r/Milton • u/Bobcaygeon23 • 22d ago
Election Breaking Mayoral Candidates into two groups
10 Candidates but honestly 3-4 serious ones the rest are reaching, jokes or totally over their heads. Being a serious candidate doesn't mean I'd endorse them it just means they have some semblance of experience to make them qualified to be on the ballot. As it is we have teenagers running....
Group #1 Legitimate & Experience
Gord Krantz
- Incumbent has been Mayor for 40 years
- Saw Milton grow to what it is today for better or worse
- Brought in large infrastructure projects but also got fleeced by CN and has seen urban sprawl w/o infrastructure
George Minakakis
- Current Ward 1 Councilor
- Sat on Milton Hydro Board (Chair) and chaired Action Milton.
- Spent 20 years working as COuntry GM for Luxottica (Retail)
- Authored 3 books, MBA.
Sameera Ali
- Ward 4 Councilor
- Involved with the fiasco in 2025 trying to bring middleeast Geopolitics into a town hall meeting
- Serves on Halton Police Board
- Ran for Liberals in Provincial election
Nadeem Akbar
- Ran for Burlington North - Milton West for federal PC party and prior in 2021
- Listed living in Burlington last year, is now a longtime Miltonian
- Did work on the Halton Police Board
- Experience doesn't line up across prior campaigns, not much in the way of serious accomplishments
Group #2 IMHO Unserious
Asif Khan
- Makes / spams social media with lots of AI pics (Including him meeting celebrities etc.)
- 25 years of experience working with pretty much every major city
- No easily found Linkedin profile verifying nay of his claims
- Says a lot with AI w/o saying much of anything
- There are social media posts from a lady in Brampton saying she filed Sexual Harassment charges against this guy and that he had been harassing her and her family
Zainab Azim
- Puts a great image out there of someone very experienced.
- Involved in the community
- Age and work experiences don't line up - Grossly exaggerating work experiences.
- I.E. Teaching Fellow = TA in Canada
Chez Amun
- No website or visible platform, last LI post is 6 months ago
- DJ
- Platform? Experience? Good luck finding it
Maliha Ahmed
- CEO of Milton Muslim Moms
- President of Milton Federal NDP Riding Association
- Not much real work experience outside of politics
Arjun Joshi
- 19 years old - Student
Abdulkareem Akbik
- Identifies real issues but hard to find work experience for him
- Reads like a staffer or intern making a massive jump
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u/TheDukeU1984 22d ago
Not sure how running for provincial government and living in a different city then Milton translates to legitimacy and experience.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 22d ago
That's fair you could easily put them in the not serious bucket too and I wouldn't argue with you. Serving on the Halton police board is at least governance of a sizable budget https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadeemakbar26/ Has worked in the real world (IBM) as an IT Consultant. I won't be voting for him but he's held a real job at least...(low bar right??)
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u/Western_Towel1417 22d ago
I’m gonna just come in and say everything I see of Zainab I really like. I think she needs to get some time as maybe a councillor or other parts of community government before going for the big seat, but I hope if she loses this time she keeps staying in the scene. She has some good ideas and she’s young, she has lots of time to build up.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 20d ago
Circling back here - I went through her website, it is a campaign but she is grossly exaggerating and over-representing her experience, especially with her foundational work...That's a pass for me. Vibes and marketing all fluff no stuff.
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u/Western_Towel1417 20d ago
That’s fair. I still think she has potential. Grossly exaggerating seems to be a resume prerequisite these days…. You’d be surprised how many people don’t live up to their resumes. I still hope she continues to run for smaller positions and has a chance to prove herself.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 20d ago
Dude you have no idea :) I've hired ~80 ppl since 2015 all I do is screen and interview but in this case its bad...
"Teaching fellow" = TA for an education course this could be 50 hrs a year standing in a room while students write exams to catch cheaters...
"Co-Founder, Give" = There's no record of this organization doing anything, raising money for anything or making a donation of anykind, it can be a foundation with 1 member...
"Zohran Mamdani Mayoral Campaign, NYC" - She doesn't live in NYC She wasn't part of his campaign and can't vote in NYC I would'nt imagine? "Organizer on the people powered campaign" = I shared TikTok videos?
"Office of Canada's Deputy PM - "Policy experience at the federal level" - This is likely a summer job/ internship role...
