Brian Bigger elected mayor of Greater Sudbury

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The City of Greater Sudbury is reporting a 50.7 per cent voter turnout. Residents have elected the former auditor general, who took a leave of absence to run for municipal politics, as its new mayor.

According to the City of Greater Sudbury, 54 out of 55 polls in the city were reporting results.

• Brian Bigger – 27,303 votes (46.32 per cent)
• Dan Melanson – 11,345 votes (19.25 per cent)
• John Rodriguez – 10,243 votes (17.38 per cent)
• Ron Dupuis – 5,176 votes (8.78 per cent)
• Jeff Huska – 2,584 votes (4.38 per cent)
• Richard Majkot – 1,412 votes (2.4 per cent)
• Jeanne Brohart – 494 votes (0.84 per cent)
• Jean-Raymond Audet – 256 votes (0.43 per cent)
• David Popescu – 67 votes (0.11 per cent)
• Ed Pokonzie – 65 votes (0.11 per cent)

Bigger got nearly half of all the votes cast for mayor, and topped his nearest competitor by 16,000 votes.

“Let’s keep this positive and forward looking momentum beyond today,” he told a crowd of supporters Monday evening.

“Let’s take control of our destiny.”  He said the election race wasn’t a sprint, but rather a marathon.  “Running is all about delivering your personal best,” he said.

“This one’s going to be hard to beat. At the beginning, you can’t visualize all the steps it’s going to take to get past the finish line. In fact in training, everything is based on trust.”

Dan Melanson, who four years ago played a key role in getting Marianne Matichuk elected, came in second.

“What happened was Mr. Bigger was able to cash in on his time as Auditor General,” he said.

Only two incumbent councillors were re-elected: Evelyn Dutrisac in Ward 4 and Joscelyne Landry-Altmann in Ward 12. Al Sizer took his seat in Ward 8. He has been councillor in that ward following a by-election in June, after former councillor Fabio Belli suddenly died earlier this year.

One election promise Bigger did make was to freeze taxes for his first year in office.

Dutrisac said the idea is worth considering.

“What implications it will have on the services that we offer and if we can have that tax freeze,” she said.

Bigger said he’s looking forward to working with the new councillors.  "[A] brand new council. It looks very encouraging,” he said. “I think many of the councillors I've heard talking about the same things."

Fern Cormier is one of the new faces, as he was elected for Ward 10, after losing by only five votes in the 2010 election.  “I’ll be honest with you, there’s a little bit of vindication in this,” he said.

Voters also had their say on three referendum questions regarding store hours in Greater Sudbury but the city said it is not binding.  Officials said that while there was a 50 percent turnout in general, not enough voted on the referendum questions to make it stick.

The first question dealt with businesses being able to choose whether or not they want to open on Boxing Day, and voters responded 61.17 per cent in favour.

The second question asked if voters were in favour of allowing businesses to open on the Civic Holiday in August, and voters were 62.42 per cent in favor.

The third question asked if voters were in favour of allowing businesses to choose their own hours, and voted 75.52 per cent in favour.

Ward 1:

• Mark Signoretti – 1,780 votes (39.67 per cent)
• Chris Spry – 1,125 votes (25.07 per cent)
• Matt Alexander – 589 votes (13.13 per cent)
• Paul Soucie – 274 votes (6.11 per cent)
• Tom Trainor – 261 votes (5.82 per cent)
• Denis Ferron – 232 (5.17 per cent)
• Mathieu Labonté – 167 votes (3.72 per cent)
• Sidney Shaprio – 59 votes (1.31 per cent)

Ward 2:

• Michael Vagnini – 2,752 votes (49.36 per cent)
• Jacques Barbeau – 2,130 votes (39.28 per cent)
• Daniel Xilon – 398 votes (7.14 per cent)
• Chad Odnokon – 152 votes (2.73 per cent)
• Joseph Palmateer – 83 votes (1.49 per cent)

Ward 3:

• Gerry Montpellier – 1884 votes (42.14 per cent)
• Marcel Montpellier – 1,311 votes (29.32 per cent)
• Matt Belanger – 960 votes (21.47 per cent)
• Jesse Gaudet – 316 votes (7.07 per cent)

Ward 4:

• Evelyn Dutrisac – 2,112 votes (48.1 per cent)
• Francois Couture – 1,713 votes (39.01 per cent)
• Paul Lefebvre – 566 votes (12.89 per cent)

Ward 5:

• Robert Kirwan – 1,467 (35.78 per cent)
• John Lundrigan – 969 votes (23.63 per cent)
• Richard Larcher – 891 votes (21.73 per cent)
• Joseph Berthlot – 483 votes (11.78 per cent)
• Kent MacNeill – 290 votes (7.07 per cent)

Ward 6:

• René Lapierre – 1,933 votes (37.56 per cent)
• Andre Rivest – 1,663 votes (32.31 per cent)
• Fernand Bidal – 865 votes (16.81 per cent)
• Kevin Brault – 686 votes (13.33 per cent)

Ward 7:

• Mike Jakubo – 2,486 votes (50.9 per cent)
• Dave Kilgour – 1,525 votes (31.22 per cent)
• Robin Auger – 414 votes (8.48 per cent)
• Gordon Drysdale – 371 votes (7.6 per cent)
• Walter Prus – 88 votes (1.8 per cent)

Ward 8:

• Al Sizer – 1,973 votes (45.04 per cent)
• Stefano Presenza – 1,042 votes (23.78 per cent)
• Michael Cullen – 1,013 votes (23.12 per cent)
• Gerry Perras – 219 votes (5.0 per cent)
• Kerry Latham – 134 votes (3.06 per cent)

Ward 9:

• Deb McIntosh – 2,000 votes (35.28 per cent)
• Les Lisk – 1,037 votes (18.29 per cent)
• Wyman MacKinnon – 691 votes (12.19 per cent)
• Lin Gibson – 679 votes (11.98 per cent)
• Paul Stopciati – 657 votes (11.59 per cent)
• Aaron Beaudry – 353 votes (6.23 per cent)
• Will Thomson – 252 votes (4.45 per cent)

Ward 10:

• Fern Cormier – 2,085 votes (38.84 per cent)
• John Antonioni – 1,200 votes (22.53 per cent)
• Hannu Piironen – 1,042 votes (19.41 per cent)
• Mila Wong – 794 votes (14.79 per cent)
• Steve Ripley – 247 votes (4.6 per cent)

Ward 11:

• Lynne Reynolds – 2,194 votes (40.96 per cent)
• Terry Kett – 1,700 votes (31.73 per cent)
• Mike Bleskie – 851 votes (15.89 per cent)
• Chris Nerpin – 356 votes (6.65 per cent)
• Vincent Lacroix – 256 (4.78 per cent)

Ward 12:

• Joscelyne Landry-Altmann – 2,179 votes (52.98 per cent)
• Tay Butt – 1,136 votes (27.62 per cent)
• Shawn Ouimet – 496 votes (12.06 per cent)
• Robert McCarthy – 302 votes (7.34per cent)