Glen Gower has been elected councillor for Stittsville Ward.
With all polls reporting, Gower received 57.86 per cent of the vote compared to incumbent Shad Qadri’s 42.14 per cent.
Turnout was 46.37 per cent with 10,172 ballots cast, out of 21,937 eligible voters.
In a message posted to Facebook, Qadri said the community was free to select another councillor, as it did.
“I am happy to live in a democratic society where every vote counts!” he wrote. “Stittsville voters have spoken clearly in this election.”
“My sincere congratulations to Glen Gower for his election as our next councillor. I have done my best to lay a body of work and projects for our community that will now be completed in your term. I will be cheering you on as you continue moving our community forward.”
Qadri was first elected in 2006.
In a statement posted to his website, Gower thanked Qadri for his years of service.
“Thank you to Shad Qadri and his family for their years of service and leadership to this community. I have very big shoes to fill and I hope to meet with him soon to listen and learn from his experience,” the statement said.
“I’ll also be reaching out to several current and former councillors to ask for their advice so that I can start getting prepared for December 1, when the new term of council starts.”
I am honestly surprised by this, I figured it would be very tight but I didn’t think he would actually lose his council seat. Shad was a good councilor when he was first elected in 2006. He was engaged in the community and would bend over backwards to represent our interests, I remember a time when he would call back directly when I reached out with traffic concerns in our neighborhood. In recent years though, complacency seemed to set in and I got the sense that he just figured no one could win against him due to his perceived popularity and he just didn’t seem to care as much or demonstrate any real genuineness. I also don’t think it helped him that his wife ran for the Liberal party in the recent provincial election. This is strong PC territory and I had a feeling that his link to the Liberal party would not sit well with voters. Either way, I wish him well and also wish to thank him for his many years of service to the community and people of Stittsville.
Just a shout out to Shad, thank you for your years of service to this community. Stittsville is a better place today for all your dedication and hardworking.
Good luck with all your future endeavours, I’m sure we will see you at many Stittsville functions.
Also to Glen Gower, congratulations I look forward to meeting you in the future.
Sincerely
Jennifer Lalonde
Liz Ferguson has written a decent thank you letter to Shad Qadri.
However, she has done something I must point out as it saddens me that the custom has become so common recently in writing about public personalities.
She makes assumptions about what she perceives as the reasons for a politician’s behaviour….1)”In recent years, complacency seemed to set in”
2) “I got the sense he just figured no one could win against him” 3)”He just didn’t seem to care as much or demonstrate any real genuineness” 4)” I had a feeling that his link to the Liberal Party would not sit well with voters”.
Since the only way to support or question assumptions is really with facts, as one example, Shad was elected 3 times over 12 years in “strong PC Territory”….so who he is and possibly supported certainly sat well with a majority of voters during that time…..
……Just trying to encourage fairer thinking and the expression of it….
Val Wright
I’m writing this because there has been a comment in this thread about Councillor Qadri’s work which seems to be at considerable variance to my own experience.
I am a new resident to Stittsville and last spring contacted Councillor Qadri about a matter particular to me and where I live. I was very pleasantly surprised by the care and attention that he and his staff gave to the matter. This involved quickly setting up a meeting with him in his office, then a visit to where I live for him to personally observe the situation, suggestions on how the problem might be mitigated, and at least two follow-up emails discussing progress on the initiatives being taken. At each stage, I found both him and his staff to be very approachable, and committed to moving ahead in an engaged, pragmatic way.
Obviously, I can’t speak to every one of the interactions he has had with his constituents but, for me, the way he and members of his team dealt with me was close to the best, if not the best, experience I have ever had with an elected official. I didn’t get the impression that, among other things, “he just didn’t seem to care as much or demonstrate any real genuineness”. In fact I would have said pretty much the opposite!
So, for that, I want to send out a great big thank you to Shad Qadri and his staff for all the care and attention they have recently given me!