In the end, it was Newmarket mayoral candidate Talib Ansari’s talent of number-crunching that led him today to withdraw from the mayor’s race.
“I put out 3,000 flyers in the hope of getting positive feedback on my vision for Newmarket, and nothing. The feedback on my ideas on the Newmarket Votes Facebook group was not encouraging,” said Ansari. “And I did a test market with my website and you know what, 40 per cent of the visitors weren’t even from Newmarket, and the 60 per cent who were stayed on the site for 20 to 25 seconds and only visited one page.”
Of the $400 he raised in donations, Ansari said he has returned $150. He was becoming increasingly disillusioned because everyone he spoke with told him he had “zero” chance of beating Regional Councillor and Deputy Mayor John Taylor.
“With all due respect, and I have respect for John, he has deep pockets and deep community ties and he said he’s going to paint Newmarket green and yellow with his signs,” Ansari said, adding that he couldn’t square spending $10,000 of his own money on election signs against such perceived steep odds.
“My vision of good jobs for our families and future generations didn’t resonate and I’m sad about that,” Ansari said. “I was hoping to get about 300 to 500 people who connected with me and my platform, to donate and volunteer, the people dissatisfied with the same old, same old, and wanted change.”
Mayoral candidate Joe Wamback said he is saddened and disappointed to see that Ansari has given up.
“I mean, that’s what’s wrong with politics. Why are there now only two candidates for mayor?” Wamback said. “I’m hearing the same story at the door, about the zero chance of beating John, people are telling me that, too.”
But Wamback said he’s not taking donations because he doesn’t want to be beholden to anyone, and it shouldn’t be the man with the most money who wins this election.
“I’m out there going door-to-door, and I’m campaigning on integrity, honesty, transparency and accountability. Something I believe doesn’t exist now,” he said.
As for all the predictions on the election outcome? Mayoral candidate Taylor said it’s hard to speculate how an election may turn out.
“I respect his (Ansari) decision and congratulate anyone running for public office,” said Taylor. “It’s great that he cared enough about the community to consider running in the first place. I hope he remains involved.”
The municipal election is Oct. 22 and you must be on the municipal voters list before you can vote, so visit Vote Newmarket to register and learn more. You'll be voting online or by telephone for the first time this year as the town has scrapped paper ballots.
Newmarket's mayoral candidates are John Taylor (https://votejohntaylor.ca/) and Joe Wamback (http://www.wamback.net).
