2010 Greater Sudbury municipal election
Introduction The '''2010 Greater Sudbury municipal election''' was held on October 25, 2010 to elect a mayor and 12 city councillors in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. In addition, school trustees were elected to the Rainbow District School Board, Sudbury Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire de district du Grand Nord de l'Ontario and Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario.The election was held in conjunction with those held in other municipalities in the province of Ontario. For other elections, see 2010 Ontario municipal elections.Candidate registration opened on January 4, 2010.Six candidates, including three incumbents and three challengers, submitted their nomination papers in the first week. The final registration deadline for candidates was September 10, 2010.
Issues One of the dominant issues in the election campaign was the status of the city's St. Joseph's Hospital. With the completion of the new Sudbury Regional Hospital facility, the closure of the St. Joseph's site was imminent — however, despite the city's longtime interest in acquiring the property due to its adjacency to Bell Park and Lake Ramsey, the Sisters of St. Joseph sold the site in 2010 to Panoramic Properties, a condominium developer from Niagara Falls. The campaign was subsequently marked by conflicting claims about how much notice the Sisters gave to city council, and how much time and money the city did or didn't have to prepare a counteroffer for the site; a community group, Save Bell Park, formed to lobby for the site's protection.Less dramatically, most voters identified road maintenance and property taxes as their other key priorities in the election. For the first time since the 2000 election, notably, the municipal amalgamation of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury into the current city of Greater Sudbury, which took place in 2000, did not register as a prominent election issue.The issue of retail store hours in the city also became an election issue when Marianne Matichuk supported allowing businesses to set their own hours without regulation from the city. If passed, this would include allowing stores in the city to open on Boxing Day for the first time; with labour unions being a prominent political force in the city, the issue of balancing the rights of retailers to set business hours against the rights of workers to holiday time at Christmas has been a persistent debate in Sudbury's municipal politics.The mayoral candidacy of David Popescu, a perennial candidate in the Sudbury area who was convicted of hate speech after advocating the execution of homosexuals in the 2008 federal election campaign, also emerged as a minor issue when he was permitted to participate in a mayoral debate sponsored by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. Marianne Matichuk publicly criticized the Chamber of Commerce for not excluding Popescu from the debate, while candidate Derek Young called Matichuk's move a populist ploy that would both undermine the democratic process and distract from other issues in the debate, and the Chamber of Commerce reiterated that its standing policy when sponsoring political debates was to invite all registered candidates regardless of their personal views. Popescu had already participated in other mayoral debates during the 2010 election campaign without incident, and none of the candidates for mayor, including Matichuk, opted to boycott the Chamber of Commerce debate over Popescu's inclusion.On the final Friday of the election campaign, the ''Sudbury Star'' endorsed Matichuk for the mayor's chair. The following day, the paper published an article headlined "City misled public about manager's dismissal", alleging that Rodriguez and the incumbent council had deliberately lied to the public about the resignation of Alan Stephen, the former manager of the city's infrastructure and emergency services division, in 2006; however, the incident described in the article was one in which the city appeared to simply have followed its legal obligation to maintain confidentiality around matters involving employee relations. The newspaper subsequently faced criticism for its portrayal of the story and for publishing the story only after it would be too late for Rodriguez or any other member of the city's staff to respond ahead of election day; in an interview on CBC Northern Ontario's ''Points North'' following the election, ''Sudbury Star'' managing editor Brian MacLeod stated that the paper had received the information in an anonymous brown envelope several days before the story went to print. The Ontario Provincial Police subsequently announced that they were conducting an investigation into the leak.
Polling Although incumbent mayor John Rodriguez faced significant criticism of his first term as mayor, an Oraclepoll Research survey released on October 13, 2010, twelve days before the election, suggested that he remained in the lead with 41.6 per cent of decided voters; however, this represented a drop of 10.2 per cent from his winning margin in the 2006 election. Matichuk, a political neophyte who was virtually unknown before announcing her campaign in early September, was in second place with 31.5 per cent support, while councillor Ted Callaghan had 22.7 per cent support. All of the other candidates combined had a total of 4.1 per cent support; notably, the poll did not register a single decided voter for either Popescu or Ed Pokonzie.A subsequent CTV Northern Ontario poll, released in the final week of the campaign, showed significant tightening of the race, with 32 per cent support for Rodriguez, 28 per cent for Matichuk and 18 per cent for Callaghan, with 21 per cent undecided.
