Gordon Barrie Island’s 23.86 an exception
MANITOULIN—The voters of Manitoulin Island have spoken and in the 2014 municipal election did so in numbers that generally exceeded the provincial average. The main exception that stands out in the available data was Cockburn Island, whose ballot count showed barely 23.86 of eligible voters casting a ballot.
Since there is only one year round resident in that municipality, the low enthusiasm for electoral representation can be perhaps safely removed from the tally.
Although the official voter tally for Tehkummah had not yet been posted on the Ontario Votes site, the average of the five municipalities that did file their tallies show 46.38 percent, significantly above the provincial average of 42.91 percent.
The Ontario results were also likely skewed somewhat by the 60 percent (980,000) of electors that turned out to vote in the City of Toronto, a significant 18.5 percent more than the 2010 election that saw the chain of office draped over the controversial shoulders of Rob Ford.
The Ontario provincial election result reversed a two-decade slide in voter turnout in province, with 52 percent of the province’s 9.2 million eligible voters casting a ballot.
Billings Mayor Austin Hunt secured his place in Canadian municipal history as the longest serving municipal politician in the country with a convincing win that nearly matched the combined tallies of his two opponents, Billings Councillor Sandi Hurcomb and newcomer David Yurich. Incumbents Sharon Alkenbrach (who had been earlier appointed by council to replace the late Gerry Mack), Brian Parker and Tom Imrie were also returned to office, joined by newcomer Barbara Erskine.
Five of the other Manitoulin heads of council, mayors or reeves, were acclaimed in their office, including Al MacNevin in the Northeast Town, Ron Lane in Gore Bay, Ken Noland in Burpee-Mills, Paul Moffat in Assiginack and Brenda Jones in Cockburn Island.
Of the other contested top council seats, two saw incumbent upsets, with a tight race in Central Manitoulin going to former mayor Richard Stephens by a bare 16 vote margin over incumbent Gerry Strong out of the 1,448 votes cast for the position. Mayor Strong has indicated that he did not plan to call for a recount. Mayor Strong succeeded in winning in Wards 1 and 2, but lost ground in Ward 3 (Sandfield).
Tehkummah Councillor Eric Russell ended long-serving Tehkummah incumbent Reeve Gary Brown’s 35-year winning streak in municipal politics with 153 votes to 118 for Reeve Brown.
While Central Manitoulin’s Ward 1 incumbents Patricia MacDonald and Derek Stephens were returned to the council table, but in Ward 2 both incumbents, Gloria Haner and Adam McDonald were replaced by challengers Alex Baran and Dale Scott.
In Ward 3, the only incumbent in the race, Ted Taylor, was returned to office accompanied by newcomer Linda Farquhar.
In the contest to determine who would represent Manitoulin Island on the Rainbow District School Board, incumbent trustee Larry Killens succeeded in fending off a challenge by Maureen Egan, garnering 2,722 votes to Ms. Egan’s 2,199 votes.
The new councils take office on December 1, 2014.
