North

5 people running for mayor in Whitehorse, 18 for council

Nominations for next month's municipal election closed Thursday afternoon, with five people running for mayor and 18 people seeking to fill the six councillor seats.

Nominations closed Thursday afternoon; municipal election day is Oct. 17

Some crumpled slips of paper are piled on a table with someone's hand visible in the background holding a piece of paper.
Candidates' names are drawn at Whitehorse city hall on Thursday to determine the order they'll be listed on the ballot for the upcoming city election. Five people are running for mayor and 18 people are running to fill the 6 council seats in the Oct. 17 election. (Virginie Ann/CBC)

Whitehorse will have a new mayor, and a mostly — or even entirely — new set of councillors after next month's municipal election.

The nomination period for the Oct. 17 election closed Thursday at noon and the city released the list of candidates shortly after.

Five men are running to be the city's next mayor, including one who is now a city councillor. The current mayor, Laura Cabott, announced earlier that she would not seek re-election this fall. She served one term as mayor.

Eighteen people are running to fill the six councillor positions, and only one of them is a current councillor seeking re-election. Four current councillors — Jocelyn Curteanu, Michelle Friesen, Ted Laking and Mellisa Murray — are not running in this election.

The candidates for mayor, listed alphabetically, are:

  • Jack Bogaard
  • Dan Bushnell
  • Kirk Cameron (currently a city councillor)
  • Stephen Kwok
  • Dino Rudinski

 The candidates for councillor, listed alphabetically, are:

  • Jean-Sébastien Blais
  • Dan Boyd (seeking re-election)
  • Norma Felker
  • Paolo Gallina
  • Jenny Hamilton
  • Tony Lundgaard
  • Eileen Melnychuk
  • Anne Middler
  • Lenore Morris
  • Sarah Newton
  • Nesty Paron
  • Andrew Robulack
  • Marta Rogers
  • Ken Schick
  • Daniel Schneider
  • Michelle Stimson
  • Gary Smith
  • Jay Wilneff

Voters must be Canadian citizens, aged 18 or older on election day, and have lived in Whitehorse for at least one year before election day. 

Residents are advised to register to vote, or confirm they're already registered by visiting the city's election website.

Municipal election day is Thursday, Oct. 17.

Colourful flowers in the foreground, flags of First Nations, Yukon, Canada, entrance to Whitehorse city hall
Whitehorse city hall. (Asad Chishti/CBC)