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Ann Mulvale is no stranger to the Oakville community government. She was Mayor for 18 years from 1988-2006 and Regional Councillor for five years. Current Mayor, Rob Burton won over the votes against Mulvale in 2006.

She didn’t reveal her intention to run for Mayor in the 2010 election, until late June this year.

“I’m really just responding to the peoples concerns of fiscal issues in Oakville. We see some trends that are happening and I share their concerns too,” Mulvale said. “It was quite clear that people were concerned about the current leadership.”

Mulvale feels the Oakville Council has taken the wrong direction in the past four years. Decisions made by the current local government have threatened Oakville’s social, economic and environmental health. She believes the community cannot risk four additional years of the same leadership.

[Related: More articles, news & photos about Ann Mulvale from Oakville.com]

During her time serving as Mayor, Mulvale and her colleagues helped with significant economic growth. Together they negotiated two Provincial Municipal Acts, a historic Memorandum of Understanding and both Provincial and Federal Gas Tax legislation. In addition, Ford Canada invested over $1 billion dollars in their local operations. This opened up many secure jobs for the public and saw new industries chosing to set up their offices in Oakville. The community was in a good position for a positive economic future.

“As I went out knocking on doors, which I have been doing for about 60 hours now, people are saying to me – ‘we’re seeing the debt load continue to grow’,” Mulvale said. “They also had concerns about the new hospital. We need it and I support it, but how are we going to pay for it?”

Mulvale also explained that people are really concerned about how Oakville became the power plant location.

“We were never a site under my watch,” she said.

If elected, Mulvale hopes to resolve these issues by appointing an independent auditor to assess the town’s finance decision-making and allocate a report so the community can be involved and understand where money is being spent.

“I will forgo a Chief of Staff and $100,000 will be paid for by saving that one position. Plus I really believe that this role will more than compensate for the cost of this position,” Mulvale said.

“I will continue to work with C4CA (Citizens for Clean Air) to fight the plant. I have some currency at Queens Park in terms of being able to advocate and build those relationships. I don’t burn bridges and I get to the core of the issues. Together we can come up with a solution.”

Mulvale hopes to serve the people of Oakville with greater transparency. Her goal is to make sure the town succeeds together.

“Rather than tell people to why I should be elected, I ask them to go to my website mulvale.ca and read the material there, participate and use their vote.”

Mulvale would be honoured to be elected Mayor again, but just asks the citizens of Oakville to vote.

“I can effectively advocate on behalf of the people of Oakville to listen to their concerns and build a place to live, work, play and retire,” Mulvale said. “Democracy is served by choice. I’m pleased to be responding to the choice the people have asked me to respond to. I’m already working to resolve these concerns.”

The 2010 Oakville Municipal election will be held on October 25, 2010. Visit our special Oakville election section for the latest election news, candidate profiles and more.

Tags: Ann Mulvale, Mayor

About the author: Kelly Gorven

Kelly is a freelance writer and recent graduate from the Journalism Print program at Sheridan College. Aside from writing for Oakville.com and Burlington.net, she also sits on the Board of Directors for Halton Crime Stoppers and enjoys volunteering and creating the newsletter for the organization. In her spare time she enjoys reading and watching movies.