All four city councillor incumbents have been re-elected, with two newcomers to join ‘the team’.
Thirty-three per cent of eligible voters in Prince Rupert cast their vote on Oct. 20, three per cent below the provincial average.
Blair Mirau came in with most votes, followed by Barry Cunningham, Gurvinder Randhawa, Wade Niesh, Nick Adey and Reid Skelton-Morven.
“I’m pretty surprised, the four incumbents have actually the most votes, which I think is a pretty good statement from the community that they like the direction that we’re headed,” Mirau said while looking at the results inside the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre.
Mirau, for the second election in a row, had the most votes with 2,221. In the last election, Mirau received the most votes with 2,915, according to CivicInfoBC.
“I can’t thank the community enough, that’s truly humbling,” he said. “I don’t take anything for granted. I’m making sure that I’m getting out there, that I’m listening to people, I’m knocking on doors, I’m going out in the pouring rain.
“It’s just a relentless focus on the future, it’s not about me, it’s not about any particular candidate, it’s about the future and the potential Prince Rupert has.”
One of the newcomers to council, Skelton-Morven, at 25 years, was the youngest to be elected. The entrepreneur has fresh plans for local government.
“I definitely want to bring a ton of new ideas and entrepreneurial perspective as well. Pull from my background in finding different ways for the city to rectify, to clear its revenue and infrastructure challenges, to not solely rely on tax revenue but to find alternative sources as well,” he said adding that it’s just scratching the service of what he wants to accomplish.
Mayor Lee Brain was also at the civic centre awaiting results with his future team. Brain was acclaimed in September when he had no other contenders for his position.
“I was open to whatever the results were going to be,” he said.
“This team that came together is the team. We have great momentum now and you know Watson Island is bringing in some new income now, starting with the downtown, with the DQ announcement there’s a huge momentum happening now, so I think in the next four years we’re going to see even more transformation.”
Despite their hard work, Sarah Dantzer and Charmayne Carlson did not garner enough votes for a seat on council. In the previous municipal government, Joy Thorkelson was the only woman on council.
In total 2,913 ballots had been cast out of 8,727 eligible voters.
The results for the school board trustees saw Kate Toye with the most votes [1,838], followed by Bart Kuntz, Tina Last, James Horne, Kristy Maier and Louisa Sanchez.
Voter turnout was higher in 2014 when 47.6 per cent of eligible voters cast their vote, which was higher than the B.C. average of 34.5 per cent.
Prince Rupert councillor candidates
Nick Adey 1,535
Charmayne Carlson 811
Barry Cunningham [incumbent] 2,133
Sarah Dantzer 1,177
Blair Mirau [incumbent] 2,221
Wade Niesh [incumbent] 1,811
Gurvinder Randhawa [incumbent] 1,841
Reid Skelton-Morven 1,342
READ about the CANDIDATES here
WATCH MORE: Prince Rupert candidates on why you should vote for them
School board trustee candidates
David Cook 758
Al Ernst 275
Steve Finnigan 965
James Horne [incumbent] 1,235
Terri-Lynne Huddlestone [incumbent] 947
Bart Kuntz [incumbent] 1,350
Tina Last [incumbent] 1,313
Kristy Maier 1,096
Jessica Newman 918
Louisa Sanchez [incumbent] 1,086
Kate Toye 1,838
READ about the CANDIDATES here.
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