Greater Sudbury municipal election, 2003
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The Greater Sudbury municipal election, 2003 was held in the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada on November 10, 2003. All municipal elections in the province of Ontario are held on the same date; see Ontario municipal elections, 2003 for elections in other cities.
The election chose the mayor and city councillors who would sit on Greater Sudbury City Council from 2003 to 2006.
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[edit] Issues
The primary issue in the 2003 elections was the municipal amalgamation of 2001. Prior to January 1, 2001, the current city of Greater Sudbury consisted of seven separate municipalities, together comprising the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. On that date, the provincial government of Ontario dissolved all seven former municipalities and the regional government, merging them all into the current city government.
Under longtime mayor Jim Gordon, the preceding city council — the first to govern the amalgamated city — had struggled to pull the new city together, with soaring costs and deterioration of public services that had not been foreseen by the provincial government when the amalgamation was legislated. Voter anger was directed primarily at the provincial government of Mike Harris rather than the city council, although the council was criticized for some of the budgeting decisions it made, such as closing many municipally-owned recreational facilities.
[edit] Mayoral race
Incumbent mayor Jim Gordon did not run for reelection in 2003. As a result of his retirement, the mayoral race attracted an unexpectedly large field of 14 candidates. This was the second largest slate of mayoral candidates of any Ontario city in this election cycle — Toronto was the only city in the province with more candidates for mayor.
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| David Courtemanche | 19,152 | 35.56 |
| Paul Marleau | 11,360 | 21.10 |
| Colin Firth | 8,096 | 15.03 |
| Louise Portelance | 5,645 | 10.48 |
| John Caruso | 4,693 | 8.71 |
| Tom Boyuk | 1,930 | 3.58 |
| Brian R. Gatien | 1,280 | 2.38 |
| Richard Doyon | 667 | 1.24 |
| Mary Fournier Pagnutti | 405 | 0.75 |
| David Chevrier | 271 | 0.50 |
| Yvonne Neison | 141 | 0.26 |
| Robert Maurice | 102 | 0.19 |
| Ed Pokonzie | 67 | 0.12 |
| J. David Popescu | 42 | 0.08 |
| Total valid votes | 53,851 | 100.00 |
David Courtemanche and Louise Portelance had previously served as city councillors.
Popescu and Pokonzie are perennial candidates in the area, who have rarely garnered more than 100 votes in any election; during the 2003 election cycle, Popescu was found guilty of assaulting his mother and sentenced to three years of probation. [1] Chevrier runs a local business, selling air and water filtration systems. [2] Caruso, Firth and Boyuk also run local businesses; Gatien is a lawyer.
[edit] Ward boundaries
When the current city of Greater Sudbury was created in 2001, the city was divided into six wards, each of which was represented by two councillors. This structure was controversial, as some voters felt that the division of responsibility among councillors was vague and ill-defined — it could, for example, be unclear which of the two ward councillors to approach in regards to a political issue.
In 2005, the city council adopted a new ward structure, in which the city would now be divided into twelve wards with a single councillor per ward. The new ward structure was implemented for the first time in the 2006 municipal election.
[edit] Results
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| Terry Kett | 5,028 | 31.64 |
| (x)Eldon Gainer | 4,095 | 25.77 |
| Joe Cimino | 3,582 | 22.54 |
| (x)Gerry McIntaggart | 3,187 | 20.05 |
| Total valid votes | 15,892 | 100.00 |
- Eldon Gainer is a retired elementary school principal. He was first elected to the Walden council in 1980, and became its deputy mayor in 1985. The latter position also gave him a seat on the Sudbury regional council.[3] He chaired the region's corporate services committee just prior to the amalgamation of Greater Sudbury in 2000.[4] Gainer was elected to the Greater Sudbury council in the 2000 election, winning a seat in the city's first ward, and was re-elected in 2003. He was chosen as the city's deputy mayor for budgets in early 2001, and was reassigned as the budget co-chair during his second term.[5] He supported a water plant upgrade, and indicated that the city's 2001 capital budget was targeted to the most pressing infrastructural needs.[6] Gainer also served on the Police Services Board, and was chosen as its chair in 2005.[7] He favoured allowing stores to stay open for longer hours, and questioned the need for photo radar to monitor traffic violations.[8] In addition to his municipal duties, Gainer served on the province's public appointments secretariat for Science North.[9] He did not seek re-election in 2006.
- Ward 2 - Claude Berthiaume, Ron Bradley
- Ward 3 - Ron Dupuis, André Rivest
- Ward 4 - Ted Callaghan, Russ Thompson
- Ward 5 - Frances Caldarelli, Doug Craig
- Ward 6 - Janet Gasparini, Lynne Reynolds
[edit] References
- ^ Northern Life - David Popescu breaches probation-Sudbury ON
- ^ Sudbury - Northern Life - Conversation with mayoral candidate David Chevrier
- ^ Kim-Dominique Plouffe, "Gainer, McIntaggart to work together", Sudbury Star, 14 November 2000, A8; "Three deputy mayors appointed by council", Sudbury Star, 21 January 2002, A3.
- ^ Terry Pender, "Region backs off change in purchasing", Sudbury Star, 24 September 1999, A1; Rob O'Flanagan, "$3.4-M windfall a `bonus' for region", Sudbury Star, 21 June 2000, A1.
- ^ "Craig is city's new deputy mayor", Sudbury Star, 11 January 2001, A3; Dave Courtemanche, "Budget calls for input and tough decisions", Sudbury Star, 19 January 2004, A7.
- ^ Denis St. Pierre, "Councillor fears support lacking for city's water plant upgrade", Sudbury Star, 15 March 2001, A1; Denis St. Pierre, "Spending to focus on `worst areas'", 15 May 2001, A1.
- ^ Denis St. Pierre, "Police board objectivity questioned", Sudbury Star, 16 July 2001, A3; Laura Stradiotto, "Gainer to lead police board", Sudbury Star, 25 January 2005, A3.
- ^ Trevor Wilhelm, "Group calls on city to let stores stay open later", Sudbury Star, 15 May 2003, A1; Bob Vaillancourt, "City rejects request for longer store hours", Sudbury Star, 14 November 2003, A1; Bob Vaillancourt, "Council set to debate store hours ... again", Sudbury Star, 21 June 2004, A1; Keith Leslie, "Ont. cities to get red-light cameras and keep cash from the fines: Takhar", Sudbury Star, 10 August 2004.
- ^ Public Appointments Secretarist, Province of Ontario, accessed 29 March 2008.
