THUNDER BAY — Nearly 20 years after his previous term as Thunder Bay’s mayor ended, Ken Boschoff is reclaiming the city hall office.
Boshcoff was elected mayor on Monday, defeating a field of challengers that included Gary Mack, Peng You, Clint Harris and Robert Szczepanski.
He carried a substantial early lead, with nearly double the number of votes of his closest opponent. That margin closed significantly once the online voting numbers were released, with Mack climbing within a few percentage points.
Boshcoff finished with 13,538 votes or 38.22 per cent of the total, ending up 1,393 votes ahead of Mack, who pulled in 34.29 per cent. Peng You was in third with 6,377 votes, while Harris was in fourth with 2,728 votes and Szczepanski was fifth with 633 votes.
In an interview late Monday night after those full results were announced, Boshcoff acknowledged the close margin was a bit of a surprise for his campaign.
“Yes it was, I’ll admit that freely,” he said. “Perhaps we didn’t do enough polling. I just wanted people to vote for me, and I didn’t really want to spend money on polls.”
With the mayor's seat currently vacant after his predecessor Bill Mauro's early departure, Boshcoff said he'll be looking to take on meetings and preparatory work in the coming weeks before the new council takes office on Nov. 15.
“We haven’t had a mayor for a few [weeks], so I’m going to offer myself as mayor-elect to work for the next month to get rid of the backlog and start meeting with some of the investment groups that are coming to invest in our city.”
Boshcoff has called attracting investment from a hoped-for mining boom to the city a key priority for his upcoming term.
Mack hopes his own strong second-place finish shows there's an appetite for change in the city - specifically, that residents want action on the issues he championed in his campaign: homelessness, crime, and infrastructure.
“I’m very proud we were able to get a couple of issues on the minds of everybody," he said. “I hope this council can bring something different, because that is what the people want.”
Mack also didn't rule out another run in the future.
Boshcoff, 73, previously served two terms as the city’s mayor between 1997 and 2003, before shifting his focus to federal politics and becoming the Liberal MP for the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding from 2004 to 2008.
This was Boshcoff's second mayoral bid in the past three municipal elections. He finished second to Keith Hobbs in 2014.
Boshcoff also spent time in Thunder Bay city hall as an at-large councillor from 2010 to 2014, 1992 to 1997, and 1986 to 1988. He represented the Northwood ward from 1979 to 1985.
