Ken Boshcoff wins Thunder Bay mayoral race

It took until nearly all the ballots were counted, but Ken Boshcoff managed to hold onto his early lead and will become the next mayor of Thunder Bay, Ont., winning the position with a lead of just under 1,400 votes. 

With 18 of 18 polls reporting, Boshcoff won with a 1,393-vote margin of victory over his next closest challenger, Gary Mack. Boshcoff's tally was 13,538 votes, to Mack's 12,145. 

"This election is a message for people who want to get some action on things," he said in a speech to supporters shortly before midnight, when the final results came in. 

"I'm going to work body and soul to make sure this city becomes the city we always dreamed it could be. We know why we love living here." 

Boshcoff will replace Bill Mauro, who didn't seek re-election this fall.

During his victory speech, he included a message to the councillors who'll be joining him. 

"You will have my support, I'll have your back as we all pull together," he said. "We know what the common cause is, we need good, strong directed leadership." 

Based on early returns, it appeared Boschoff would cruise to a victory, but the race tightened shortly after 10:30, when the online results were announced. The race remained tight for the rest of the evening — within 2,000 votes — until CBC's Decision Desk projected the winner just before midnight. 

Despite the slim margin of victory, Boshchoff held the lead throughout the night, opening up a lead from the first poll to report, shortly after 8:30 p.m.

The other three candidates finished far behind the two front runners. Peng You finished third with 6,377 votes, Clint Harris had 2,728 and Robert Szczepanski finished fifth with 633 votes. 

Elsewhere on city council, three incumbents were elected to at-large positions: Mark Bentz, Shelby Ch'ng and Trevor Giertuga. They'll be joined in those at-large seats by newcomers Rajni Agarwal and Kasey (Taylor) Etreni. 

Nearly 20-year gap between time in mayor's office 

Boshcoff, a veteran politician in Thunder Bay, comes to the mayor's office with the most political experience of any of the five candidates. 

He previously served seven terms of city council — including two as mayor, from 1997 to 2003. He has also served two terms as an MP for Thunder Bay-Rainy River. 

During the 2022 election campaign, he made that experience a key part of his pitch to voters, emphasizing his track record in working with community organizations and boards. 

"This was a pretty fascinating campaign, it really addressed the commonality of the issues that Thunder Bay faces with so many other communities," he said. "It means that here in Thunder Bay, we can really work with the region and other communities across the country."

Results were delayed into just before midnight, after a balloting error with the Catholic school board trustee vote. Officials in Shuniah and in Thunder Bay declared an election emergency after Shuniah clerk Kerry Bellamy found ballots for the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board issued to Shuniah voters didn't include all 11 candidates. 

Due to the error, voting tabulators in Thunder Bay needed to exclude and safeguard the results from the Catholic trustee vote before releasing the results from other races, explained Thunder Bay clerk and returning officer Krista Power. 

The Shuniah election was one of two in northwestern Ontario to have an issue Monday evening.