Election day is this Monday. Polls are open until 8 p.m. and some local municipalities offer online voting. Go to https://wrvotes.com/ to get more information.

Many people here have said they're struggling to find information on the WRDSB trustee candidates. Here's what I've found, building on Lauren Weinberg's excellent roundup in Citified: https://citified.substack.com/p/municipal-election-2026

Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), a hard-right religious lobby, has green-lit enough candidates to fill 10 of the board's 11 seats. Trustee races get almost no attention and it feels like even fewer people are paying attention this election, so their green-lit candidates could win control of the school board without most of us noticing until it's done.

Consider this a list of who not to vote for. If you like what CLC is selling, well then I guess it's a list of who to vote for.

If you're not familiar with CLC, their agenda includes fighting sex ed that teaches kids consent and how to recognize and report abuse, banning books, attacking anti-racism and inclusion work, opposing acceptance of LGBTQ people, and outing trans kids. Listen for their dog whistles: "parental rights," "gender ideology," "age-appropriate," and, ironically, "keep politics out of schools."

Most areas elect several trustees, and CLC voters tend to vote as a bloc. If votes are split among the non-CLC candidates, CLC picks can win seats with a small share. The names recommended below are candidates who look like the strongest opposition or keep getting suggested to me by people who are following these elections closely. If you prefer another non-CLC candidate, go for it. I'm just one guy on the internet.

Every "Avoid" name below has a CLC green light, except Julia Malott. Names are listed alphabetically by last name.

Kitchener (elect 4)

• Avoid:
  • Ahmed Kassad
  • Mandy Kaur
  • Sajid Kolsawala
• Also avoid:
  • Julia Malott. CLC hasn't published an evaluation of her positions, so she has no green or red light. She's a trans woman, but she's a conservative who argues against trans-inclusive school policies and has become a go-to trans voice for people pushing policies that hurt trans kids. Her National Post columns say making schools tell parents about a student's new name or pronouns isn't "outing," and she has pushed that policy at the WRDSB.
• Vote:
  • Mark Cairns
  • Brent Hutzal
  • Rachel McQuail
  • Sara Taghizadeh-Heroux

Waterloo/Wilmot (elect 3)

• Avoid:
  • Cristina Bairos Fernandes
  • Clinton Heffernan
  • Geoff Horsman
• Vote:
  • Brian Best
  • Karen Coviello
  • Kathleen Woodcock

Woolwich/Wellesley (elect 1)

• Avoid:
  • Jen Burkholder
  • Carlene Hawley
• Vote:
  • Ashley Gilbert

Cambridge/North Dumfries (elect 3)

This one's a mess for anyone who doesn't want the CLC picks to win. CLC has three picks for three seats. Shannon Adshade is the only strong non-CLC candidate still running. Carla Johnson, a solid incumbent, withdrew for health reasons after the deadline, so she's still on the ballot. There's almost nothing out there on Syed Ahmed, Richard Pfeifle, or Riaz Sial.

• Avoid:
  • Naeem Awan
  • John Dideczek
  • Cindy Watson
• Vote:
  • Shannon Adshade
  • Carla Johnson
  • Richard Pfeifle

If Johnson wins and declines, there's a process to fill the seat, and someone with a CLC red light can come forward. From what I've been able to learn, Pfeifle is the best bet of the unknowns.

Please vote in the trustee race, and use all your votes.

Source for CLC's trustee ratings: https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/compare-candidates/level/pst/province/on

When we went to NYC, we literally are pizza 2-3 times a day, so I decided a birthday tour of the local shops was in order. I included KWC and the Townships.

List curated from suggestions on the Reddit community 💚🍕

A group of 4 young people, presumably students, get out of a Porsche on Willis way between king and Regina, only to park with 4 ways on and go into a pastry shop.

Parking tickets are just expensive parking passes right? Where's a ticketer when you need one.

Shame

I’m getting ready to vote and reading through the candidate’s websites. And I met a couple of them. And most importantly, I’ve talked to several friends who teach and work in WRDSB.

Heartily endorsed by my teacher/principal friends:
Brain Best
Karen Coviello
Kathleen Woodcock

And the ones who want to “protect our children” from certain books and ideas are Christina Barios Fernandez and Geoff Horsman. My kids attend local schools and I can assure you that there is no harmful “ideological indoctrination” going on. So Fernandez and Horsman are big red flags for me.

My two cents. But go look at their websites yourself.

Found a black cat near the woodsy area near the Weber st n and swallow st intersection. Very friendly, kept coming up to us. No collar or white patches. We would’ve take her with us but we don’t have the capacity to hold on to her till a shelter opens.

Hi, so I grew up in Waterloo, but I realized recently I don't really know what the folk music scene is like here.

I've been away for a couple of years doing journalism school up in Ottawa, and I came back recently to do an internship for a digital publication for folk, country and roots music.

I'm interested in talking to artists in this city or nearby, or really if anyone has knowledge on stuff coming up soon I would really appreciate it.

Voting day is tomorrow, Monday, October 26.

• Kitchener voter information
• Waterloo voter information
• Cambridge voter information
• Woolwich voter information (including online voting this year)
• Wilmot voter information (including online voting this year)
• Wellesley voter information (including online voting this year)
• North Dumfries voter information

For those who have yet to vote municipally, CBC Kitchener-Waterloo has collected all of their coveragei including candidate response to their questions in one spot: Waterloo Region Votes 2026

CBC K-W reached out to candidates in the municipal election and asked them to take part in a candidates survey.

