Greater Sudbury municipal election, 2003

The Greater Sudbury municipal election, 2003 was held in the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada on 10 November 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.

Issues

The primary issue in the 2003 elections was the municipal amalgamation of 2001. Prior to 1 January 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.

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.

Results

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.

2003 Greater Sudbury municipal election, Mayor of Greater Sudbury
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
David Popescu 42 0.08
Total valid votes 53,851 100.00

Ward 1

Two to be elected.

Candidate 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 15,982

Ward 2

Two to be elected.

Candidate Votes %
Claude Berthiaume 3,815 23.99
Ron Bradley 3,679 23.13
Evelyn Dutrisac 3,067 19.28
Claude Gravelle 2,178 13.69
Carol-Ann Coupal 1,456 9.15
Bill Hedderson 1,074 6.75
Andrew Fahey 635 3.99
Total valid votes 15,904

Ward 3

Two to be elected.

Candidate Votes %
Ron Dupuis 4,355 30.69
André Rivest 3,098 21.83
Jean-Yves (John) Robert 3,065 21.60
Joe Niceforo 1,865 13.14
Robert Boileau 1,224 8.63
Maurice Sarrazin 583 4.11
Total valid votes 14,190

Ward 4

Two to be elected.

Candidate Votes %
Russ Thompson 3,315 23.57
Ted Callaghan 2,360 16.78
Rick Grylls 1,689 12.01
Daniel Gingras 1,629 11.58
Fabio Belli 1,517 10.79
Maurice Lamoureux 1,102 7.84
Tony Sharma 1,060 7.54
Jim Lanzo 1,022 7.27
Sean Peters 189 1.34
Harry Will 179 1.27
Total valid votes 14,062

Ward 5

Two to be elected.

Candidate Votes %
Doug Craig 5,226 30.05
Frances Caldarelli 3,926 22.57
Austin Davey 3,619 20.81
Jason Bubba 1,948 11.20
Fern Cormier 1,711 9.84
Neil Faddis 963 5.54
Total valid votes 17,393

Ward 6

Two to be elected.

Candidate Votes %
Janet Gasparini 3,923 25.81
Lynne Reynolds 2,642 17.38
Jim Ilnitski 2,565 16.87
Mike Petryna 2,379 15.65
Rick Villeneuve 1,552 10.21
Eric Thériault 604 3.97
Richard Madison 568 3.74
Jeff MacIntyre 411 2.70
Shawn Ouimet 294 1.93
Jerry O'Brien 263 1.73
Total valid votes 15,201

References