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Election results and staying the course

The people of Prince Rupert on Saturday sent a clear message about the operation of the City.

The people of Prince Rupert on Saturday sent a clear message about the operation of the City, or at least the 35 per cent who came out to cast their ballots did, and that message is seemingly to stay the course and carry on from the work done in the past three years.

Incumbent Jack Mussallem crushed challengers Kathy Bedard and Corinna Morhart, getting just under 800 more votes than his next closest competitor. All four incumbent councillors who were seeking re-election were elected, claiming four of the top five vote counts on the evening.

When the dust settles on the election of 2011, it’s going to look a lot like the election of 2008 to be honest. When the votes were tallied then council was made up of five women, one man and a man in the mayor’s chair; following the 2011 election council is made up of five women, one man and a man in the mayor’s chair. After the election of 2008 there were four incumbent councillors who had been re-elected and two new faces in the council chamber; after 2011 there are four incumbent councillors who have been re-elected and two new faces in the chamber. A disturbing difference from this past election compared to 2008, however, is the drop in voter turnout. This year the voter turnout was 35.3 compared to 41.3 per cent in 2008. Obviously I’m a bit disappointed that pretty much one person in three went out to vote.

So if the message is to stay the course, what can Prince Rupert expect in the next three years? Your guess is as good as mine, but make no mistake about the fact that this council is going to have some tough decisions ahead. The City is facing an infrastructure deficit in the 10s of millions of dollars, they are involved in court cases surrounding Watson Island and there is a fair number of key staff who could realistically be looking to retire by the time the 2014 election rolls around. Couple that with Prince Rupert’s increased role as a gateway to the Asia Pacific and there are interesting times ahead.

Regardless of what the next three years holds, I would like to congratulate all of those who were successful in their campaign, and thank all those who put their name forward. The availability of choice is a key to democracy.

I would also like to thank Kathy Bedard, Russell Wiens and Leonard Alexcee for their years of service to the community. They may not be in office after the 2011 election, but there is no question they helped pave the way ahead and laid the groundwork for those who are.