Council results Although Rodriguez and incumbent councillor Ted Callaghan were defeated for the mayoralty, all incumbent councillors who ran for council seats were re-elected. Of the three open seats on city council, only one was won by a political newcomer; the other two were won by former mayors of two of the city's pre-amalgamation suburbs.===Mayor===CandidateVotes% Marianne Matichuk 25,042 46.1 (incumbent) John Rodriguez 19,819 36.5 Ted Callaghan 7,298 13.4 Derek Young 1,432 2.6 Zack Gauthier 390 0.7 Dennis Gorman 167 0.3 Ed Pokonzie  102 0.2 David Popescu 96 0.2 '''Total valid votes''' 54,346 EastLink manager Marc Serré, the son of former federal Member of Parliament Gaetan Serré, also filed nomination papers, but withdrew from the mayoral race in the final week of nominations.===Ward 1===Incumbent councillor Joe Cimino was one of two councillors who had no opposing candidates file by the close of nominations on September 10.===Ward 2===CandidateVotes% (incumbent) Jacques Barbeau 3,689 75.2 Peter Albers 1,216 24.8 '''Total valid votes''' 4,905 ===Ward 3===CandidateVotes% (incumbent) Claude Berthiaume 3,019 69.8 Andrew Fahey 1,133 26.2 Rickey Goudreau 175 4.0 '''Total valid votes''' 4,327 ===Ward 4===CandidateVotes% (incumbent) Evelyn Dutrisac 2,614 63.9 Richard Paquette 1,479 36.1 '''Total valid votes''' 4,093 ===Ward 5===Incumbent councillor Ron Dupuis was one of two councillors who had no opposing candidates file by the close of nominations on September 10.===Ward 6===CandidateVotes% (incumbent) André Rivest 2,400 53.3 Pete Chénier 1,598 35.5 Christine Guillot-Proulx 504 11.2 '''Total valid votes''' 4,502 ===Ward 7===Incumbent councillor Russ Thompson did not seek re-election. The winning candidate, Dave Kilgour, is a former mayor of Capreol.CandidateVotes% Dave Kilgour 2,078 51.5 Gordon Drysdale 1,181 29.3 Dave Della Vedova 775 19.2 '''Total valid votes''' 4,034 ===Ward 8===Incumbent councillor Ted Callaghan ran for the mayoralty.CandidateVotes% Fabio Belli 1,991 44.8 Al Sizer 921 20.7 Lorenzo Tripodi 662 14.9 Ron LaPlante 281 6.3 Leo Bisson 259 5.8 Ian McCracken 155 3.5 Louis Delongchamp 72 1.6 Harry Will 71 1.6 Alex Martinez 34 0.8 '''Total valid votes''' 4,446 ===Ward 9===CandidateVotes% (incumbent) Doug Craig 1,879 38.9 Jim Sartor 1,501 31.1 Paul Stopciati 1,447 30.0 '''Total valid votes''' 4,827 ===Ward 10===Incumbent councillor Frances Caldarelli was re-elected by just five votes over challenger Fern Cormier, in a race with 175 rejected ballots. Cormier asked for a recount, a position which Caldarelli also endorsed; however, Cormier subsequently withdrew his request after learning that the province's municipal elections law requires recounts to be conducted by the same process as the original count, and does not allow for manual inspection of ballots that were rejected by the voting machines.CandidateVotes% (incumbent) Frances Caldarelli 2,151 40.6 Fern Cormier 2,146 40.5 Mark Signoretti 682 12.9 Steve Ripley 316 6.0 '''Total valid votes''' 5,295 Former city councillor Mila Wong also registered as a candidate, but withdrew from the race.===Ward 11===Incumbent councillor Janet Gasparini did not run for re-election. The winning candidate, Terry Kett, is a former mayor of Walden.CandidateVotes% Terry Kett 1,971 39.2 Tom Fenske 1,510 30.0 Mike Petryna 796 15.8 Gerry Paquette 512 10.2 Joe Vairo 239 4.8 '''Total valid votes''' 5,028 ===Ward 12===CandidateVotes% (incumbent) Joscelyne Landry-Altmann 2,844 71.2 Jeff MacIntyre 1,148 28.8 '''Total valid votes''' 3,992
