After more than a decade at the helm of Vaughan’s city council, Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua says he will not run for a new term.
“After much deliberation and personal reflection, I announced today that I will not seek to be re-elected mayor of Vaughan in the upcoming municipal elections in October 2022,” Bevilacqua said in a statement issued late Wednesday night and tweeted Friday. “I want to thank the community for constantly giving me a strong mandate to serve and their unwavering support for more than three decades in office.
He said it would remain “the honor of my life to serve the people of Vaughan.”
Bevilacqua, who made the announcement on his 62nd birthday, was first elected Liberal MP in 1988, when he was just 28 years old.
He switched to local politics in 2010, when he was first elected mayor and won the re-election by a wide margin in 2014 and 2018.
Among his achievements as mayor, he listed the expansion of the subway system in Vaughan, the new Cortellucci Vaughan hospital and thousands of new jobs.
After much deliberation and personal reflection, I announced that I would not seek to be re-elected mayor of Vaughan in the upcoming municipal elections in October 2022 pic.twitter.com/ebjntNiKm7
– Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua (@mbmayor) June 3, 2022
In his statement, he thanked his family for their “unwavering love and support” and also thanked his colleagues on the council and the civil service.
“Their continued efforts demonstrate our shared commitment to providing excellent services and putting citizens first in everything we do,” Bevilacqua said. “Our achievements are the result of a laser-focused approach to ensuring an exceptional standard of living and a high quality of life.”
Bevilacqua brought some reassurance to a council that was notoriously shaken by strife and contested elections. One of his moves in governance was to establish a promise for council members – called the Vaughan agreement – committed to working together constructively “in a way that reflects the city’s positive image”.
His announcement leaves the door open for other potential candidates, without a starter in the mayoral race, which is only months away.
Nominations for the municipal elections began on May 2nd, and no candidates for mayor have been listed so far.
Several longtime council members – including former mayor and current local and regional councilor Linda Jackson – have already submitted documents to defend their current seats.
Voters are due to go to the polls on October 24.
Bevilacqua’s announcement came the same week that Ontario Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca failed to win his seat in Von Woodbridge and announced his resignation as party leader.
Bevilacqua did not say what he intended to do next.
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