Its deceptive and displays lack of judgement and naivety or serious character flaws
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u/Western_Towel1417 19d ago
Omg it’s so hard to hire anyone good eh? Ugh.
Hmm. I didn’t look that hard into it since I’m not actually voting for her for this this time. Just made a quick judgement based on what she’s putting up. Would definitely dig further if I was considering her so I do hope others who might be read that comment.
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u/DayOfTheDeb 22d ago
She should gain some working experience, then work her way up through a councillor role.
Just like how I climbed up to be a director at my company... I didn't just jump into it. I started from the bottom and worked my way up over 20 years...
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u/Bobcaygeon23 21d ago
torn between admiring the enthusiasm and cynical of how much of it is entitlement and privilege.
Definitely naive to jump into a mayoral race for a community in Milton's position.
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u/Western_Towel1417 21d ago
I honestly kinda love that about young people. I’m a 40 year old millennial and I still struggle with imposter syndrome in my career I’ve worked in for 20 years lol. I can totally admire a young lady that aims high. But definitely slow down tiger. Get some boots on the ground experience and see what happens in a few years.
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u/Western_Towel1417 21d ago
Yep that’s what I’m saying. I just hope she doesn’t get discouraged by a loss and makes the attempt to work her way up.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 22d ago
Fair I don’t disagree. For October though , no not there yet.
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u/Western_Towel1417 21d ago
Totally agree.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish 20d ago
I think she is positioning for a prov/fed liberal nomination. Building a brand and a team.
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u/PurpleHatChetaha 22d ago
Quick. Someone tell the Mods to take this actually informative information down 🤦♀️
Thanks for the hard work! Love the quick and easy format. Thank you!!
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u/RealLychee3700 22d ago
Good list! I'd break it into slightly different tiers, very close to your perspective:
Highest chance of winning:
-Gord
-George
-Sameera
Chance of winning if everything goes right:
-Nadeem
-Zainab
Very difficult path to winning:
-Maliha
No chance at all:
-Asif
-Arjun
-Chez
-Abdulkareem
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u/Bobcaygeon23 22d ago
I can't see putting a 23 yr old with no work experience no legal or financial background into a room, with the next CN and hoping anything goes well. "I Volunteered to do some social media posting for the mayor in NY" will not help Milton.
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u/Sad_Times654 22d ago
For real, and Mamdani had actual experience in government before becoming mayor btw.
Also, Milton is not NYC - we can't coast on our name to attract businesses nor we already have a major business ecosystem set up. We need to develop all of this, a shittier more inexperienced version of Mamdani isn't getting it done.
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u/Sanguine_Caesar 22d ago
Honestly I don't trust any of them to handle the whole CN thing well because nobody wants to admit that it's a losing battle and will keep wasting tax money fighting CN in court instead of leveraging public opinion to extract actual investment from them.
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u/RealLychee3700 22d ago edited 22d ago
My comment is based solely on my guess about who I think people will vote for and their chances, not on who I think people should vote for. I think if the cards come just right either Nadeem or Zainab could be elected as our mayor
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u/Sad_Times654 22d ago
AKA, who has the showiest and biggest billboard = Zainab lmao.
George is the best candidate in the race, most experience, and doesn't feel like he is in it for the "vibes" like the rest of them.
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u/WhimsyDEA 22d ago
Dude has money. He doesn’t need to do this, he wants to. He has a great handshake btw.
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u/Sad_Times654 22d ago
He can do whatever he wants, he has money or doesn't have it idgaf.
I don't like his daughter nor the father, and probably not the family either. They stand for nothing and are the least qualified in this race.
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u/WhimsyDEA 22d ago
Says idgaf, proceeds to write a whole paragraph about gaf.
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u/Sad_Times654 22d ago
"whole paragraph", and I never talked about his money - talked about MY opinions, so nice rage bait brooooooo
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u/Lisangwich 22d ago
Not disagreeing with your ranks here, but I fear that the votes will split between Sameera and George with roughly half of votes going to Gord, who will take the throne again 😑
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u/Ok_Fox7873 22d ago
Not again… please give this guy a break and let him enjoy his retirement, at home and not in the office :)
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u/DayOfTheDeb 22d ago
A lot of the people I know who have been in Milton are their lives have done no research and are just going to vote for Krantz again.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 20d ago
And will continue to complain about the direction the city has taken over the last 10-20 years...
