Walter Sendzik

Mayor of St. Catherines

His Worship Walter Sendzik

Mayor of St. Catharines
In office December 1, 2014 – November 15, 2022
Preceded by	Brian McMullan
Succeeded by	Mat Siscoe

Personal details
Born	(1972-02-28) February 28, 1972 (age 52)^[1]^[2] St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada^[3]
Spouse	Melanie Sendzik^[4]
Children	2^[2]
Occupation	Politician publisher

Walter Sendzik (born February 28, 1972) is a Canadian politician who served as the mayor of St. Catharines from 2014 to 2022. As mayor, he sat on Niagara Regional Council. Sendzik did not run for a third term in the 2022 Niagara Region municipal elections, and was succeeded as mayor by Mat Siscoe.^[5]

Career

Prior to being elected, Sendzik was the general manager of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce.^[6] He had been with the Chamber of Commerce for seven years. Prior to this, he founded Vines Publishing, a publishing company specializing in wine and travel, including Vines magazine.^[7] He sold the company in 2005.^[3] He also served as president of the Niagara Wine Festival.^[8] He holds a B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier University and a master's degree from McGill University.^[3]

Sendzik was first elected as mayor in 2014 on a platform of youth retention, employment diversification, and attracting well paying jobs.^[2] The position was an open one with the previous mayor, Brian McMullan retiring.^[9] Sendzik defeated future NDP MPP Jeff Burch, winning 40% of the vote to Burch's 35%. In his first term as mayor, the city prepared for the construction of a 19-storey condominium building, the first of its kind in the city, part of the city's transition into both a bedroom community and the "urban centre" of the Niagara Region.^[10]

He was re-elected in 2018 running on a record of economic development and investing in infrastructure.^[11] He was re-elected, winning 72% of the vote. After being re-elected, one issue Sendzik had to deal with were the layoffs at General Motors, one of the largest private sector employers in the city.^[12] Also during his second term, St. Catharines experienced a housing boom after increased GO Train connections to the Greater Toronto Area.^[13]

References

^ @WSendzik (February 28, 2018). "#HappyBirthday to me ! Time to put on the party hat!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Walter Sendzik says city's future is in jobs". Niagara Falls Review. October 9, 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c City biography
^ "Sendzik has an app for mayoral campaign". St. Catharines Standard. August 11, 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
^ Karena Walter, "Mat Siscoe wins St. Catharines mayor’s race by a landslide". St. Catharines Standard, October 25, 2022.
^ "Sendzik has an app for mayoral campaign". St. Catharines Standard. August 11, 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
^ "Cool cover". Edmonton Journal. April 28, 2000. p. A2. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
^ "Fun and excitement for the whole family". National Post. September 5, 2003. p. 103. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
^ "Mayor Brian McMullan not running again". St. Catharines Standard. April 1, 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
^ "Looking up in the suburbs". Montreal Gazette. May 20, 2017. p. D2. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
^ "Meet the St. Catharines mayoral candidates". St. Catharines Standard. August 18, 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
^ "Anxiety builds for laidoff GM workers in Canada". National Post. September 28, 2019. p. FP7. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
^ "Go Train fuels Niagara housing boom". National Post. June 29, 2019. p. PH9. Retrieved May 17, 2020.