Oakville Beaver, Oct. 29, 2010

In defeating challenger Ann Mulvale in Monday night’s election with 52 per cent of the popular vote, Mayor Rob Burton also came out on top in five of Oakville’s six wards. Mulvale only won one ward — Ward 5 her home ward — and that just barely. ...

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Oakville Beaver, Oct. 26, 2010

While Monday’s election night ended with Oakville Mayor Rob Burton soundly defeating his rival, former mayor Ann Mulvale, by more than 5,000 votes, the campaign remained a nail bitter for the Burton camp right up until the point the votes were tallied. ... Finally, at about 9 p.m., a beaming Burton emerged from his back room. When asked by a supporter about the numbers, Burton replied, ‘Well, uh, we won.’ At this point the gathering crowd, now about 100 strong, erupted with cheers and applause as Burton hugged his supporters, while members of the media snapped countless photos of his victorious moment. A short time later Burton, with his wife Wendy at his side, mounted a podium in front of the movie screen to address the crowd. ... “This has been the hardest campaign that we’ve ever seen. It felt as though we were up against an entire industry. Our success in the last term at controlling growth and its costs and protecting half of Halton as environmental land was a threat to that industry and they stopped at nothing in their attempt to take over.” ... “For four more years we are going to put the environment before asphalt,” he said to cheers and applause. "For four more years we are going to use what we’ve got to do what we need, and we’re not going to blame other "orders" of government.”

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Toronto Star, Oct. 25, 2010

The question dogging Oakville voters for months had been whether they like things the way they are or the way they were. On Monday they decided the status quo was just fine. Mayor Rob Burton had faced a tough challenge from former six-term mayor Ann Mulvale, who he beat in 2006 by 1,636 votes. He'd lost to Mulvale by just 28 votes in 2003, so this year's election shaped up as a rubber match of mayoral proportions. In the end, it wasn't even close. Burton turned away Mulvale's challenge with a victory of almost 5,000 votes...

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Toronto Star, Oct. 21, 2010

... Here are the candidates we endorse in the region’s major races:

Oakville: Two long-time political rivals are again battling to represent this fast-growing city, with incumbent Rob Burton resisting a determined push by former mayor Ann Mulvale. She received our endorsement in 2003 and beat him by just 28 votes. Burton fought back three years later, and won by 1,636. Although we didn’t back Burton in either of those races, we are supporting him now.

Burton has been an effective and responsible mayor. He has taken firm steps to control Oakville’s growth and has raised development fees. He also boosted city services, especially the fire department, while keeping tax increases moderate. And Burton proposes reasonable borrowing to help cover the city’s $200 million share of a planned new hospital’s cost.

Mulvale, in contrast, seems very much a voice from the past. True to her pro-growth roots, she wants to give developers a break. And, on the new hospital, Mulvale wants to lead a fight to change provincial rules concerning hospital funding. Burton offers a sound, realistic approach to the city’s needs. Oakville is better off with him in office.

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Toronto Star, Oct. 17, 2010

... Burton said a key question in the race “is whether we’re going to keep moving forward, controlling growth and getting our finances under control as I’ve done, or go back and have unbridled growth. We had fallen behind on facilities and things as basic as road maintenance, and I’ve reversed that.” He said that over Mulvale’s last two terms, taxpayer debt had grown from $10 million to $24 million. He said he cut it by nine per cent, to $22 million, in his single term. ... “There’s no doubt in my mind that if she continued to be mayor, the town would be different than it is now,” Burton said. “I was elected with a mandate for change and I implemented change. Our rate of tax increases was lower than hers. I reduced taxpayer debt and made developers pay more. “I was elected by a population that was tired of waiting.”

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