Janice Liggett is a Canadian politician. She has served as 7th

mayor of Cambridge The office of the mayor of Cambridge was created following the granting of a charter by King John in 1207 to the town of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. The charter gave the burgesses of the town the right to elect their own mayors in place o ...

since 2022. As mayor, she also sits on

Waterloo Regional Council The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumfrie ...

Early life

Liggett moved to Cambridge in the 1980s. She and her husband are co-owners of Garden Gate Ltd. and Benabec Architectural Precast, which makes concrete garden ornaments and architectural products. In 1991, she was one of the founders of the Ornamental Concrete Producers Association, of which she served one term as president. She also founded the Fallen Sparrows Fund, is the past president of Heritage Cambridge and served on the boards of the Grand River Film Festival and the

Kiwanis Club Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. In 1987, the organization ...

of Cambridge.

City council

Following unsuccessful runs in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Liggett was first elected to

Cambridge City Council Cambridge City Council is the local authority for Cambridge, a non-metropolitan district with city status in the United Kingdom, city status in Cambridgeshire, England. The council has been under Labour Party (UK), Labour majority control since ...

in the 2014 municipal elections, defeating Shawn Newton and Paul Brown in Ward 4, which covers the Galt part of the city. She ran on a platform of bringing a "respect for taxpayers' money and viewpoint to the job", highlighting an "infrastructure backlog", "environmental preservation" and the "value of small businesses in the community" as her priorities. She was re-elected in 2018, defeating Gary Price and Edwin Friest. While on council, Liggett sat on the Economic Development Advisory, Cambridge Arts Theatre and Core Areas Revitalization Advisory Committees, and part of the Water Billing Appeals Committee and the Post Office Steering Committee. She opposed the construction of an

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

warehouse in

Blair Blair is a Scots-English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin. The surname is derived from any of the numerous places in Scotland called ''Blair'', derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''blàr'', meaning "plain", "meadow" or " field", frequently ...

which is set to open in 2025. In 2019, she was found to be in violation of the city's code of conduct, following a dispute involving an administrative assistant who lodged a complaint against her in 2017.

Mayor

Liggett ran for

in the 2022 mayoral election against incumbent mayor

Kathryn McGarry Kathryn McGarry is a Canadian politician who has served as the president of the Ontario Liberal Party since 2023. Previously, she served the 6th mayor of Cambridge from 2018 to 2022. Prior to her election as mayor, she represented the riding o ...

. While on council, Liggett often found her self in opposition to McGarry on a number of controversial issues. In addition to her opposition of building an Amazon warehouse in Blair, Liggett also opposed the establishment of a consumption and treatment services site in the city, which McGarry supported. Her reasons for running for mayor included concerns that residents were being ignored, mental health, addiction and homelessness issues and "respect for taxpayers' money". In the election, Liggett defeated McGarry by just 1,126 votes. During the campaign, Liggett was hit by a car, breaking her foot in the process. In her first address to council as mayor, Liggett stated the city was in a "state of social recession", and needs to be "uplifted with an emphasis on city-building, saying the city must 'aim higher'." She indicated that the city needs "accessible rehabilitation for people who use drugs", "mental health facilities", and "mandatory court-ordered drug treatment". As mayor, Liggett indicated she "does not expect" to use her new "strong mayor" powers, following the passing of the ''

Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act The ''Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022'' () is a statute in Ontario that grants extra powers to the Mayor of Toronto and the mayors of other designated municipalities within their mayor–council governments. Powers granted Previously, a ...

'' by the provincial government. She has also had to face local concerns over a

homeless encampment A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents or other temporary structures. State governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house evacuees, refugees, or soldiers. UNICEF's Supply Division supplies expandable ten ...

in the city. She has opposed the extension of

Ion rapid transit Ion, stylized as ION, is an integrated public transportation network in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by Keolis and is part of the Grand River Transit (GRT) system, partially replacing GRT's Route 200 ...

, the region's light rail transit system to the city, favouring instead bus rapid transit, fearing light rail would bring problems to the downtown core, and the fact it would take a traffic lane away from Hespeler Road. During her term in office, the city celebrated its 50th anniversary since its amalgamation in 1973.

Recreation centre controversy

Mayor Liggett presided over a heated meeting discussing gender neutral bathrooms in a new city facility. A public speaker said, "You offer the universal open area for males, females and children to change and shower together. Part of the process of grooming children is establishing a connection, isolating a child, testing boundaries — of all which councillors, you're providing opportunities". Liggett responded "that has nothing to do with this facility".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liggett, Jan Living people Mayors of Cambridge, Ontario Women mayors of places in Ontario 21st-century Canadian women politicians Businesspeople from Ontario 21st-century Canadian businesswomen 20th-century Canadian businesswomen 20th-century Canadian businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century mayors of places in Ontario