Same names

Paul Pugh’s victory in the McKellar Ward Monday makes him the lone fresh face amongst six other returning ward councillors.

Pugh ran in the only ward that didn’t feature an incumbent running for re-election. Being a well-known union president gave him the name the advantage of name recognition that often only current and former councillors enjoy.

When the votes were counted, unofficial results showed Pugh had 65.2 per cent of the ballots cast with 2,835 votes. Meanwhile, David Nicholson collected 1,006 votes and Robin Rickards took 504.

Name recognition alone didn’t help Pugh, at least in his mind. The union president said hitting the streets and knocking on doors were also factors in his election victory.

"I was in the public eye quite a lot," Pugh said. "It was something that was important to the city because we’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of jobs. I also knocked on more than 5,000 doors.

"I’m not saying I talked to 5,000 people. We worked very hard to get the message out."

Door knocking isn’t just a beneficial campaign strategy for newcomers. Incumbent Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds said hitting the streets during his campaign allowed him to better learn what his constituents wanted from their councillor.

"I spent a tremendous amount of time knocking on doors and I am not arrogant enough to tell people what they want," he said following Monday night’s results. "They’ve told me very clearly they want a strong, vigorous economy. They want good paying jobs. They want investment in their infrastructure, and their quality of life issues are important."

Foulds was involved in a one-sided, two-candidate race and won with 3,758 votes against his opponent’s, Andy Wolff, 1,071. With 77.8 per cent of the Current River vote, Foulds by far and away took the largest margin of victory on Monday night. Pugh, a distant second in the category, earned about 65 per cent of the McKellar vote.

In Westfort, familiar incumbent Coun. Joe Virdiramo was declared the election-night winner after collecting 3,033 votes. That was enough to beat out opponents Jeffery John Polhill, who received 845 votes, and John Radl, who managed to collect about 1,596.

While the Westfort councillor may be used to winning elections, Monday night’s results nevertheless managed to excite the returning municipal politician.

"I think it is fantastic," he told tbnewswatch.com after arriving at city hall Monday night. "I’m excited to get to work for the next four years with the present council elect and mayor elect."

For Neebing Coun. Lynda Rydholm, Monday night’s successful re-election bid was made even sweeter when she had the opportunity to rub it in the faces of Thunder Bay Source and tbnewswatch.com news staff.

Editors and reporters from the newspaper and website made election predictions for last week’s issue of Thunder Bay Source, which featured all participants predicting Rydholm’s demise.

When the Neebing councillor arrived at city hall Monday night, she appeared in council chamber waving that issue of the Source to remind everyone how wrong the news staff really was.

"I’m very happy with Neebing voters, and stuff it to the Source," she said moments after arriving. "I had grassroots support. Ten per cent of the houses in my ward had my sign. Anybody who had driven out in Neebing would have known that I had grassroots support."

Rydholm earned 1,840 votes, well ahead of second-place challenger and former at-large Coun. Bill Scollie, who only managed 1,130. Don Sinclair and Henry Wojak were third and fourth, with Gary Shchepanik, who dropped out of the race but couldn't get his name off the ballot, was fifth.

In Northwood, Coun. Mark Bentz won his re-election bid despite a tough challenge from opponent David Polhill.

Bentz, who was acclaimed in 2006, eked out a slim 143-vote win over first-time candidate Polhill. Bentz was the choice of 2,305 voters. Frank Armiento, who ran in Westfort four years ago, was a distant third, with 1,020 votes.

"I want to continue moving the city forward and doing things that are going to improve our quality of life," Bentz said. "I think economic development is a foundation for all of those things that we want and that is really what I have been working towards in the past two terms is bringing those jobs and those investments into the city."

McIntyre Ward re-elected Trevor Giertuga, who received 2,079 votes, enough to beat his four opponents. His closest challenger was lawyer Christopher Watkins, who had 1,326 votes. Trudy Tuchenhagen, Terrence Yahn and Mike Komar rounded out the pack.

Red River Ward Coun. Brian McKinnon also received a job-well-done from voters, earning 2,988 votes to out-pace second-time contender Paul Wolfe by 780 votes. 

Neither Giertuga nor McKinnon were available for comment after Monday night’s results were released.