New MP Duvall resigns from council – so who's running in Ward 7?
Shaun Burt, Keith Beck both say they plan to run
Scott Duvall is handing in his resignation papers as a Hamilton councillor Friday, CBC News has learned.
With Duvall stepping aside to represent Hamilton Mountain on the federal stage, local attention now turns to his vacant seat in the council chambers, and who is going to fill it.
One hopeful is Shaun Burt, who ran against Duvall federally. He's planning to shift gears and jump into municipal politics to run for the outgoing Ward 7 councillor's old seat.
Before any of that can happen, council first has to approve Duvall's resignation, and then decide whether to appoint someone to replace him or hold a byelection.
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"I'm 99 per cent sure they'll hold a byelection with this many years left in the term," Duvall said. He was reelected as a councillor last October. A byelection is expected to cost about $100,000.
Duvall says there is "great interest" from people who are thinking about running for his old job and want to know what it entails. "I think there will be a lot of applications," he said. He expects the byelection to take place sometime in March.
One of the people who will be running is Shaun Burt, who narrowly lost to Duvall in the federal election while running for the Liberals. Burt commanded 34 per cent of the vote at 16,931 votes, compared to Duvall's 36 per cent at 18,046 votes.
"I dedicated my time to trying to make a difference," Burt said. "I lost by a narrow margin, but I didn't lose the drive."
Burt says that while going door to door for his federal campaign, he heard many complaints from residents that were municipal issues – from potholes to parks and other infrastructure disrepair.
"At the time, I was saying, 'Contact your city councillor,'" Burt said. "But ironically at the time, he was running against me."
Burt says he has "great momentum going in," to another campaign, especially since he "is the only candidate who has Justin Trudeau's cell phone number."
Self-employed business consultant/analyst Keith Beck told CBC News he also plans to run for Duvall's old council seat. This is his third time running as Ward 7 councillor.
"I'm looking forward to being able to field a more complete campaign effort this time around," he said.