A week shy of six months since declaring Peterborough needs “somebody who’s mayor, not king,” Michael Eamon has been granted the opportunity to put into practice what he preached.
The political newcomer was elected on Monday (October 26) as Peterborough’s 64th mayor since Thomas Benson was appointed to that role in 1850.
Eamon garnered 36.7 per cent of ballots cast to emerge ahead of six other mayoral candidates for the job of leading a city council that is now a equal mix of five re-elected incumbents and five political novices.
Incumbent Lesley Parnell and first-time councillor Chris Potter were elected in Otonabee Ward (incumbent Kevin Duguay lost his seat), incumbent Matt Crowley and first-time councillor AJ Shearer prevailed in Monaghan Ward (incumbent Don Vassiliadis did not seek re-election), and incumbents Alex Bierk and Joy Lachica defeated three challengers to maintain their seats in Town Ward.
With incumbent Keith Riel running for mayor and incumbent Gary Baldwin defeated, Ashburnham Ward is the only ward where both newly elected councillors — Ashley Bonner and Jason Stabler — are political novices. Meanwhile, in Northcrest Ward, incumbent Andrew Beamer and first-time councillor Charmaine Magumbe defeated six other candidates to come out on top, with incumbent Dave Haacke not seeking re-election.
According to the city, 40 per cent of eligible voters — 30,044 of 74,603 — cast a ballot, with 23,444 of those voting online, resulting in a 40.27 per cent voter turnout.
Among Eamon’s supporters gathered at Market Hall in downtown Peterborough on Monday night — a diverse group that included former Peterborough mayors Daryl Bennett and Diane Therrien-Hale, former United Way Peterborough & District CEO Jim Russell, New Stages Theatre Company artistic director Mark Wallace, and singer-songwriter Danny Bronson — his margin of victory seemed to be a bigger surprise than the fact that their chosen candidate had actually won election.
When the first results were revealed at around 9:30 p.m. from three of seven voting tabulators, Eamon had a significant lead of 2,879 votes over fellow political newcomer Neil Morton, with 9,253 votes to Morton’s 6,374, with longtime councillor Keith Riel third at 4,916 votes. Come 10 p.m., with all voting tabulators reported, Eamon’s vote count stood at 10,867 — a decisive winning margin of 3,500 over Morton’s tally of 7,372.
Following, in order, were Riel with 5,990 votes, Rebecca Schillemat with 2,526 votes, Jacob Méthot with 1,112 votes, Brian Lumsden with 1,106 votes, and Rob Hailman with 800 votes.
Eamon grew up in Brockville and moved to Peterborough in 2005. A high school valedictorian who earned scholarships to study history, he met his wife Jennine at Queen’s University and first became acquainted with the Peterborough region through visits to her family reunions. The couple raised two sons — Sam and Will — in Peterborough, both of whom attended Prince of Wales Public School and Adam Scott Collegiate and Vocational Institute.
Eamon’s professional experience has largely been in administration and management with the federal government in Ottawa and at Trent University, where he has served as principal of Trent University’s Catharine Parr Traill College for the past 12 years and occasionally teaches history.
He holds four history degrees, along with certificates in project management, project planning and control, procurement, change management, and cultural resource management. His additional training includes non-violent interventions, workplace violence and harassment, and customer service.
In his victory speech, the mayor-elect assured “A better Peterborough begins now.”
“It’s now time to transform plans into action, goodwill into good governance, to bring back civility to council, accountability to city operations, and in doing so, prosperity to all of us,” said Eamon.
“In the coming weeks, stay tuned for updates on my mayoral task forces, especially addressing homelessness (and) wellness in the downtown, as well as other updates about my transition to city hall as it takes shape.”
“Now the real work begins. I’ve never been more energized to make a difference; to roll up my sleeves and get to the business of running this city. You have placed your trust in me. I promise you that is something that I will not take for granted.”
Eamon took considerable time thanking his campaign team volunteers as well as his wife Jennine, and sons Will and Sam, for their support and “unconditional love.”
He also credited his challengers with running “good, strong campaigns.”
“You brought many good ideas to the table, and you made it abundantly clear how much you care about this community.”
After his remarks, Eamon told kawarthaNOW that he’s “excited to roll up my sleeves and start working for Peterborough” before noting he’ll go to work immediately on fostering a spirit of collaboration and unity among councillors that he has repeatedly lamented as sadly lacking.
“I want to meet with all councillors individually. I want to have a frank, honest conversation about where they see the city in four years, in 10 years (to find out) what their priorities are and work with them. I want to create a baseline of where they want to see the city go.”
“You need to build a team when things are good because when things turn bad, you want to have a baseline of understanding and a working relationship. I want to build those working relationships before we get into the business of running the city.”
Eamon said having a council that is a mix of veteran politicians and political newcomers is a positive.
“It is always good to have a bit of consistency of how things are done. That doesn’t mean we always have to do things in the old way, but it is good to have people who have been around the block.”
Meanwhile, across the city at Mei Mei Chinese Buffet, the mood was decidedly more sombre as Morton and his supporters faced the fact that their bid would come up short.
Still, the first-time candidate, joined by his wife Christi, said he has “no regrets” and delivered a graceful concession speech to a disappointed crowd.
“You’ve got to take chances in life,” Morton said. “You’ve got to bet on yourself and your community.”
“So many people stood up for me and voted for me, and believed in the movement I believe we were creating to push Peterborough forward in the right direction. They (the majority) didn’t buy into my vision, but that’s OK. I wish all the best to Michael Eamon. He deserved the victory tonight.”
“Everyone knows how I feel about this city,” Morton continued. “It has all the right people, all the right amenities. I still believe it can be one of the great Canadian cities. I think Michael (Eamon) is going to bring it in the right direction now and truly push us forward.”
“We can’t do status quo anymore. We have to invest in this community and believe in this community. That’s the motto I hope the new administration and council takes. We can’t be complacent anymore.”
Like Eamon, Morton also singled out Riel’s 16 years of service as a city councillor representing Ashburnham. He also made special mention of Méthot’s election bid, saying “He has such a bright future in politics.”
Although Morton noted his intention to make his way to Market Hall to congratulate Eamon in person, that didn’t happen — a combination of him being pulled in different directions and Eamon’s event wrapping up.
While Eamon gave no indication as to what his future holds in terms of his Trent University position, he told kawarthaNOW back in May that if elected mayor, he’s “going to give up Trent,” adding “Both roles deserve full attention.”
“It has been the last 15 years of my life,” Eamon said at the time. “I love the people there. I love the students. I love being in an educational environment. It’s a comfortable life too, but I’m willing to take a bit of haircut on pay.”
Eamon will take less of a “haircut” in salary than he would have had he been elected in 2022, as the new term of council will see a substantial pay raise both for the mayor and councillors.
In April 2025, council approved a staff recommendation that the mayor’s base salary be increased by 60 per cent, from the current $90,318 to $147,631 as of December 2026, while the base salary for councillors will increase by 52 per cent from $36,185 to $54,991.
