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Mauro wins Thunder Bay mayoral race

Former Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP to succeed outgoing mayor Keith Hobbs
bill mauro

THUNDER BAY – Bill Mauro will be transitioning from Queen’s Park to Thunder Bay city hall.

Mauro will be the city’s next mayor, prevailing in the crowded race to edge out sitting councillors Iain Angus and Frank Pullia and retired journalist Shane Judge.

“You’ll get my dedication. I’ll speak my truth. We’ll let people know what we believe is in the best interest of the city of Thunder Bay. That will be, at the end of the day, what my guiding principle is,” Mauro said.

“It doesn’t always please everybody. If that’s your goal in this job, I don’t imagine you can do it very well.”

Mauro will replace outgoing mayor Keith Hobbs, who has been Thunder Bay’s top municipal elected official since 2010.

In what was widely expected to be a four-person race, Mauro captured 13,940 votes to emerge 762 ahead of runner-up Pullia. Angus, a 15-year at-large councillor, was well back in third with 5,816 votes while Judge finished fourth with 5,155 votes.

Mauro, the 15-year Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP held ministerial responsibilities in Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government, served as minister of municipal affairs after initially tapped as minister of natural resources.

Unseated by NDP challenger Judith Monteith-Farrell in June, Mauro entered the mayor’s race and has previously compared the current political climate facing the city with the new Progressive Conservative government to the early 1990s when Mike Harris was premier and many provincially-funded responsibilities were downloaded onto municipalities.

Mauro said he would do his best to stand up for the city.

“I understand how much assistance has come to the city over my 15 years as an MPP so we’ll continue to try and see that as much of that kind of assistance still flows to the city of Thunder Bay to provide relief for our taxpayers,” Mauro said.

Pullia, who had about 1,000 less electronic votes than Angus but made up some ground with paper ballots, came up short in his fifth failed bid at the mayor’s chair.

“I see a bright future for Thunder Bay. We’re building a future and a strong foundation that was built over the last four years,” Pullia said. “You’ll see the results that will continue, I hope they will continue, with fiscal responsibility for that vision we put forward.”

Angus, who was visibly disappointed while at city hall while the results started to come in, said the mayor-elect could have a challenge in distancing himself from being a member of the previous Liberal government while advocating for the city with Premier Doug Ford and his cabinet.

"It'll take some finessing to make sure our voices are heard and not sort of filtered out by his previous role," Angus said.



About the Author: Matt Vis

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