| Marguerite Ceschi-Smith | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Brantford City Council for Ward Five with Wally Lucente (1994–2003), John Starkey (2003–2006), John K. Bradford (2006–2010), and Dave Neumann (since December 1, 2010) |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1994 |
|
| Preceded by | Robert E. Smith |
Marguerite Ceschi-Smith is a politician in the Canadian province of Ontario. She is a prominent member of the Brantford City Council, where she has served since 1994. She is also an executive member of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). She was re-elected to a sixth term on city council in the 2010 municipal election.
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Ceschi-Smith holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees from the University of Guelph and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She operates a heritage property management business with her husband and is a professor at Seneca College.[1]
Ceschi-Smith was first elected to the Brantford City Council in the 1994 municipal election, winning the second seat in the city's fifth ward. She was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2010. In every election since 2000, she has placed first in her two-member ward. She considered running for mayor in 2003, but ultimately chose not to do so.[2]
She is best known for her work promoting the municipal reintegration of brownfield space. Ceschi-Smith first became active with this issue in the late 1990s and early 2000s through efforts to restore a derelict unit on Brantford's Mohawk Street.[3] She has since promoted legislative reform at both the provincial and federal levels, seeking to remove what she describes as "legislative, policy and bureaucratic obstacles" that prevent brownfield redevelopment.[4] In 2006, she also began championing the municipal reclamation of greyfield lands.[5] When running for re-election in 2010, Ceschi-Smith said that she wanted to complete the restoration of the Greenwich-Mohawk brownfield and develop a master plan for protecting Brantford's waterfront.[6]
Ceschi-Smith has been active with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for several years. In 2010, she was elected to a tenth term on its board of directors.[7] She has chaired the federation's brownfields committee, and she helped develop a national brownfields strategy through her work on the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) Brownfields Taskforce in 2003.[8] In 2007, she was named as the FCM's "eco-councillor" of the year.[9]
Ceschi-Smith was elected as chair of Brantford's corporate services committee in 2005.[10] She has also chaired the NW Gateway Committee and the Brantford Waterfront Master Plan Taskforce.[11] In 2011, she introduced a motion calling for Brantford to rejoin the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) after a one-year absence.[12]
In 2000, Ceschi-Smith opposed plans by Mike Harris's provincial government to introduce private prisons in Ontario.[13] In 2003, she attended the nineteenth United Nations-Habitat Congress in Nairobi, Kenya.[14]
Ceschi-Smith sought the Liberal Party nomination for Brant in the buildup to the 2004 federal election. She lost on the third ballot count to Lloyd St. Amand.[15]
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| (x)Marguerite Ceschi-Smith | 2,345 | 32.11 |
| Dave Neumann | 1,206 | 16.52 |
| Dwight A. Ayerhart | 1,102 | 15.09 |
| (x)John K. Bradford | 867 | 11.87 |
| Tim Philp | 765 | 10.48 |
| Stephen C. Morris | 599 | 8.20 |
| Chris Markell | 311 | 4.26 |
| Donald R. Haddow | 107 | 1.47 |
| Total valid votes | 7,302 | 100 |
See the 2010 Brantford election page for information on the defeated candidates.
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| (x)Marguerite Ceschi-Smith | 3,317 | 40.80 |
| John K. Bradford | 2,148 | 26.42 |
| Dwight A. Ayerhart | 1,602 | 19.71 |
| Adam King | 774 | 9.52 |
| Russell H. Skelton | 159 | 1.96 |
| Duane Leeallen | 129 | 1.59 |
| Total valid votes | 8,129 | 100 |
See the 2006 Brantford election page for information on Skelton and Leeallen.
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| (x)Marguerite Ceschi-Smith | 2,753 | 40.98 |
| John Starkey | 1,321 | 19.66 |
| (x)Wally Lucente | 1,135 | 16.89 |
| Dwight A. Ayerhart | 868 | 12.92 |
| Skip Pennell | 345 | 5.14 |
| Mike Clancy | 245 | 3.65 |
| Russell Skelton | 51 | 0.76 |
| Total valid votes | 6,718 | 100 |
See the 2003 Brantford election page for information on Lucente and Pennell.
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| (x)Marguerite Ceschi-Smith | 2,792 | 36.25 |
| (x)Wally Lucente | 2,395 | 31.10 |
| Tim Philp | 1,816 | 23.58 |
| Shawn MacKeigan | 699 | 9.08 |
| Total valid votes | 7,702 | 100 |
See the 2000 Brantford election page for information on MacKeigan.
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| (x)Wally Lucente | 2,466 | 33.65 |
| (x)Marguerite Ceschi-Smith | 2,168 | 29.58 |
| George W. Karmiris | 1,179 | 16.09 |
| Dale Renout | 806 | 11.00 |
| Robert Corby | 366 | 4.99 |
| Ron Rattie | 344 | 4.69 |
| Total valid votes | 7,329 | 100 |
See the 1997 Brantford election page for information on Karmiris, Corby, and Rattie.
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| (x)Wally Lucente | 2,527 | 36.14 |
| Marguerite Ceschi-Smith | 2,096 | 29.97 |
| (x)Robert E. Smith | 2,006 | 28.69 |
| Russell Skelton | 364 | 5.21 |
| Total valid votes | 6,993 | 100 |
See the 1994 Brantford election page for information on Smith.
Sources: Brantford Expositor, 15 November 1994, p. 7; "City Council," Brantford Expositor, 8 November 2000, D4; Ross Marowits, "Friel rides happiness," Brantford Expositor, 14 November 2000, A3; Vincent Ball, "Council table shake up: Four new faces elected by Brantford voters wanting change," Brantford Expositor, 11 November 2003, A3; Official results (2006): City of Brantford, and Official results (2010), City of Brantford.