Thompson has enough candidates to make mayoral and council elections necessary but the seven school board trustee candidates will be acclaimed.
Incumbent mayor Colleen Smook will be challenged by former city councillor and frequent mayoral candidate Ron Matechuk, as well as by current member of council Les Ellsworth in a three-way race. A random draw held Sept. 21 determined that Smook’s name would be at the top of the ballot, with Matechuk’s second and Ellsworth’s third.
No more than half of the current council could be back next term. In addition to Ellsworth, councillors Jeff Fountain, Braden McMurdo and Andre Proulx all decided not to seek re-election. Brian Lundmark, Duncan Wong, Kathy Valentino and Earl Colbourne are all hoping to continue in their roles.
There are eight other candidates vying for the eight council positions. They include Chiew Chong, who finished tied with Proulx for eighth place in 2018 and ended up losing to Proulx in a byelection. Rita Werstroh, who ran for council four years ago, has once again stepped forth as a candidate. The other council hopefuls are Louis Fitzpatrick, Addie Colbourne, former School District of Mystery Lake trustee Sandra Oberdorfer, Robert Chuckrey, Joyce Mcivor and James MacIntrye.
Only two of the current school board members are among the seven people who put their names forth as candidates for the seven available school board spots, who will be elected by acclamation. Lindsay Anderson and Michelle Tomashewski, both of whom are currently in their first terms as trustees, will be back for a second term. New trustees will be Abbie Humby, Mike Lawson, M. D. Sharker, Henk Warnar-Brown and Bryan Young, who ran unsuccessfully for school board in the 2020 byelection and for council in 2018.
Incumbents Don Macdonald, Leslie Tucker, Li Cripps and Guido Oliveira did not seek re-election.
Mayoral and council elections will take place on Oct. 26. Advance polls will be on Oct. 10 and Oct. 19.
The Thompson Chamber of Commerce is organizing council and mayoral candidate forums on Oct. 12 and Oct. 19, respectively, at R.D. Parker Collegiate’s Letkemann Theatre.
