Natasha Salonen Biography

Natasha Salonen was elected the first female Mayor of the Township of Wilmot in October 2022. At 27, she became the youngest female mayor in Ontario’s history. In addition to her duties as Mayor, she serves as a Region of Waterloo Councillor, where she chairs the Library Committee and sits on the Heritage Planning Advisory Committee and the Active Transportation Advisory Committee.

Mayor Salonen brings experience across federal, provincial, and municipal government dating back to 2012, combining that perspective with practical municipal leadership to advocate for strong, fiscally sustainable rural communities.

She currently serves on the Boards of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA), the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), Enova Power Corporation, and Kiwanis Transit. Since 2024, Mayor Salonen has served as a Professor at Seneca Polytechnic, teaching the Canadian Political System.

Mayor Salonen holds an Honours BA in Human Sciences from the University of Oxford, where she was actively involved in student government. She has also completed the Oxford Programme on Negotiation at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.

As Mayor, she has championed fiscal responsibility, attainable and accessible housing, youth engagement in government, community building, and broadening participation in municipal leadership. Deeply proud of her rural roots, she continues to draw upon her professional and academic experiences to advocate for the needs and priorities of rural Ontario communities.

A lifelong resident of Wilmot Township, she currently lives in her family home in Baden.