Re-elected Milton Mayor Gordon Krantz says he never intended to be Canada’s longest serving mayor

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Published October 26, 2022 at 11:01 am

milton mayor gordon krantz
Town of Milton photo

One day after being re-elected, Milton Mayor Gordon Krantz says he keeps running for mayor because there’s still work to do.

Krantz was first elected as mayor in 1980, and he was just elected for his 14th term on Oct. 24. This will be his 22nd term on council, as he was first elected as a councillor in 1965. While the 2018 election saw Krantz win by a large margin, this time out he faced tough competition from Ward 4 Regional Councillor Zeeshan Hamid.

Krantz narrowly won getting 11,391 votes over Hamid’s 10,396. But Krantz was not surprised.

“When you get a member of council running against the incumbent mayor, you know, you really have to take it seriously,” Krantz tells inHalton.

But he still celebrated the victory on Monday night.

“I always refer to elections like a horse race, it doesn’t matter. A win is a win, when a horse wins by a nose, he’s still a winner,” he says.

And he plans to work hard for Milton.

“I’m certainly committed to the community, no question about it. Definitely, for those people that supported me and definitely for those people that didn’t support me, we’re all in this together.”

Milton’s growth is one of its biggest issues with developments popping up all over town.

When Krantz was elected mayor in 1980, Milton’s population was around 28,000, it has now grown to over 132,000.

While Hamid campaigned for growth “without building high-rises in already established neighbourhoods”,  Krantz says buildings several stories high are in the future for Milton.

“I know I get a bit of pushback from time to time when you start talking about densities,” Krantz says.

Right now the town is considering proposals for buildings 25 to 30 stories high, and Krantz says Milton has to be prepared for even higher buildings in the future. But he wants to insure there is the infrastructure to support the growth and green space for the community.

One of Krantz’s top priorities, and a reason why he wanted to run again for mayor, is getting the Milton Education Village with Conestoga College and Wilfrid Laurier University open. After 14 years, he says it will happen this term.

“I’d say it’s probably 99.9 per cent a done deal,” he says “There is some refining that needs to be done but they’re coming to town.”

This was important because it impacts the future of Milton.

“A well-educated community is a very prosperous community. And that’s really what I’m striving for — being a prosperous community.”

While some people raised concerns about Krantz’s age — he is 85 years old — he says he is in good health and still wants to serve his community.

Krantz says he never intended to become Canada’s longest-serving mayor. He surpassed Mississauga’s former Mayor Hazel McCallion in 2016.

“Honestly, it was never part of my bucket list,” he says. “I’ve often said the job is never done, you just work towards the betterment of a community. So there’s always going to be something, even long after I’m gone, there’s still going to be work that is going to need to be done on running the municipality. So yeah, it’s never-ending.”

He won’t say yet if he plans to take another run in four years.

“I’ll keep people guessing until at least six months before, what my intentions are.”

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