The Deputy wants to be the “Big Cheese”! Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty has decided to run in the Mayor’s race in Cobourg’s 2026 Municipal Election. Issuing a statement read it here  she says she intends to file on May 1st. It should be noted that the present Mayor has told various people that he wants to run again but there has been no official announcement like this one from Nicole.

Nicole has been on Council for two terms, first as a Councillor and then she moved up to the Deputy Mayor’s position. It should be noted that the Strong Mayor’s Powers removed the traditional responsibility of being the point person on the Budget and Finances. It should also be noted that this responsibility had been watered down by the changes to the Governance System two years ago. What I am trying to say is that the only role for a Deputy Mayor is having to take the place of the Mayor when he/she is unable to fulfill their roles.

So it could be said that having been a ‘Spare’ for the past couple of years and  never really assuming the role of Mayor, in the Mayor’s absence, it would only be natural for Nicole to want to be Mayor. A snippet from her website nicolebeatty.ca reads – “Beatty will officially file her nomination on May 1, 2026, and will release her full platform at that time.” We await with bated breath!

The problem the BurdReport has with this, and with all incumbent candidates is that we cannot identify just what particular policy statement can be connected to any one candidate. Just how many motions have been made into policy by any of the present Council? All of them have been very good at adopting the work of Staff but no-one stands out as having pioneered any particular policy just a general blast of bureaucratic adoptions of policy.

So claiming to show leadership in that morass of bureaucracy is difficult! We need concrete examples not just a recitation of adopted Council policy that was made as a collective.

Good luck in the race but she will have some fierce and nasty opposition from the people who post on the comment boards of the Cobourg News but I am sure that rebuttals to that shite will be forthcoming. Those people have never heeded Granny’s advice – “If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all!” I presume that most people will listen carefully and vote accordingly.