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The Ontario Town Where (Almost) No One Wants to Be Mayor

Fauquier-Strickland nearly went broke. Other small communities could follow

Pierre Lamontagne had no intention of running for mayor. Retired from his career in construction, the first-time councillor in the township of Fauquier-Strickland, in the far reaches of Northern Ontario, had hoped to step back from politics and return to his “many hobbies,” as he calls them: fishing, trapping, and tending to his wild mushroom workshop. But earlier this year, he watched the nomination deadline tick closer and closer without anyone throwing their hat in the ring. The township’s previous mayor, Madeleine Tremblay, had decided not to run again after facing numerous calls to resign—and no one from the current city council had expressed any intention to stick around either.

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“Nobody was putting their name on the list,” he says. “And some people asked me, ‘Pierre, you should keep going.’”

Eventually, the township’s nomination deadline for the municipal election lapsed. It was extended by five days. Lamontagne would be the only one to offer himself up for mayor; another six people—including his wife Nicole Lamontagne—signed up to run for the town’s four council positions.

“We care a lot for the town,” they tell me over the phone.

“I know that with the help of the other councillors, we’re going to try to fix all [its] problems.”

The biggest problem in question is debt—and lots of it for a town of less than 500. As of last year, Fauquier-Strickland had “accumulated a general deficit of over $2.6 million,” according to a KPMG analysis commissioned by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Despite hiking taxes by 26 percent in 2024 and 20 percent in 2025, the crisis was severe enough that the town was prepared to declare bankruptcy and release all municipal staff as of last year. Nearby municipalities had already stepped in to help with garbage and fire services, but this would have meant costly provincial intervention and a possible hit to the township’s property values. It was only when the province stepped in with $300,000 of emergency funding that the town was able to continue operating—but, this time, on a much tighter leash.

Fast forward to the municipal election of 2026, and it’s no surprise residents are reluctant to take on the mantle of the mayor’s seat. The province’s emergency funds were just enough to get them back on their feet, but the recalcitrant debt problem remains. Lamontagne and his councillors would have to stabilize the town’s finances, with MMAH keeping a close look.

“They’re seeing our bills now probably every month,” Lamontagne says. “They want to see where our money goes.”

What this means is focusing on the basics, “like the road, the dump, the water plant, sewage, the gravel, winter salt, and our workers,” Lamontagne says. “We just have to use our money where it’s essential.”

While the situation in Fauquier-Strickland continues to be dire, and will probably remain so for the next........

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