinking water, housing and homelessness, and [I’m] really looking forward to bringing my perspective to that with the time that we have,” he said.
Rodrigues is an urban planner who currently works for the City of Kitchener. He said he’ll take a leave of absence from his job while serving on regional council.
“In order to address any conflict of interest or perception thereof, it really is the best decision, both for myself and everyone involved, to proceed with taking a leave,” Rodrigues told CTV News.
The bylaw to formally appoint Rodrigues to the seat is expected to pass at the next council meeting on March 13. Rodrigues will be sworn in shortly afterwards.
“I’m really excited about this,” said Regional Chair Karen Redman. “I think this will be a bit of a mini renewal for us as we go forward.”
She added that it was not the time to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a byelection.
“$800,000 is a lot of money to spend in times of restraint, in uncertain times, like what we’re dealing with now with the United States and with tariffs. I think this was the prudent route to go.”
Still, one political scientist insists that while byelections are expensive, they are important.
“When our democracy is under considerable threat, and concerns about turnout or participation and people’s commitment to democracy, why do we diminish democracy by appointing?” asked Peter Woolstencroft, professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo.
Halton Hills is also looking to fill a vacancy on its council after Joseph Racinsky was elected to Queen’s Park last week. Councillors there also voted in favour of exploring the appointment of a runner-up to the seat.
