The election results from Saturday showed that Prince Rupert residents voted for change. Lee Brain was voted mayor, and there are three new faces on City Council, and two new faces on our School Board. For the details, here’s an article from the Northern View:
Prince Rupert votes: Brain elected Mayor of Prince Rupert
by Shaun Thomas – The Northern View
- posted Nov 15, 2014 at 7:00 PM— updated Nov 15, 2014 at 10:20 PM
Brain said that margin of victory took him by surprise, but he said he is more than ready to take on the role of mayor.
“I worked really hard, my team worked really hard and I think we ran a really high level campaign. We wanted to show the community that this is the type of leadership our generation has and that we are prepared to take over leadership of our community,” he said, pointing as well to three new faces on council.
“I think people want to see change in Prince Rupert and the overwhelmingly voted for that. Now it is time to roll our sleeves up and get to work for this community because we have some big challenges. I am ready to get to work on that on Monday morning.”
Elected councillors include Blair Mirau, who received the most votes with 2,915, incumbent Barry Cunningham who received 2,897, Wade Niesh who receives 2,119, Gurvinder Randhawa who received 2,053, Joy Thorkelson with 2,044 votes and Nelson Kinney with 1,995. The results leave incumbents Anna Ashley and Gina Garon and challenger Ray Pedersen without a seat on council.
Brain said he is looking forward to working with the mix of new and experienced faced on council.
“I think it’s perfect, I think it’s exactly what Prince Rupert needs. There is a lot to be said about experience, but at the same time the community realizes experience doesn’t always translate into leadership,” he said.
“I have nothing but respect for my opponents, they all did their service for the community, but now the community wants something new. I think this council is going to really come together and there is going to be a lot of energy … I’m really excited about the future.”
School District 52 election results
There will be two new faces around the table of the Prince Rupert School District. Board of Education.
James Horne and Judy Carlick-Pearson will join incumbents Tina Last, Bart Kuntz, Louisa Sanchez and Terri-Lynne Huddlestone following the Nov. 15 election. The elected officials will be joined by incumbent rural representative Janet Beil, who was acclaimed to her seat.
The top vote-getters in the 2014 election were incumbents Last and Kuntz, who received 2,337 votes and 2,153 votes respectively. Horne placed third in the popular vote, receiving 1,941 votes, followed by Sanchez with 1,735 and Huddlestone with 1,430. Carlick-Pearson rounded out the Top Six with 1,408 votes, well ahead of seventh place finisher Kimberly Williams who received 1,233 votes.
Not returning to the board are Barb Gruber, who chose not to seek re-election, and Marty Bowles, who stepped down from the board earlier in his term.