The unofficial results of this year’s civic election in Greater Sudbury reveal a decisive victory for mayor-elect Paul Lefebvre, who earned 52.44 per cent of the vote.
Lefebvre’s 26,187 votes were followed by 9,094 for Evelyn Dutrisac, Miranda Rocca-Circelli’s 6,651, Mila Wong (3,002), Bob Johnston (1,860), Devin Labranche (1,367), Don Gravelle (1,090), Brian Bigger (607) and David Popescu (83).
The show of support for Bigger, the incumbent candidate, is of particular interest because he announced earlier this month that he was withdrawing his name from consideration due to family reasons, but did so after the deadline for his name to be removed from the ballot.
The unofficial results came in during the early morning hours and are expected to be followed by official results later today.
Voter turnout was approximately 42 per cent, with 49,941 votes cast in the mayoral race.
This is the lowest voter turnout since 2006, when a turnout of 40.82 per cent was recorded.
The 2003 election carried a turnout of 40.03 per cent. Turnout in 2018 was 45 per cent, compared to 50.7 per cent in 2014 and 49.75 per cent in 2010.
Lefebvre won in all wards except Wards 3 and 4, which Dutrisac secured with a respective vote percentage of 46.62 per cent and 39.96 per cent.
“People know me here, and I worked extremely hard when I was a councillor here,” Dutrisac told Sudbury.com on Tuesday, noting she has lived in Azilda for many years and presently resides in Chelmsford.
“I worked with the people, I empowered people, and I’m really pleased with those two results,” she added. “I’m very honoured.”
After placing second in the mayoral race, Dutrisac said she’s going to take a few days off to map out what’s next for her, but that it will include moving forward with her campaign points.
“You’ll be seeing me around,” she said, adding that she intends to continue working toward the creation of housing for seniors as a member of the Greater Sudbury Abbeyfield Steering Committee. Also included in her plans will be helping out in some way to help the city resolve its homelessness and addictions crises.
“I’m really honoured to have run,” she said, adding that she wishes Lefebvre all the best in his upcoming mayorship.
Lefebvre did the best with residents of Ward 10, where he secured 65.63 per cent of the vote, followed by Ward 8 at 61.13 per cent, Ward 12 at 60.81 per cent, Ward 11 at 59.54 per cent, Ward 9 at 59.4 per cent and Ward 1 at 58.76 per cent.
These wards encompass Sudbury, with Lefebvre securing a smaller percentage of the vote in wards that include outlying communities. In Ward 3, for example (Levack, Onaping, Dowling and Chelmsford), he earned only 28.02 per cent of the vote
Two incumbent candidates were unseated: Geoff McCausland in Ward 4 and Robert Kirwan in Ward 5. Incumbents ran in all wards but Ward 7, where Mike Jakubo opted not to seek re-election in due to a worsening atmosphere around council chambers and a priority toward family.
The balance of municipal election results were as follows:
Ward 1 - Mark Signoretti: 48.58 per cent
- Mark Facendi: 42.09 per cent
- Jordan Derro: 9.33 per cent.
Ward 2 - Michael Vagnini: 60.94 per cent
- Eric Benoit: 39.06 per cent
Ward 3 - Gerry Montpellier: 63.42 per cent
- Michel Brabant: 36.58 per cent
Ward 4 - Pauline Fortin: 49.32 per cent
- Geoff McCausland: 46.67 per cent
- Alice Norquay: 4 per cent
Ward 5 - Michel Parent: 81.08 per cent
- Robert Kirwan: 18.92 per cent
Ward 6 - Rene Lapierre: 32.9 per cent
- Michel Lalonde: 25.24 per cent
- Scott Seguin: 19.59 per cent
- Dan Boulard: 11.36 per cent
- Ginette Trotier: 10.91 per cent
Ward 7 - Natalie Labbée: 54.5 per cent
- Mark McKillop: 31.85 per cent
- Randy Hazlett: 8.88 per cent
- Daniel Wiebes: 4.77 per cent
Ward 8 - Al Sizer: 39.41 per cent
- Patrick McCoy: 29.58 per cent
- Vital Rainville: 10.69 per cent
- Bill McElree: 9.43 per cent
- Carla Ross-Arsenault: 4.38 per cent
- Patrick Auge: 3.32 per cent
- Gordon Drysdale: 3.18 per cent
Ward 9 - Deb McIntosh: 61.55 per cent
- Leslie Steel: 28.05 per cent
- Keith Clarkson: 5.46 per cent
- Sharon Jane Scott: 4.94 per cent
Ward 10 - Fern Cormier: 59.77 per cent
- Jolene Felsbourg-Linton: 23.08 per cent
- Michael Sanders: 17.15 per cent
Ward 11 - Bill Leduc: 66.96 per cent
- Christopher Duncanson-Hales: 33.04 per cent
Ward 12 - Joscelyne Landry-Altmann: 49.37 per cent
- Jeff MacIntyre: 32.03 per cent
- Shawn Ouimet: 14.45 per cent
- Luciano Di Mario: 4.14 per cent
A meeting with the current city council has been scheduled Nov. 8, and an inauguration ceremony for the new city council has been scheduled to be held on Nov. 17.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
