Former Brampton Regional Councillor candidate running for mayor

Brampton has its second official mayoral candidate for the upcoming municipal election in Vidya Sagar Gautam, a previous candidate for Regional Councillor and Peel Regional Chair.

Declaring his candidacy on LinkedIn, Gautam is a screening operations manager with a background in electronics and engineering according to his posts and ran for Regional Councillor in Brampton’s Wards 1 and 5 in the 2014 municipal election, and again for Peel Regional Chair in 2018.

“My election manifesto for Brampton Civic Election for the Office of Mayor will be to ensure that Brampton becomes a safe, secure, sustainable, smart city,” Gautam posted online.

While it’s still early in the campaign, it’s currently a two horse race for mayor in Brampton between Gautam and 23-year-old electrician Cody Vatcher.

Incumbent Mayor Patrick Brown has not filed nomination documents to run for a second term as mayor, and is instead currently campaigning for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.

During the first official leadership debate in Edmonton on Wednesday (May 11), Brown took aim at Conservative leadership rival Pierre Poilievre’s embrace of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

Brown has not signalled any intent to resign as mayor of Brampton while seeking the federal party leadership, and has said he would donate his salary to various causes including the William Osler Health System Foundation for the duration of the race.

Potential candidates have until Aug. 19 to file their nominations to run for City Council, Regional Council, Mayor and School Board Trustee.

Nomination fees are $200 if running for Mayor and $100 for all other positions.

Incumbent Regional Ward 7 and 8 Coun. Pat Fortini is the only currently serving member of council registered to run, while Gurpartap Singh Toor – who was also special assistant to former Mayor Linda Jeffrey – is challenging Regional Coun. Gurpreet Dhillon for Wards 9 and 10.

All nomination documents must be filed by appointment with the City Clerk’s Office, and appointments may be booked by calling 905-874-2000 or online at www.brampton.ca/skiptheline.

Editor’s Note: an earlier version of this story incorrectly said Gurpartap Singh Toor was special assistant to Mayor Patrick Brown, not former Mayor Linda Jeffrey.