The London and District Labour Council (LDLC) has announced its endorsed candidates for London city council ahead of the Oct. 26 municipal election. The endorsements were announced Saturday morning at Peace Park. The labour council says municipal decisions have a direct impact on working people, including issues such as housing affordability, public transit and access to good union jobs. As part of its endorsement process, the LDLC sent candidates a questionnaire asking about their priorities and approach to issues affecting working people. An election planning committee reviewed the responses, as well as the candidates’ past records, before making recommendations to the LDLC executive and general membership. LDLC president Patti Dalton says the process involved lengthy discussions and a detailed review of each candidate’s responses. “We also invited every applicant to write about their priorities. So then the election planning committee went through all of those responses, and there were several with a fine tooth comb,” Dalton said. Mayor Josh Morgan was among those endorsed by the labour council, although he was not present at today’s event. Dalton says Morgan’s support for collective bargaining was one of the factors considered during the endorsement process. “Of the things that we discussed in our interview with Josh was that he is a strong supporter of collective bargaining. He ensured that with the firefighters’ union that they did engage in collective bargaining. And that doesn’t always happen. It can go quickly to arbitration. So that was one measure of the mayor being pro-union,” Dalton said. Of the current council, LDLC is endorsing 7 of eight councillors. The LDLC endorsed candidates are as follows: Mayor Josh Morgan Ward 1 Hadleigh McAlister Ward 2 Zack Ramsey Ward 3 Leroy Osbourne Ward 4 Tom Cull Ward 5 Corrine Rahman Ward 6 Sam Trosow Ward 7 Jonathan Sher Ward 8 No recommendation Ward 9 Anna Hopkins Ward 10 Lois Ward Ward 11 Skylar Franke Ward 12 Elizabeth Peloza Ward 13 David Ferreira Ward 14 Sarah Lehman
