Longtime Peterborough politician Jeff Leal seeks city’s mayoral seat – Peterborough | Canadian

After a four-year hiatus,  Jeff Leal is returning to the political spotlight as he is running for mayor of Peterborough, Ont.

The office of the city clerk office confirmed with Global News Peterborough that Leal filed his nomination papers at City Hall on Thursday morning.

Leal is now the third person running to be the city’s next mayor, joining current Deputy Mayor Henry Clarke and City Councillor Stephen Wright

Current Mayor Diane Therrien — who won the top seat in 2018 — announced in the fall 2021 she would not be seeking re-election.

Leal is no stranger to municipal politics, having first first served as a councillor in 1985, representing Otonabee Ward for 18 years while also serving as deputy mayor from 1993 to 2003 under former mayors Jack Doris and Sylvia Sutherland.

The Peterborough native made the jump to provincial politics in 1999 as a Liberal candidate but lost to Progressive Conservative incumbent Gary Stewart. Leal defeated Stewart in the 2003 provincial election. Leal was re-elected in 2007, 2011 and 2014. The longtime Liberal incumbent for Peterborough-Kawartha, lost his provincial seat to Conservative candidate Dave Smith in 2018.

During his provincial career, he held a number of posts including serving as minister of training, colleges and university; economic development and trade;  energy; environment; and Aboriginal affairs.

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Global News has reached out to Leal for comment.

According to the city’s website, other candidates seeking a seat on city council (each ward has two councillors) as of July 14 are as follows:

Otonabee Ward:

• Lesley Parnell (incumbent)
• Kevin Duguay

Monaghan Ward:

• Jeff Westlake
• Matt Crowley
• Charmaine Magumbe (incumbent)
• Lyle Saunders
• Don Vassiliadis (incumbent)
• Tom Wigglesworth

Town Ward:

• Dean Pappas (incumbent)
• Alex Bierk
• Brian Christoph
• Joy Lachica
• Vickie Ann Karikas

Asburnham Ward:

Gary Baldwin (incumbent)
Keith Riel (incumbent)

Northcrest Ward 

• Dave Haacke
• Carlotta James
• Andrew Beamer (incumbent)
• Shauna Kingston
• Aldo Andreoli

The deadline to submit a nomination paper to run as a municipal candidate is Monday, Aug. 22 at 4 p.m.