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u/WhimsyDEA 22d ago
So many joke candidates just looking to cash in on public paycheques. Unserious people wasting time and conflating sign size with experience.
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u/Sad_Times654 22d ago
I swear, anyone voting for Zainab Azim needs to go back and get civics education in highschool again.
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u/Reasonable-Ad-4754 22d ago edited 22d ago
This is a great post, thank you. This can make a great case study -looking forward to the elections results.
Also, it's quite bewildering how many are running despite lacking decent amount of qualifications to run as a mayor. Quite a lot of self-confidence and free time. Common sense and some readings would dictate that it takes more than barely meeting the eligibility criteria to run.
On the other hand, this presents an opportunity to educate/inform the town residents on what to look for in candidates' suitability and how to identify AI/false claims.
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u/turkeygiant 21d ago
I'm pretty much at the pick the least worst candidate stage at this point, this election slate is really disheartening to me. I think I'm leaning towards that person being Sameera, despite the whole Free Palestine stunt which I found incredibly cringeworthy even as a supporter of the general cause, she seems like the only serious candidate with some more progressive transformational ideas for the town. I'm certainly not voting for Krantz, it's a farce that a 89 year old is running again, and Minakakis just seems to represent the same old "hold steady and never adapt" politics we have already had for the last half century under Krantz. Im ready for some change, I just wish there was a candidate I could more confidently see delivering positive change.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 21d ago
In speaking to George he didn't strike the same as Krantz. I am not 100% against Sammera but there's a few decisions, i.e the recent vote to put a bylaw restricting AI Data center development. I love the principle of it but in speaking with one of the regional councilors who voted against it she indicated it was a blunt instrument that had further "Off target" effects which would handicap the council for up to 2 years... So those kinds of decisions + the free palestine stunt says she may not have the temperament and long term clarity required to best navigate the future of Milton.
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u/bekind2nature 21d ago
I was in that council meeting that the potential AI data centre restriction was discussed and I was shocked at how Sameera handled the votes against her. Seemed to me like she was pouting and angry. I don’t want someone so unprofessional with such weak personality to be the mayor of this town.
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19d ago
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u/bekind2nature 19d ago
Interesting! I thought she was “fighting” against it but if she knew it’s going to get voted down, why bring it to the council meeting?
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u/turkeygiant 21d ago
I dont really get the whole "lame duck" argument this council seems to lean on every time its even remotely close to an election. THEY are in charge right up until the end of their term, this courtesy period is something they just seem to have made up. And likewise the new council will be in charge when their term starts and they would be free to amend or repeal a ban if they see fit.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 21d ago
Its not a lame duck argument. The proposal was not to delay AI warehouses for a year it was to say no to a 1-yr interim Control Bylaw.
Context: There are no applications to build new Data Centers in Milton right now. Any new applications would require Public notice and can't progress to site plan approval because there's no current Data Center definition in zoning bylaw. So risk of a new Data Center popping up in the next year is non-existent
Context: An interim Control Bylaw would stall commercial development on all the other unallocated industrially zoned land for a year with the potential to go to two. This could also lead to liabilities from developers who had existing projects about to progress.
So while in principle it is a great move with the gesture and sentiment saying no to AI Data centers it has "Off target" effects while protecting against a non-imminent risk.
Its public, it makes great campaign fodder and clickbait. Its usefulness can be debated.
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u/PuzzleheadedPrint623 21d ago
Don't have much information about Sameera but I've seen her posts and comments in social media and first impression is that she's a "look at me I did this" type of person without giving credit to others. Not a good look for a mayor in my book.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 20d ago
Zee Hamid should have won years ago...
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u/turkeygiant 20d ago
I voted for him last time, but Im kinda ok that he lost because he really showed a ugly face when he did the opportunistic flip flop to join Doug Ford's Cons. I thought he was the real deal, but that decison really told me that he was more in politics for the status and position than believing in good policy.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 20d ago
I talk to him and shit on him enough - he's pretty open to having you pop by and chat with him. I HATE Doug Ford's party and politics, but I get the "I can be a seat at the table and represent Milton, or sit in the back and yell"
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u/RedStar4Ever 22d ago
Gordon Krantz or George Minakakis, the rest will bring a very unwanted flavour to Milton. Thank you for the amazing summary!
