Incumbent Al McDonald has won a third term as Mayor of North Bay.

He garnered 49 percent of the vote in Monday’s election.

“It’s an honour and privilege to represent North Bay and the people who call this city home,” he says. “The council is five new and five experienced, so I’m looking forward to working with them.”

McDonald also says Gary Gardiner, who finished second with 40 percent support, ran a good campaign.

“I hope he sticks around because we can really use him and his expertise, and his enthusiasm,” McDonald says.

He says growth is his priority.

“You’re going to see a very aggressive growth agenda moving forward, at least I’m hopeful council will adopt it, but I think we heard from our citizens they want to see our city grow and that’s where we’re going to take them,” McDonald says.

He also announced he won’t be running again, saying this will be his last term and wants to get the new term started sooner rather than later.

“I’m going to go and talk to the clerk and we’re going to get sworn in on Saturday and the first official meeting will be on Monday, so we’re going to get to work right away,” he says.

Gardiner was disappointed with his second place finish, but thanked all those that voted for him.

“I think those people really wanted to see change and hopefully the new council and the mayor will listen to some of the things that I’ve said and hopefully they’ll implement some of them,” Gardiner says.

Sheldon Forgette was a distant third with nine percent of the vote, and was surprised by the numbers.

“I guess maybe the mudslinging in the news works, I don’t understand, I ran a positive campaign but it’s not reflecting in the numbers,” he says.

As for the councillor race, Tanya Vrebosch is North Bay’s new Deputy Mayor.

“I think the first thing we need to do is work on communication, within council and city hall, within the public as well, I think that’s our major problem,” she says.

Johanne Brousseau was second and says it was a lot of hard work to get elected.

“We did a lot of door knocking and hand delivered a lot of brochures and I think that’s what did it,” she says.  “I’m here for the common good of the community, I had no personal agenda or I didn’t represent the agenda of an organization.”

Mike Anthony rounds out the top three.

“Just super, super happy and thankful to be here, very thankful to every person that voted and ready to serve again,” he says.

Chris Mayne was fourth.

“Four, five, six, that’s where I was hoping to end up.  I’m glad to see some of the new candidates come forward, I think there’s some great talent on council, I look forward to working with them,” he says.

Bill Vrebosch was fifth, followed by Mark King then Scott Robertson.

“The hard work starts now, it’s going to be a challenging four years, there’s a lot of difficult issues ahead.  I don’t have rose-coloured glasses on, there’s hard struggles ahead, I’m ready for that too “, Robertson says.

Mac Bain was eighth with Dave Mendicino making a return to council after finishing in ninth place.

“I bring eleven years experience to council, you’ve got four new ones, I think it’s a good mix.  The new ones will bring a lot of new energy, new perspective, I think it’s going to be good moving forward,” Mendicino says.

Marcus Tignanelli rounds out the top 10.

“I think it’s an exciting time for the youth of North Bay to be involved and have their voice heard and I can’t wait to bring fresh perspective, fresh ideas and ultimately someone who’s passionate and who really cares, to the city,” he says.

Incumbent George Maroosis finished in 11th, followed by Ed Valenti.

Two more incumbent councillors, Derek Shogren and Jeff Serran also lost their seats.

“I wish them all the best, I am disappointed I’m not back in, but at the end of the day, in four more years I’ll make a decision to see if I’ll take another shot at city council,” Serran says.

 

At the Near North District School Board, Jay Aspin, Bill Steer, Louise Sargent and Donna Breault won election.

Manon Henrie-Cadieux and Jules Duchesne are the trustees voted in at the French Public Board.

At the French Catholic Board, Nicole Fournier and Roland Rochon were elected.

16,866 ballots were cast in North Bay.

CLICK HERE for election results on the City of North Bay website

 

In South River, Mayor Jim Coleman was acclaimed.

For Councillor, Ian McNeil, Doug Sewell, Teri Brandt and Brenda Scott are the four councillors elected, according to the unofficial results.

In Sudbury, there are voting woes that have led to the voting period being extended to Tuesday night at 8.

The City of Greater Sudbury says it’s because of province wide issues with the election server.

In Toronto, John Tory has been re-elected mayor of Toronto, easily defeating former city planner, Jennifer Keesmaat.

In Ottawa, Jim Watson also won re-election.

 

Photo by Linda Holmes/BayToday.ca

KiSS 100.5 teamed up with BayToday.ca to provide continuous coverage of North Bay Votes 2018