Sudbury’s city council, nine return along with four new faces

CTV News hears from the four new northern mayors We speak with Paul Lefebvre in Sudbury, Michelle Boileau in Timmins, the Sault’s Matthew Shoemaker and Peter Chirico in North Bay.

The unofficial results of the Greater Sudbury municipal election show we will see many familiar faces with some new comers at the council table.

Sudbury saw a voter turnout of 42 per cent by the end of election day.

In the city’s mayoral race CTV’s decision desk declared former MP Paul Lefebvre the within minutes of the preliminary electronic results being available on Monday night.

At the time, with an estimated 73 per cent of the votes reported, Lefebvre had a commanding lead with more than 55 per cent of the vote. Now that the unofficial results from the paper ballots have been updated, Lefebvre has about 52.5 per cent of the vote representing a more than 17,000 vote lead over his closest rival, former councillor Evelyn Dutrisac.

Lefebvre told CTV News on Monday night he was honoured by the support and is ready for the challenge.

“It’s a huge honour to have that support, but at the same time there’s expectations,” he said.

“I think people were ready for change but I think they wanted positive change. I truly believe in the future of Greater Sudbury and northern Ontario. There’s lots of opportunities and lots of challenges.”

Former mayor Brian Bigger, who withdrew from the race, received 607 votes.

The Ward 1 incumbent Mark Signoretti finished with about 48.5 per cent of the vote and a narrow lead of about 250 votes over newcomer Mark Facendi.

In Ward 2, incumbent Michael Vagnini finished with more than 60 per cent of the vote and a more than 1,000 vote lead over his only challenger Eric Benoit.

Much of the same in the Ward 3 race with sitting councillor Gerry Montpellier with more than 63 per cent of the vote and a commanding lead of more than 1,000 votes over his challenger Michel Brabant.

Ward 4 saw a different story as election night unfolded, when the electronic voting results were first updated incumbent, Geoff McCausland had a narrow lead of about 50 votes of challenger Pauline Fortin. The unofficial results Tuesday morning showed Fortin finishing with 49.32 per cent of the vote to win the seat by a margin of just over 100 votes.

Ward 5 also saw its incumbent ousted as newcomer Michel Parent won the seat from two-term councillor Robert Kirwan. Parent finished with more than 80 per cent of the vote and the largest margin of victory of any of the ward races in Sudbury.

It was a big night for Parent in many ways as earlier in the evening Monday, shortly before polls closed, he proposed to long time partner Marielle Gauthier.

“For those wondering, she did say Yes!” Parent said on his Facebook page.

“I want to thank residents of Ward 5 for their support during the past two terms. It has been a privilege to serve you for the last 8 years and I wish the best of luck to your new councillor, Mike Parent,” said Kirwan in a Facebook post on his Valley East page.

In Ward 6, sitting councillor René Lapierre reclaimed his seat with less than 33 per cent of the vote, only beating his main rivals Michel Lalonde and Scott Sequin by 338 and 587 respectively, with more than 4,400 votes cast in the ward.

Ward 7 was the only race without an incumbent since councillor Mike Jakubo decided not to seek re-election. Natalie Labbée decidedly won the seat with almost 55 per cent of the vote in the four-way race and a more than 1,000 vote lead over their closest rival Mark McKillop.

In Ward 8’s crowed seven-way race, sitting councillor Al Sizer was re-elected with almost 40 per cent of the vote and a margin of victory of about 350 votes

Ward 9 incumbent Deb McIntosh was voted back in with a comfortable 61.55 per cent of the vote; almost 1,600 votes more than her closest rival Leslie Steel.

Sitting councillor Fern Cormier was decidedly re-elected with almost 60 per cent of the vote in Ward 10; defeating his closest challenger Jolene Felsbourg-Linton by almost 1,750.

Ward 11 was a race fought with controversy after challenger Christopher Duncanson-Hales leased incumbent Bill Leduc’s website domain. When the paper ballots were counted Leduc led by about 1,500 votes to be re-elected.

Finally, in Ward 12, sitting councillor Joscelyne Landry-Altmann is back in the council chair this term with just under 50 per cent of the vote; defeating downtown rival Jeff MacIntyre by more than 500 votes.

Communications and engagement advisor for the city, Kelly Brooks told CTV News in an email that these results are unofficial until the city clerk declares the results sometime Tuesday.