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u/LeagueAggravating595 21d ago
Aside from the first 2 whom are relatively respectable, the rest read like losers who just want a gov't job that you'll regret it if you vote for them.
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u/Tuques 22d ago
Gord or George are the only 2 that make any actual sense to vote for imo.
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u/ZeArcadeAcadian 12d ago
Wild that people look around Milton, see the lack of planning and housing sprawl, and think that Gord is still a good choice.
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u/AverageOk3404 22d ago
A.K. Has some serious allegations against him for s. Harassment
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u/PlantainManne 22d ago
I seriously hope this gets asked about if he does an AMA here. Or at a Q&A very soon.
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u/Scarface647 21d ago
Thank you for the breakdown. so much extra garbage in this election good to get a filtered view.
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u/Ok_Fox7873 22d ago
I don’t think Nadeem Akbar belongs to the legit list; he also belongs to the wannabe politician list.
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u/bekind2nature 21d ago
Don’t most of those listed above belong to the wannabe politician list, without any experience or understanding of what it takes to be one?
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u/feb914 22d ago
I'm honestly surprised with how many signs Zainab Azim has for a supposedly not so serious candidate. I agree that she's not supposed to be serious candidate of winning, but her strong sign game made me think that she'll get more votes than what I initially thought.
Some of the not serious candidates would make interesting dark horse candidate for town council.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 22d ago
Her parents could afford to send her to space. They can afford a bunch of AI slop signs.
Isn’t it a problem when having more money to spend is the criteria?
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u/Knave7575 22d ago
Her father is loaded. That helps.
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u/Sad_Times654 22d ago
What does her father do?
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u/DayOfTheDeb 22d ago
And he paid $500,000 for Zainab and her brother to be on a space flight... They clearly have had their fair share of privilege.
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u/Natural_Peak_5587 21d ago
I’m suspect he cancelled those once it was out in the media (that presumably he called - private purchases generally don’t make the news). It was all a publicity stunt.
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u/Sad_Times654 22d ago
All I see are signs, with nothing to back it up.
If she or Sameera wins, I'm seriously considering moving out of Milton.
You got her with zero experience and running on vibes/money. Then you have Sameera running for padding her resume.
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u/Bobcaygeon23 20d ago
There's a website that's hyper exaggerated... she's a 23 year old who called being a TA (50-60 hrs work / year) "A teaching fellow", created a charity (That has no record of doing anything or raising a $ for anything etc). Co-authored 2 books (Cites a translation as a 3rd) and claims to have run the NYC Mayor's "People's campaigned". AKA I posted some instagram stories...
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u/Sad_Times654 19d ago
LMAO, I know a lot of people more qualified than her upon grad. They have actual internships and they can't find a job thanks to our great Canadian economy.
She should be running for student union maybe, not for mayor.
Her whole family is shady AF too.
Also her "Harvard" degree is a Masters in Education that has a 50% acceptance rate... it just costs a lot - her daddy is loaded with money, so no problem for her.
Your average UofT or Waterloo engineer is a million times smarter and more qualified than her, people need to stop being impressed by Ivey league credentials in useless things.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish 20d ago
She may have some substance. Will wait for her Q&A. Was a class act doing the campaign civility thing with the mayor.
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u/Sad_Times654 19d ago
Wow, "good message", are you serious bro? That is the bar for a candidate for you?
We literally have a former CEO, chair and someone who can speak 3 languages running for mayor in George M., and we should settle for a 23 y/o with zero real life xp because she said "let's be civil"? Y'all are mentally fried in the head.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish 19d ago
Two things can be true at the same time. It can be a good thing but also not have bearing on her (or his) qualification for the job. Will wait for her (and George's) AMA to see who has a bottle handle on issues and solutions. Peace out.
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u/Sad_Times654 19d ago
George M is literally better. More experience, better policies etc., you are voting a boomer vs a inexperienced gen alpha.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish 19d ago
I am voting for who would be the best mayor. The existing council members bring experience - and have some choices they need to explain. The new kids on the block need to show how they will be better. The AMAs should sort the wheat from the chaff.
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u/Sad_Times654 19d ago
Well, I'd rather hope you vote for the boomer than the inexperienced gen alpha with shady family/background is all I am going to say.
