Lynn Lake prepares for 3rd vote in under a year after mayor resigns

Voters in the northwestern Manitoba town of Lynn Lake will head to the polls for a third election in less than a year after the resignation of David Campbell, who won an initial mayoral race less than five months ago and was elected again in a byelection last month.

"It's been a long, drawn-out process," Campbell said in an interview Thursday. "I was just starting to get a little burnt out."

That process started with Lynn Lake's Oct. 26, 2022, municipal election, which saw Campbell elected mayor.

However, only one candidate ran for the four seats for town councillor, meaning the council of five didn't have enough members for quorum following the vote.

Residents of Lynn Lake, a town of roughly 600 residents, headed back to the polls for a Feb. 15 byelection.

Campbell put his hat in the mayoral ring again, running against Brandon Dulewich. He won the byelection, along with four councillors, giving Lynn Lake a full council.

But Campbell announced his resignation at a meeting on Tuesday, just over a month after the byelection.

"By the time I got to the first [council] meeting, I sat around the table … and I'm sitting there looking around at their compassion and their energy, and I just didn't have it," said Campbell.

"Didn't have the energy, didn't have the passion, and I didn't see that changing in the future."

Coun. Tyler Hunt was made deputy mayor at the March 14 meeting, and will continue in the position until a new mayor is elected.

"It's very unfortunate as to how this all unfolded," Hunt said Thursday. "Now we're sending our community back to the polls for a third time, in a very short period, to fill the vacant position of mayor."

The council understands "this may reflect negatively on the community," he said.

A byelection date has not yet been set, but Hunt expects it to be sometime this spring.

Major projects won't be affected: deputy mayor

He also said community members should be assured that major ongoing developments in or around Lynn Lake, including the commissioning of a new water treatment plant and a recently approved mining project, won't be affected by Campbell's resignation.

The Lynn Lake Gold Project, which proposes an open-pit gold mine and new metal mill near Lynn Lake, received federal government approval on March 6.

Alamos Gold Inc., the Toronto-headquartered company behind the project, will redevelop two previously operational mines in the area, the federal government said in its approval.

Alamos says the mine is expected to operate for 13 years, creating more than 400 jobs during construction and over 400 during its operation, according to the federal government's website.

Hunt said that the town has a meeting with Alamos Gold next Wednesday to discuss next steps in more detail.

The commissioning of the water treatment plant, which would help to resolve the town's more than decade-long boil-water advisory, was originally expected for sometime this March, but Hunt said the weather has delayed that.

"We're leaving [it] more for safety reasons, to commission it when the ice and snow is gone," he said.

'Not going to slow us down': deputy mayor

The outgoing mayor says he's offered apologies to residents of the town for stepping down and forcing a third election in the space of a year.

"I put it on Facebook as well, just apologies to the people that did vote for me," said Campbell.

He said if people want to know more about why he stepped down from the position, he's ready to have that conversation.

"[I] ask them to, if they want to know why I dropped out, they can get ahold of me and talk to me about it."

Hunt said he expects some backlash, but remains optimistic for the current council.

"We've got four really good councillors in there.… We're doing the work in between the meetings. We're getting things figured out here," he said.

"This is not going to slow us down at all."