Sudbury appoints two former candidates to replace late city councillors

Two new faces to join Greater Sudbury city council Sudbury city council voted to appoint people to fill empty council seats after two councillors died last month in Friday’s special meeting.

Rather than holding a mid-term byelection, city council in Greater Sudbury has appointed two people to fill vacancies in Wards 2 and 3.

Before beginning their special meeting Friday morning, city council took a moment of silent reflection to remember the two city councillors who had passed away.

Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier died suddenly last month, after representing the wards since 2014.

The appointees

Councillors voted unanimously to appoint Eric Benoit to replace Vagnini. Benoit finished second to Vagnini in the 2022 election, receiving 1,814 votes to Vagnini’s 2,830.

In Ward 3, Michel Guy Brabant was picked to fill Montpellier’s seat. Brabant got 1,369 votes in 2022, compared to 2,373 for Montpellier.

To replace them, councillors could have appointed someone, picked the runner up from the previous election or held byelections at a cost of $388,000 per ward.

Councillors said Friday morning that a byelection would be too expensive and suspected there would be a low voter turnout because it would be held in the summer.

Looking forward

Benoit, a father of four, grew up in Lively and works in IT at the Gateways Casino, looking after the cameras and doors.

“I look forward to working for all of you guys. If you have any questions feel free to reach out,” he told CTV News Friday.

“I’m always willing to help. I have big shoes to fill and I’m willing to fill them. And I look forward to as many of you as possible and doing a great job for you.”

Feeling 'overwhelmed'

Brabant admitted to feeling a bit “overwhelmed” to be suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Born and raised in Chelmsford, he worked abroad for the Canadian military before retiring.

He said he was already planning to run again in 2026.

“I’ll do my best and try and represent you all,” Brabant told CTV News.

Council looking to move forward

Mayor Paul Lefebvre said councillors wanted to fill the seats as quickly as possible.

“These are two very important wards … that have a lot of issues that we want to help in those areas with, so I think it was important that we move forward,” Lefebvre said.

“Again, it was unanimous, all of council decided to move as quickly as we can to fill those seats.”

The selections must still be formally approved at the next city council meeting March 19.