About Mayor Marianne Meed Ward
Biography
Marianne Meed Ward is currently serving her second term as Mayor of Burlington. She is the longest-serving female mayor of the City.
A passionate advocate for smart, balanced development, Mayor Meed Ward is focused on ensuring Burlington remains a great place to live, work, and play while maintaining its natural beauty. Her leadership is marked by a dedication to listening to residents, fostering collaboration, and prioritizing transparency in municipal decision-making.
A key priority of Mayor Meed Ward is promoting public transit in Burlington, where buses are now free for seniors and children, as well as for youth on the evenings and weekends.
Mayor Meed Ward is the Chair of the Ontario’s Big City Mayors Caucus, which launched the Solve the Crisis campaign calling on the provincial government to act on the homelessness, mental health, and addiction crisis. She is also a board member of AMO, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, where she has been active in advocating for a new deal for municipalities with the provincial and federal governments.
Mayor Meed Ward also launched the Elect Respect pledge, a nation-wide campaign to foster respect, inclusivity, and safety in public life. Elect Respect started as a conversation between a small group of women in Halton, founded by Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward called the Halton Elected Representatives (HER), who came together to share their experiences with harassment and abuse in public life and to stand up for a better way forward.
In 2025, Mayor Meed Ward was named “Mayor of the Year” by the Municipal World editorial board, in part due to taking a stand for civility in local government through the Elect Respect campaign.
Prior to being Mayor, she served as a Burlington City Councillor from 2010 to 2018. Mayor Meed Ward has a degree in Journalism from Carleton University and worked for more than twenty years in journalism as a writer, editor, and broadcaster.
Collaboration
Mayor Meed Ward is working collaboratively with Burlington’s city council, leadership team, staff and community partners to bring many initiatives that began during her first term as mayor to fruition and embark on new ones to help the city continue to grow and thrive. She also introduced a Deputy Mayor with portfolio initiative, giving each council member a focus area based on their unique backgrounds and interests. This is a new governance structure harnessing the skills and experience of each council member in service to residents.
Innovation
Through initiatives such as the Mayor’s Red Tape Red Carpet Task Force, she led the city in partnering with local businesses to identify and remove the challenges to business expansion and attraction. In her commitment to reasonable growth and development, the work completed in Burlington’s new Official Plan will ensure future growth happens in the right places and at the right scale to align with the community’s vision.
Inclusivity
Mayor Meed Ward and council unanimously supported and signed the Halton Equity and Diversity Roundtable Charter in 2020. This is a tangible reminder to continue the commitment of ensuring Burlington is an inclusive community. Council and staff support diversity through painted crosswalks, flag-raisings, proclamations, art installations, community events and more.
Reconciliation
Mayor Meed Ward is committed to continuing efforts towards Truth and Reconciliation with Indigenous residents in Burlington and has announced the formation of an Indigenous Advisory Circle to advise on actions and initiatives.
Sustainability
Mayor Meed Ward is committed to responsible spending while still investing in infrastructure improvements, transit, and tree-planting. Projects such as the acquisition of the former Robert Bateman High School site and upgrades to the Skyway Arena address the need for more and improved community spaces. Both projects ensure these facilities are environmentally sustainable as the city heads towards its target to become a net carbon zero community by 2050. Under her leadership, Burlington city council has already implemented several measures to protect the environment, including a private tree protection bylaw, implementing a Home Energy Efficiency Retrofit Project program and the declaration of a Climate Emergency in 2019.
Advocacy
Mayor Meed Ward is the Chair of the Ontario’s Big City Mayors caucus and also represents Burlington as a board member of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s Large Urban Caucus. These seats afford her additional opportunities to advocate on issues of shared importance to large urban municipalities.
Her Story
On her path to becoming Mayor, she served as a Burlington city councillor for two consecutive terms, from 2010 to 2018. Prior to her career in politics, she worked for 22 years as a journalist for clients including the Toronto Sun, Vision TV, the CBC, CHCH News, Chatelaine, Toronto Metropolitan University and more, committed to keeping people informed about the issues that impact their lives. Mayor Meed Ward lives in Burlington with her husband, three children, and their Wheaten Terrier, Boston.