Guelph voters say Urbacon key factor in Guthrie’s win

Guelph City Hall is seen on Monday, April 21, 2014. (David Imrie / CTV Kitchener)

Voters generally have any number of reasons for marking a particular spot on their ballot – but among Guelphites who spoke with CTV News on Tuesday, one word came up over and over again: Urbacon.

“Urbacon seems to be one of the biggest (issues),” said Mike Cathcart.

Steve Lidkea expressed concern about the size of the city’s bureaucracy, before he too admitted Urbacon also guided his vote.

“City Hall got stuck with several millions of dollars … for me, personally, this was an issue,” he said.

“Nobody lost their job. It’s like (it’s) nobody’s fault – to me, no accountability means no leadership.”

Even Lyndsay Dokas, a first-time elector in the city and self-professed fan of Karen Farbridge, said Urbacon was the main reason the incumbent Farbridge was ousted by voters.

“It didn’t seem like she had enough support to keep on going,” she said.

Urbacon was dismissed as the developer of Guelph’s new city hall in 2008.

Lawsuits were traded back and forth, ending earlier this year when the city agreed to pay Urbacon $6.6 million after a judge ruled the dismissal unfair.

Cam Guthrie, the incumbent councillor replacing Farbridge at the city’s helm, was not on council when the dismissal was ordered, and has criticized the city’s handling of the issue.

Unofficial results show Guthrie with 19,672 votes, or slightly more than half of all votes cast – about 5,500 more votes than Farbridge received.