Faro mayor running for re-election against former town councillor

Two candidates are vying to be mayor of Faro, Yukon, in Thursday's municipal election, with eight people also in the running for four council seats.

With a population of 400 to 500 people, the central Yukon community is a fraction of the size it once was, back when the Faro mine was booming in the '70s and '80s. The mine — once the world's largest open-pit lead-zinc mine — closed in the '90s and is now one of Canada's biggest toxic messes.

Today in Faro, many long-abandoned homes have been bought and refurbished and the municipality is looking ahead at what comes next.  

Town finances a priority, says incumbent mayor

Jack Bowers knows every vote matters. When he was the incumbent mayor running for re-election in 2018, he tied his opponent with 86 votes a piece and then lost the mayoral seat in a draw.

Bowers ran again in 2021 and won, and now he hopes to stay on for another term as mayor. 

Moving to Faro as an engineer in 1980, Bowers is now retired from the Yukon government. He says he has the time, experience and passion for another term. 

Topping his list of municipal issues is finances. 

"Like every community in the Yukon, we experience much higher costs: wages, electricity, fuel — and there's only so many times you can go back to the well, to the taxpayer, to look for more taxes or service fees," said Bowers.

"We're looking for ways to increase revenues and decrease costs that won't directly impact the residents, so that's one of the challenges this new council is going to have to take on."  

Bowers is also concerned about current negotiations between the town and the territorial government for a regional landfill agreement.

"They're asking us to take on lots of liability but not being prepared to share the cost of that liability," he said.

"Unless it's to the benefit of the Town of Faro, we won't be singing it. At least I hope, if I'm on council and council agrees, we would pressure [the Yukon government] for a better deal than what's being offered thus far." 

Division and unhappiness in community, says challenger 

Lisa Snyder comes into this election as a veteran of Faro municipal politics. She's lived in the community since 2009, running her own business as an accounting technician and has previously served seven years on town council.

After some time away from town hall, Snyder says she's ready to return to municipal politics and this time she wants to be mayor. Snyder told CBC she believes there is a lot of division and unhappiness in the community, and she hopes to change that. 

During her time as a town councillor, Synder served as deputy mayor and was involved in the effort to sell off many of Faro's empty and abandoned homes. 

"I guess I'll need to do my research if I get elected in, and find out what's been done, what still needs to be done," she said, adding there is a lot of aging infrastructure, and funding is a problem. 

"We just don't have enough [funding]. We used to be a town of 3,000 people, now we're around 500 and we have more infrastructure than we really need — and it's a lot of infrastructure to manage."

People in Faro will also be voting on Thursday to fill four councillor seats. Incumbent councillors Taylor Fetterly and Sarah McHugh are running, along with Leonard Faber, Gary Jones, Wendy Michell-Larocque, Trevor Noseworthy, Michelle Vainio and Neil Yee.