The Canadianist | North of the City
Wasaga Beach voters will choose between four candidates for mayor on October 26, in an election taking place as one of Ontario’s best-known beach communities undergoes a significant transformation.
Incumbent Mayor Brian Smith is seeking another term against Mark Winegarden, Leslie Farkas and Marilyn “Raven” Broughton. The four were certified by the town clerk following the close of nominations on August 21. Christopher Stasoff had registered but subsequently withdrew.
The election comes four years after Smith returned to the mayor’s chair with 4,477 votes, or 38.47 per cent of ballots cast. Then-mayor Nina Bifolchi finished second with 2,937 votes, Giorgio Mammoliti received 2,363 and Farkas finished fourth with 1,862.
This time, the campaign is unfolding against a much different backdrop. Construction is underway on Beach Drive, major public and private investments are moving ahead, the town has adopted a new Official Plan and Destination Wasaga is intended to reshape the beachfront and downtown over the coming decades. Wasaga Beach expects its population to roughly double over the next 30 years.
Brian Smith
Brian Smith enters the election asking voters to give his administration another term to continue the transformation already underway.
Smith was born and raised in Wasaga Beach and previously served as mayor from 2014 to 2018 before returning to the office following the 2022 election. His campaign describes him as having called Wasaga Beach home throughout his life, although his current residency has been disputed by some local critics.
Smith is a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist and longtime entrepreneur. During his earlier term as mayor, the town began acquiring beachfront property, a decision Smith continues to identify as the foundation for the redevelopment now taking place.
His campaign is running alongside five council candidates under the Team Wasaga banner, although each is legally running as an individual candidate. Its message is straightforward: “Let’s Keep it Going.” Smith is campaigning on responsible growth, infrastructure investment, municipal services, fiscal management and attracting more jobs and commercial investment to the community.
Smith has a substantial record to campaign on. The town says approximately $506 million in public and private investment has been committed to Wasaga Beach projects since 2023, including schools, healthcare, long-term care, beachfront infrastructure and private development.
The scale of that activity also gives his opponents something concrete to challenge. Voters aren’t being asked to judge a theoretical vision for Wasaga Beach. Major decisions have already been made and construction has begun.
Mark Winegarden
Mark Winegarden brings a long history of local activism and criticism of municipal government to the race.
Winegarden is a retired paramedic who has lived in Wasaga Beach for approximately two decades and has operated a local business with his wife, former deputy mayor Sylvia Bray. His involvement in public affairs dates back years, including an appearance before an Ontario legislative committee in 2017, when he described becoming politically engaged after previously having little involvement in politics.
He has since become an outspoken participant in Wasaga Beach municipal affairs, writing extensively about council decisions, spending, transparency and the redevelopment of the beachfront.
Winegarden has been particularly critical of the direction of beachfront redevelopment and the town’s handling of information surrounding municipal decisions. His candidacy therefore offers voters one of the clearest breaks from the current administration among the four people seeking the mayor’s office.
As the campaign develops, the extent to which Winegarden turns years of criticism and municipal scrutiny into a defined governing platform will be one of the things to watch.
Leslie Farkas
Leslie Farkas is making his second consecutive run for mayor after receiving 16 per cent of the vote in 2022.
Farkas is a business owner and aviation professional who has spent more than a decade involved in local affairs. He has served as a director with the Wasaga Beach Chamber of Commerce and on the town’s Economic Development and Tourism Advisory Committee, advocated for a local high school and regularly participated in council and other municipal processes. He also completed an undergraduate certificate in law through Queen’s University after deciding to prepare for a possible run for mayor.
His 2026 campaign is considerably developed, with four central themes: transparency, infrastructure, taxes and community.
Farkas argues that infrastructure should precede major development rather than follow it, and is proposing greater disclosure around municipal spending, closed meetings and council decisions. His “Show Your Work” approach would include public budget and spending dashboards and monthly spending reports.
On the beachfront, Farkas isn’t proposing abandoning tourism development. His platform calls for a tourism-oriented area incorporating the planned hotel, restaurants, commercial development and public amenities while protecting another part of the waterfront primarily as municipal parkland and conservation space.