Rainbow District School Board results ===Wards 1/2===CandidateVotes% Gord Santala 3,530 66.25 Jenny Lyn Albers 1,798 33.75 '''Total valid votes''' 5,328 ===Wards 3/4===CandidateVotes% Tyler Campbell 1,705 55.92 Lisa Sagle 1,344 44.08 '''Total valid votes''' 3,049 ===Wards 5/6===CandidateVotes% Robert Kirwan 1,423 53.88 Ruth Ward 642 24.31 Gordon Ewin 576 21.81 '''Total valid votes''' 2,641 ===Wards 7/8===CandidateVotes% Dena Morrison 3,404 58.49 Lee Ferguson 1,614 27.73 Silvio Vitiello 802 13.78 '''Total valid votes''' 5,820 ===Wards 9/10===CandidateVotes% Doreen Dewar 4,107 73.01 Lionel Rudd 1,518 26.99 '''Total valid votes''' 5,625 ===Wards 11/12===CandidateVotes% Judy Hunda 2,258 62.24 John Cochrane 1,370 37.76 '''Total valid votes''' 3,628
Sudbury Catholic District School Board results ===Wards 1/2===CandidateVotes% Estelle Scappatura 1,499 56.57 Ray Vincent 1,151 4,343 '''Total valid votes''' 2,650 ===Wards 3/4===CandidateVotes% Raymond Desjardins 395 28.90 Felicia Fahey 357 26.12 Leslie Marie Steel 247 18.07 Jack McDonald 235 17.19 David Stapleton 133 9.73 '''Total valid votes''' 1,367 ===Wards 5/6===CandidateVotes% Michael Bellmore 955 65.41 Geraldine Meskell 505 34.59 '''Total valid votes''' 1,460 ===Wards 7/8===CandidateVotes% Barry MacDonald 1,772 72.71 John Leonard 665 27.29 '''Total valid votes''' 2,437 ===Wards 9/10===CandidateVotes% Paula Peroni 1,816 60.31 Michelle Watkins 1,195 39.69 '''Total valid votes''' 3,011 ===Wards 11/12===CandidateVotes% Jody Cameron Acclaimed
Conseil scolaire de district du Grand Nord de l'Ontario results ===Wards 1/4===CandidateVotes% Françoise Monette Acclaimed===Wards 2/3===CandidateVotes% Robert Boileau 132 51.16 François Boudreau 126 48.84 '''Total valid votes''' 258 ===Wards 5/7===CandidateVotes% Claude Giroux 285 78.30 Gilles Crépeau 79 21.70 '''Total valid votes''' 364 ===Ward 6===CandidateVotes% Jean-Marc Aubin Acclaimed===Wards 8/12===CandidateVotes% Raymond Labrecque Acclaimed===Wards 9/10/11===CandidateVotes% Anik Charron 472 83.54 Moustapha Soumahoro 93 16.46 '''Total valid votes''' 565
Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario results ===Wards 1-4===Two candidates to be elected.CandidateVotes% Paul Demers Acclaimed Marcel Montpellier===Wards 5-6===Two candidates to be elected.CandidateVotes% Georges Boudreau 1,913 36.90 Jean-Yves (John) Robert 1,384 26.70 Marcel Legault 1,262 24.34 Fernand Bidal 625 12.06 '''Total valid votes''' 5,184 ===Wards 7-12===Three candidates to be elected.CandidateVotes% André Bidal 2,502 26.51 Normand Courtemanche 1,863 19.74 Marc Larochelle 1,778 18.84 Donald Malette 1,663 17.62 Laurent Tregonning 1,631 17.28 '''Total valid votes''' 9,437
References
External links * City of Greater Sudbury Municipal Elections 2010