This Ontario township isn't voting for a mayor or councillors — for the 3rd election in a row
Enniskillen is a mainly agricultural community located in Lambton County.
The mayor and 4 councillors were acclaimed after running unopposed
Bob Becken · CBC News
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Meet the Lambton County community that hasn't had a municipal election in 10+ years
October 23|
Duration
2:42
Voters will be deciding the fate of municipal leaders across Windsor-Essex and Sarnia-Lambton on Oct. 26th — but not in Enniskillen. The township's entire council will be acclaimed for the third time in a row. CBC's Dalson Chen reports.Voters across Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton will be deciding the fate of their municipal leaders on Monday — except in the Township of Enniskillen.
The mayor and all four councillors are acclaimed for the third time in a row — though voters will still vote to fill regional school board positions.
The last time voters voted for a mayor and council in the small southwestern Ontario township was 2014.
Enniskillen is a mainly agricultural community in Lambton County squished between Petrolia and Oil Springs. Many of the approximately 1,100 households and 2,800 residents either work in agriculture or make the short commute to “chemical valley” in the Sarnia-area.
The township is one of 19 municipalities in the 2026 election that has seen acclaimations for all council positions, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. That does not include school board posts.
Kevin Marriott has been the mayor of Enniskillen since 2011.
This year's election marks the third straight time he hasn't had to campaign for support or worry about losing his seat.
“It makes me feel pretty lucky, really, when I see the struggles that some of my colleagues in the county are going through,” said Marriott, who also serves as the warden of Lambton County.
Kevin Marriott is the mayor of the Township of Enniskillen, Ont. He's been in the position since 2011 and has run unopposed in the past three elections. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
Marriott said he thought there would be more interest for this cycle, but in the end, there wasn’t; he added he’s been told people are "fairly happy" with the state of affairs around their council table.
“I don't let my personal opinion interfere with what I gather from the general public," he said.
"I try to take a wide poll from talking to constituents to make sure I know the way they feel on a particular issue.”
Marriott said he’s unsure what he’ll do come the 2030 municipal election.
“I actually am thinking I'm getting close to, 'Maybe I should let somebody else take over,''' he said.
"I take each four years at a time. I won't comment [officially] until we get closer to 2030.”
LISTEN | Concerns around Ontario's 2026 municipal election:
Ontario Morning8:10Concerns around Ontario’s upcoming municipal election
Municipal elections are around the corner in Ontario. Duff Conacher is the co-founder of the government accountability organization Democracy Watch, and told us why he believes this province’s municipal electoral rules are skewed, and he shared the changes he says would make it more fair for everyone.Tim Williams is a fourth generation farmer, lifelong Enniskillen resident, and also a councillor.
He was selected by his peers in the midst of this past term when another councillor retired.
Williams said he wasn’t shocked that no one ran against him or his three fellow councillors.
“Municipal politics is pretty basic,” he said. “We have no big issues in our area right now. Things run fairly smoothly.
“I think that the councillors that were in place were great leaders. When people saw who was running … there wasn't no issue with who was going to be in there.”
Tim Williams is a councillor for the Township of Enniskillen, Ont. He took the seat in the midst of the last term and was unopposed for the 2026 election. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
Most local voters are probably happy not to have to deal with an election "or see some of the carryings on that are going ... on in other communities,” he added.
Arnold Syer, 73, is a would-be voter who’s lived in Enniskillen his entire life.
He’s also a former mayor, who said he’s happy to not have an election weighing over the township yet again.
“[They're] all good, reputable people,” he said of the current leaders, adding he knows all of them on a first-name basis.
“Why fix something that isn't broke, you know?”
Arnold Syer supports all positions being acclaimed for the 2026 municipal election in the Township of Enniskillen. The local resident is also a former mayor of the southwestern Ontario community. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
Syer said he has faith in the current council and mayor.
He added that people aren't happy about the rise in farmland taxes but they blame the province for withdrawing funding from rural municipalities.
“I think the people are smart enough to know we got to have a certain amount of money to run the place," he said, "and we don't see millions of dollars being squandered in any way. It's a real shift in taxation, and it's a fact of life.”
If the same people stay in their roles four years from now, Syer said he’d support not having an election in 2030, too.
“There's worse places you could be,” he said.
University of Windsor political science professor Lydia Miljan said there are a few circumstances that lead to acclamations and low voter turnout in general — especially when it comes to civic politics.
“What we know about municipal races is that the incumbent advantage is very strong. And so in some instances, they have a 90 per cent chance of re-election — especially in a small community [where] everybody knows everybody,” she said.
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There's also a sort of democratic deficit for communities with consistent incumbents," she said.
“The time where you actually get a race and you get people putting their name forward is when ... an incumbent says, ‘I'm not going to run again.’"
According to Miljan, the burden for municipal politicians can be great when everybody knows who you are.
“They're going to complain at you all the time," she said.
"You do have to have a thick skin and ... get some work-life balance, and it becomes more difficult in a small town versus a bigger city.”
The municipal office for the Township of Enniskillen located within the mostly farming community in southwestern Ontario. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
She added the lack of tax credits in municipal campaigns — compared to those at the provincial and federal levels — could also dissuade people from running.
Miljan said she’s becoming increasingly convinced that municipalities need term limits.
Changing the Municipal Act to limit the number of years and/or times someone can be a councillor or mayor would force governments and constituents to focus on succession planning.
“The research shows in countries that do have term limits, you get ... more diversity in terms of candidates," she said.
"You get younger people. You get more women because they finally think, ‘I have a fighting chance.’ It isn't just going to be the same old, same old.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Becken is with CBC's digital team. Previously, he was an executive producer with CBC Windsor, and held broadcast and digital news director duties with Bell Media and Blackburn Media. You can reach him at bob.becken@cbc.ca.
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