Marilyn “Raven” Broughton
Marilyn “Raven” Broughton was the final candidate to enter the mayoral contest, filing her nomination on the morning of August 21, just hours before nominations closed.
Unlike Smith, Winegarden and Farkas, Broughton entered the certified race without an established campaign website or a substantial publicly documented municipal platform that The Canadianist could locate at this stage of the campaign.
That leaves considerably less information available about her background and priorities than the other candidates.
The Canadianist will update Broughton’s profile as she releases campaign material and outlines her positions before voting begins.
The Issue: What Does Wasaga Beach Want to Become?
Wasaga Beach has always had an unusual identity.
It is a permanent community and a tourism destination, a small town whose name is known across Ontario, and home to a waterfront whose importance to the local economy extends far beyond its population.
The 2026 election arrives while all of those identities are being renegotiated.
The town’s new Official Plan anticipates Wasaga Beach roughly doubling in population over the next 30 years. It lays out where new housing, employment, roads, parks and municipal services should go through 2051 and calls for greater housing diversity and more complete communities.
At the same time, Destination Wasaga proposes a long-term transformation of the beachfront and downtown into a year-round tourism and recreation destination. Beach Drive is being rebuilt, mixed-use residential and commercial development is planned around Beach Area 1, and a new hotel is among the investments intended to follow.
More than 1,500 residents, visitors, businesses, students and community organizations participated in the second phase of public consultation on Destination Wasaga.
The debate isn’t simply whether Wasaga Beach should grow. Much of the growth is already coming.
The election gives residents a choice over how quickly it happens, how much the town spends to accommodate it, what infrastructure should come first, how much commercial development belongs along the waterfront and how much of the character that made Wasaga Beach distinctive should be protected along the way.
Smith is running on the argument that the transformation is working and should continue.
Winegarden has been one of the persistent critics questioning the direction of that transformation and the decisions behind it.
Farkas is proposing a more structured approach built around infrastructure preceding development, greater financial disclosure and a deliberate division between tourism development and conservation along the waterfront.
Broughton has yet to establish a comparably detailed public position.
A Beachfront Election
Few municipal projects are as closely connected to the identity of a community as Wasaga Beach’s waterfront redevelopment.
The town began the current phase by demolishing municipally owned properties along Beach Drive in 2025. Ontario committed more than $10.9 million toward the Beach Drive infrastructure project, intended in part to address longstanding flooding while opening the area to further investment.
Destination Wasaga has expanded that discussion beyond Beach Drive into a 10- and 20-year vision for the waterfront and downtown. Draft concepts released this spring contemplated a year-round destination combining recreation, tourism, commercial activity, residential development and environmental protection.
Whoever wins the mayor’s office won’t be starting this process.
They’ll inherit it.
The next council will be responsible for decisions made as plans become buildings, roads, businesses and public spaces. By the time Wasaga Beach votes again in 2030, parts of the community could look considerably different from the town voters see today.
There’s Another Question on the Ballot
Wasaga Beach voters will also be asked whether the municipality should move from its current at-large council system to a ward system.
Currently, the mayor and deputy mayor are elected town-wide, as are five councillors. The ballot question gives residents another opportunity to consider whether councillors should instead represent defined geographic areas within the growing municipality.
A similar question was put to voters in 2018. Although most of those who answered supported retaining the existing system, the result wasn’t binding because the required participation threshold wasn’t reached.
With Wasaga Beach expecting substantial population growth, the question of how residents are represented at Town Hall adds another dimension to the 2026 election.
Election Day
Election Day is Monday, October 26, 2026.
Wasaga Beach residents will elect one mayor, one deputy mayor, five councillors and school board trustees.
Online voting opens at 10 a.m. on October 1 and remains available until 8 p.m. on October 26.
Residents who prefer a paper ballot can vote in advance at the RecPlex on October 5 and October 14, or at Wasaga Stars Arena on October 17.
On election day, paper-ballot voting will take place at Wasaga Stars Arena, 544 River Road West, from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.