Mayor Colleen Smook beat runner-up Ron Matechuk in every polling station in the Oct. 24 municipal election apart from the advance polls, the official statement of results released Jan. 18 shows.
Her biggest margin of victory was at the Burntwood School polling station where she collected 69 more votes than Matechuk. At Westwood she outpolled him by 56 votes and at both Juniper and Deerwood polling stations she amassed 40 more votes. The only poll in which she did not come first were the advance polls, in which Matechuk outpolled her 178-172.
First-time candidate Les Ellsworth was the top vote-getter among councillors at five of the eight polls – the advance polls, Burntwood School, Juniper School, Deerwood School and in mobile and sealed ballots. Incumbent Kathy Valentino was tops at Westwood, while political newcomers Jeff Fountain and Earl Colbourne were tops at École Riverside School and Wapanohk Community School, respectively.
Candidate Chiew Chong – who tied with Andre Proulx with 1,009 votes each after a judicial recount, one more vote each than they had on election night – finished ahead of Proulx by 29 votes in the advance polls, by 12 votes at Juniper School, by 19 voters at Deerwood and by 14 votes at Wapanohk. Proulx had 13 more votes than Chong at Riverside, 48 more at Westwood, 10 more at Burntwood and three more in the mobile polls.
Incumbent school board trustee Guido Oliveira was the top school board choice for voters at five of the eight polls, including the advance polls and the mobile polls as well as at Westwood, Burntwood and Juniper schools. Fellow incumbent Leslie Tucker was the top trustee vote-getter at Riverside, Deerwood and Wapanohk Schools.
Neophyte trustee Michelle Tomashewski had the most votes among non-incumbents at the advance polls as well as at Riverside, Juniper and Deerwood schools, while Lindsay Anderson was the most popular rooke trustee candidate at Westwood, Burntwood and Wapanohk as well as in the mobile polls.