Monday night was a defining moment for Waterloo Region.

This municipal election wasn't business as usual. This was an election that kept us on the edge of our seats, every minute. It was a hard-won fight about things that really matter.

It was a collective decision about our collective future: Are we becoming a big city, or will we remain as a collection of small towns?

Voters in Waterloo Region overwhelmingly endorsed the vision of the big city. They elected the regional chair, the mayors and, mostly, the regional councillors who advocate for light rail transit and the big-city vision it brings with it. That includes Ken Seiling as regional chair, Berry Vrbanovic for Kitchener mayor and Dave Jaworsky for Waterloo mayor. That includes Tom Galloway in Kitchener, and Sean Strickland in Waterloo for regional councillor.

Voters rejected most of the candidates who wanted to cancel light rail because of its cost. Notably, that meant the defeat of Waterloo business owner Jay Aissa for regional chair, whose campaign focused hard on the idea that light rail is too expensive. It showed in the defeat of Dave MacDonald, who opposed light rail and lost for Waterloo mayor.

The voters have drawn the map that shows us how we will move forward.

They understood that light rail isn't just a streetcar moving from one shopping mall to the other. It's much more. It's going to help concentrate our population growth in high rise buildings at the centres of cities, instead of subdivisions pushing relentlessly against the city's edge.

It will help promote vibrant downtowns and a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle, which are welcoming to those younger, highly educated workers that every city craves. These young professionals wait to start families until later in life, and they prefer public transit to the expense and hassle of owning a car. They'll move here and stay here because we'll have what they want.

And yet with the big city comes the risk of some things we don't like so much - such as what has been called "big city politics."

This was the first time the region saw large-scale use of robocalls, harsh and sometimes inaccurate criticism of some candidates by others, and at least one attempt by one campaign to get other candidates to step aside.

We didn't like it. We didn't elect the candidates associated with it. And it was good for us all to cut our teeth on the experience.

Like a teenager on the cusp of adulthood, we have a unique opportunity to draw from both worlds. We are stepping into a new identity and we can choose what we keep from our history and what we will discard.

What an exciting time.