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19d ago
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u/Thanks-4allthefish 19d ago
And tried to ditch her job when the bright light of upper tier government called.
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u/Thanks-4allthefish 19d ago
She had a job she ran for already. She could have said "no - I made a commitment to the people of my ward".
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u/Sad_Times654 19d ago
Bro, that is meaningless. Infact, it means she has no intention of committing to Milton, itself. She is focused on other countries and focused on being leader on foreign policy not Milton.
All she has done is raised property taxes with nothing to show for it, so she won't be getting thank yous. Actually, all we have to show for it is a terrible snow plow service under her.
You are probably related to her or are her lmao, saw no one defend Sameera IRL.
Her track record is terrible and meaningless at best.
Not to mention, she has ditched her job many times, and we all remember the pro-Palestine stunt she pulled last year at Milton city hall.
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u/JimmyTheChooch 22d ago
She’s 23 years old, has zero public service experience, comes off as a nepo-baby, and has no actual work history. Do you really think she go against her father’s wishes on critical votes and decisions?
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u/ThenBridge8090 21d ago
Isn’t there lot of expectation n classification from a mayor ?
I wonder if this was the classification to select next PM.
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u/ProfessionalBar7629 16d ago
This is exactly what I was looking for thanks for putting this together!
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u/aymanzone 6d ago
You said "
Sameer Ali
- Involved with the fiasco in 2025 trying to bring middleeast Geopolitics into a town hall meeting
"
Can you expound on that?
I recognize there is a 1950 WW2 genocide going on in Gaza so emotions are high
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u/Bobcaygeon23 6d ago
you can google it or search for town council meetings in youtube, I believe it was November.
TL/DR Sameer brought a bunch of people from Brampton and other towns to scream at town council and the mayor because they weren't telling to the Federal Govenment to stop selling arms to Israel.
There was some motion brought up for the town to become a player in geopoliticis. She called on the town to urge the federal government to establish a two-way arms embargo against Israel, request an expansion of the Gaza Temporary Resident Visa program and endorse the principles of the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge. In bringing her issue up several invitees were brought to the meeting, many of them not Milton residents, the meeting divulged into a screaming and shouting match.
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u/aymanzone 6d ago
Oh dear, I'll try to find it. I know media isn't talking about Gaza anymore so people forgot but I don't like it when there is shouting match.
Her AMA was okay, I like that she acknowledged that we want to see more AMAs form her and not only during election (that carried weight with me because she acknowledged how she can improve)
I'm not 100% confident who I want to vote for, but I am voting. I wish there was more out there, more AMAs, easier than video, or maybe I get AI to transcribe it and analyze video
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u/CapitalFriendship840 6h ago
What has SAMEERA or Nadeem done for Milton? Both are failures. Nadeem lost and has been losing for 8 years.. if anything Asif Khan is more worthy of winning… although he uses AI his message is clear. He’s the only one with experience… SAMEERA has been talking about transit transit transit.. she hasn’t done anything about transit when she was in council.. In MY OPINION the 3 biggest contenders are 1. Gorge 2. Asif 3. Gord… everyone is subject to their own opinions.. I don’t know Asif personally.. but from what I’ve seen he’s better than sameera and nadeem.. all of you criticize him for using ai but atleast he knows how to.. ai is the future you all use it as well 😂. Mamdani used AI… Donald trump uses AI. If you’re against it, it means your not up to speed with the growth of technology
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u/Bobcaygeon23 6h ago
You can use AI. Making an AI image of me with say Messi playing soccer doesn’t mean I have good policies..he can make ai memes that’s all he has shown me ability wise
Having women come out publicly and say they are filing charges and complaints around sexual assault is probably not a good look…
Running around saying I need more Pakistani votes to offset white votes just indicates divisive politics and entitlement…
You don’t need to agree with Sameeras policies or track record, I don’t , but she has at least done the work.
As PJ stock used to say he only had 5 NHL goals in his career…but it’s 5 more than you…
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u/Natural_Peak_5587 22d ago
Can someone explain this sentence to me about Nadeem Akbar, because I think I’m missing something:
“Listed living in Burlington last year, is now a longtime Miltonian”
If he lived in Burlington last year and has been in Milton for a year, how does that make him a longtime Milton resident?