Canada\u2019s longest-serving politician, the octogenarian was first elected as a Milton town councillor in 1965. He has served as the town\u2019s mayor and council head since 1980.<\/p>\n
Krantz, who has successfully run for public office 22 times, shared why he\u2019s not quite ready to hang up his hat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main reason, the only reason, I still enjoy doing what I do, and (that) helms around the Town of Milton here, and that\u2019s the reason why I\u2019m seeking re-election, to once again hope to make a great contribution, once again, to the citizens of the Town of Milton,\u201d he told CP24 on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you would probably suspect, there are those individuals that maybe suggest you maybe should retire. Well, I know that there\u2019s the odd one of those out there as well. I enjoy what I do, like I say, and still have that ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Krantz, who turns 89 on April 20, said that while he may no longer climb ladders or run road races, he\u2019s still \u201cdedicated to helping run the Town of Milton effectively and efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OS2S5HNAB3DRXFX64NGSTCHEFE.jpg\")
Gordon Krantz Gordon Krantz stands beside a photograph of his younger self after being re-elected mayor of Milton. <\/p>\n
Krantz said he\u2019s also brings stability and experience to the growing community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you know, you pay your money to take your chances of what you\u2019re doing. So are people prepared to take that gamble? I\u2019m suspecting not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they\u2019ve had a pretty good run with me and I know that they appreciate it. Because the price has really been on me to run again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Krantz went on to say that Milton faces various challenges that come with belonging to the Greater Toronto Area, which he noted represents roughly 70 per cent of the population of Ontario. He added that currently the town\u2019s population is roughly 160,000 people but it is expected to almost double to 300,000 in the next 20 years.<\/p>\n
He said one of the things he\u2019ll focus on is keeping taxes down, pointing to council\u2019s decision in the last term to raise them by approximately 36 per cent, or roughly nine per cent annually over four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s over and above what I supported, but the majority of council supported that history. So at least, in my opinion, we have to get to look after (that). So that\u2019s one of the challenges and I\u2019m certainly after that on making sure that our taxes stay reasonable here in the Town of Milton,\u201d said Krantz.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s one of the challenges that I know I will be facing, not if I\u2019m re-elected, but when I\u2019m re-elected.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WSDWP3P2WP5AEFB3VBUMZBXH5Q.jpg\")
Milton mayor Gordon Krantz Milton mayor Gordon Krantz reads with children. (Credit: Town of Milton) <\/p>\n
Sameera Ali, a regional councillor representing Ward 4 in Milton, has also declared her intention to run for Milton mayor this October.<\/p>\n
Krantz said he\u2019s aware of at least three others who \u201chave made indications\u201d they\u2019re seeking to run for the mayor\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
Despite facing a number of challengers this time around, he said he\u2019s hopeful he\u2019ll be re-elected again on Oct. 26.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a horse race, there\u2019s no doubt about that. But (in) a horse race, whoever finishes first wins the race, regardless, whether it\u2019s even by a nose or not. So, you know, I\u2019ve been in many races before so it\u2019s not new to me, not for a moment,\u201d Krantz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The soon-to-be 89-year-old is Canada’s longest-serving mayor, and has been on Milton’s local council for 60 years. Age…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-591670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}