Brian Bigger is our newsmaker of the year

It was a risky move, as some analysts pointed out, because if he lost, it would be difficult to return to his post to work for a mayor he had just campaigned against.

“Suppose it's a vicious election campaign,” said Lawyer Greg Levine, an expert in municipal law who is the integrity commissioner for three municipalities in Ontario, in a July interview.

“What if he disagreed with every policy the winning candidate enunciated? To go back, after having been politicized over a whole bunch of issues? I don't know. I can't see any law against it, but pragmatically, it's problematic.”

Others disagreed. Another municipal legal specialist, who didn't want to be named in case he was hired to give an opinion on the matter, said bad feelings generated by an election campaign would blow over quickly.

“You may say nasty things, you may be embarrassed, but I don't see why he would have a conflict going back to his job after the campaign,” he said. “He'd just be doing his same old job again.”

In the event, Bigger's entry into the race immediately changed the calculus for his opponents. Dan Melanson, a well-known city hall critic, no longer had the change mantle to himself. And his break with former Mayor Marianne Matichuk, still popular while deciding not to run for re-election, came back to haunt him.

And former Mayor John Rodriguez and former Ward 5 Coun. Ron Dupuis were identified with the unpopular policies and dysfunction of the two previous councils. Voters wanted big change, and Bigger's promises of open and transparent government resonated.

“I'm going to tell it like it is,” Bigger told reporters gathered for his campaign launch in August. “Has this council forgotten who they are there to serve? We all know something has to change.”

Bigger proved himself adept at campaigning, promising to bring back Ontario Ombudsman André Marin as the closed-door meeting investigator, to freeze taxes without cutting services in his first year, and to create a 10-year economic plan to guide growth in the city over the next decade.

He swept to power with 46 per cent of the vote in October, and many of the city councillors he had clashed with were swept from office. Only two incumbents were returned, giving Bigger a real chance to implement his agenda.

And in his first weeks in office he was able to do something that no other mayor has done: deregulate store hours in the city, a move long popular with the public, but resisted by successive councils. Backed by the results of a referendum on the issue, Bigger motion not only repealed the three bylaws, the change took effect immediately, meaning stores opened Boxing Day for the first time in Greater Sudbury.

“The key thing here is that democracy has taken place,” Bigger said in December. “There have been discussions for many years, and with the referendum, there was a proper democratic process and everybody had the opportunity to establish their points of view.”

What he hopes will come from his administration, Bigger said, is an end of the cynicism and frustration many people in Greater Sudbury have when it comes to local government. And while it's early days, he already senses a change among staff and council.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I think that's really clear, in speaking to all the new councillors – and the councillors that did get re-elected. What I'm hearing from all of the council is that they really got the message. And they want to be that change that everybody wants for the city.”