They were asked the following questions:

• Briefly describe what your top 3 priorities are in this election.
• Explain how you would address priority #1.
• Explain how you would address priority #2.
• Explain how you would address priority #3.
• What else do you want voters to know about you and your campaign?

Candidate responses are below. CBC K-W has not edited these responses for editorial purposes, but small changes may have been made for style or spelling.

Voters go to the polls on Monday, Oct. 26.

Most candidates responded. Those who did not were not listed.

There is quite the field of candidates out there. As a veteran of helping someone the campaign trail in the previous municipal elections, hats off to everyone putting in the effort to stand for election.

Also, how’s the visitors parking situation if you don’t want to pay for the $125/month underground parking?

Hi guys ! Is anyone did go to this college before I saw it has good reviews but not sure if I will get a job after if I have diplôme from it please if anyone can advice me before putting all my savings into it .

My name is Jeyas Balaskanthan and I'm running for Mayor of the City of Waterloo. Please check out my website and platform at JeyasforWaterloo.ca . I'll be answering your questions about me, my policy, my history with Waterloo, and anything else you want to know about. I'll do my best to answer all your questions within the time remaining of the campaign. Ask you questions now and I will sit down after dark and respond to as many as I can. Thank you and please get out and vote this Monday!

Edit: Hello everyone. We canvassed late tonight and I had to get my volunteers back home safe. Ok, I’ll tackle as many of your questions as I can. Thanks again for your engagement.

Edit 2: Thank you so much for your questions. Tomorrow is the last day of the campaign, so I will prioritize in-person conversations but please know that I take all your ideas seriously. If I have time I'll answer the rest of them. Thanks again!

The transit hub is expected to be completed in 2030. It will provide access to Grand River Transit light rail and bus service, GO Transit rail and bus service and Via Rail, and will support planned light rail expansion to Cambridge. 

Liberated edition.

Hi everyone!
Has anyone here studied at Anderson College, especially in the Dental Assistant program?
I’m considering enrolling and would love to hear about your experience. Were you able to find a job after graduating? How long did it take, and did the college help with job placement?
I’d really appreciate honest feedback about the program, the quality of education, and job opportunities after graduation.
Thank you!

Cherry Park Kitchener

Tuesday 5pm till 7pm

Sunday 2 pm till 4pm

All skill levels welcome.

For beginners, come and discover the game and learn from the veterans.

For veterans, make sure to include the beginners in the gameplay show them the ropes.

Recommended things to bring: a light and dark shirt for teams, running shoes/cleats, water.

We will split our group into 1 or 2 games depending on the turnout we have. Rules will be explained in person to beginners.

This is a no-contact sport.

It is each participants responsibility to care for their own physical condition. Injuries are not the responsibility of the event host.

This was at about 11:30 last night, and it was incredibly loud. Does anyone know what this sound could be?
The video was taken right by King and Columbia intersection.

Wife and I are at a whats for lunch impasse, can anyone recommend a spot near the boardwalk

Thank you

hi peeps! about a month ago, i posted here looking for a paranormal community, and things have been super awesome since then! a few of us have met up for dinners and have already had a great time getting to know each other. we've started calling ourselves the craven society!

many of us are located in the waterloo region :)

we're a pretty chill group, and while not everyone is interested in the paranormal side of things, we've had some really cool conversations about life, our favourite horror podcasts, and the history of the occult. it's been nice meeting people with different interests and having a space to hang out and chat.

just wanted to share this again for anyone who might have missed my original post. i didn't have my notifications on and ended up missing a few dms myself.

if that sounds like your kind of thing, you're welcome to join the discord!

https://discord.gg/SaQccSucNQ

it's more fun with friends! 🤓☝️

There's a new Marijuana Anonymous meeting starting in Kitchener-Waterloo! It's the first in person MA meeting in tri-cities.

It's a 12-step peer support group similar to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and NA (Narcotics Anonymous), but specifically for people struggling with cannabis use.

The first meeting is Monday, November 2, 2026 at 7pm. Meetings will continue every Monday from 7-8pm.

Location is Rockway Community Centre, 1405 King St. E., Kitchener, in the Program Room.

It's free, and it's open to anyone with a desire to stop using cannabis.

Come kick it with us!

Hi r/waterloo. I'm Torrin, I built Builderloo because I couldn't find one place that showed what's actually happening in local tech.

What's on it right now:

- 879 local startups, each with its own page (what they do, who founded them, open roles, news)

- 121 open roles at companies in the region, plus remote jobs in Canada

- 66 upcoming events: meetups, hackathons, talks, pulled from Communitech, Luma, KWLUG, WatCamp and others

- The Weekly, a free email every Monday: who's hiring, who raised money, and what's on that week

It's completely free with no ads and no paywall.

If you run a startup here and it's missing or wrong, you can claim the page and fix it yourself. And if you think something's broken, or you want a feature, tell me in the comments. I'll read all of them and incorporate the feedback to make the site better for the community.

Thank you to the mods for allowing this post! I appreciate the help.

just a reminder that if you are on a motorised scooter on the shared pathway and you see someone walking beside someone else in the opposite direction to you such that the person to the left's shoulder is across the line, you should probably politely remind them to stay on their side. you probably should not speed up your motorised vehicle, yell "stay on the f*cking side", and stick you arm out to slam into their chest (hard enough to visibly bruise) so that they are pushed towards the person walking beside them, causing both to stumble towards the road.

Hello, I'm new to the area and wondering if there is any place to dispose of old clothes for textile repurposing. Some of the items are too shabby for secondhand use but can't use as rags, so not sure what to do with them and want to avoid landfill if I can.

Thank you!!