The votes are now counted and citizens in Nanaimo know the make-up of their next municipal government.
Mayor Leonard Krog was re-elected in a landslide on election day on Saturday, Oct. 15, as he ended up with 12,390 votes, well ahead of runner-up Tasha Brown who earned 4,207 votes.
The rest of city council will have a few new faces, however, including former Nanaimo-Ladysmith MP Paul Manly who topped the polls with 10,366 votes, just ahead of incumbent Sheryl Armstrong with 10,260 votes. Next were incumbents Ben Geselbracht with 8,383, Ian Thorpe with 8,040 and Erin Hemmens with 7,497. Janice Perrino received 7,131 votes to become the second newcomer elected, incumbent Tyler Brown earned 6,805 votes and another new addition, Hilary Eastmure, tallied 5,650 votes.
Among the candidates who didn’t make it onto council was incumbent Don Bonner who was ninth in vote count at 5,524. Norm Smith had 5,254 votes, Nick Greer had 5,050 votes and incumbent Zeni Maartman finished with 4,759 votes.
“I’m extremely pleased with the results overall,” Krog said.
He said he will miss Bonner and Maartman on council but said the new additions are good candidates.
“I think the people of Nanaimo are going to be well-served in the next four years,” Krog said.
Manly said he’s ready to get to work on serious issues that Nanaimo faces, and expects the new council to be able to find common ground and work in a collaborative way.
“I think we’re going to see a real balance between different kinds of view points in the council. We have a lot of reasonable people here that are going to work together,” he said.
Perrino said the election campaign went well and people she spoke with were engaged about what’s going on in their community. She said voters seemed to want a mix of current councillors and new councillors.
“And that’s good,” she said. “That’s exactly the way it ought to be, when the voters have the final say … I think it’s going to be a very interesting council. I can’t wait to get to work.”
Geselbracht said it appears voters recognized the challenges facing Nanaimo but appreciated the direction the city is going.
“I think we’re going to have a solid crew that’s going to be able to work pretty collaboratively together and there’s going to be a strong debate and I think it’s going to be a council that will help strengthen the community. So I’m feeling quite positive about it,” he said.
According to the City of Nanaimo, voter turnout was 24.4 per cent of registered voters, down from 40.8 per cent in 2018.
“That’s not entirely surprising given the general performance of council the last four years,” Krog said. “There wasn’t the inspiration like there was in 2018 for people to come out and make sure they got a good council.”
Mayoral voting results:
1. Leonard Krog 12,390
2. Tasha Brown 4,207
3. Agnes Provost 792
4. Brunie Brunie 723
Councillor voting results:
1. Paul Manly 10,366
2. Sheryl Armstrong 10,260
3. Ben Geselbracht 8,383
4. Ian Thorpe 8,040
5. Erin Hemmens 7,497
6. Janice Perrino 7,131
7. Tyler Brown 6,805
8. Hilary Eastmure 5,650
9. Don Bonner 5,524
10. Norm Smith 5,254
11. Nick Greer 5,050
12. Zeni Maartman 4,759
13. Peter Lee 4,022
14. Gary Korpan 3,769
15. Michael Ribicic 3,357
16. Alan Macdonald 3,336
17. Paul Chapman 3,298
18. Viraat Thammanna 3,100
19. Mike Hartlaub 2,731
20. Shirley Lambrecht 2,540
21. Frank Pluta 2,384
22. Derek Hanna 2,295
23. David Wang 2,004
24. Ken Bennett 1,847
25. Jeff Annesley 1,586
26. Peter Poole 934
27. Corey Trinkwon 757
28. Robb Squire 734
29. Jay Krishan 627
— Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin) October 16, 2022
In the District of Lantzville, Mayor Mark Swain was re-elected in a landslide as expected, with 1,345 votes compared to the 184 votes received by runner-up Stan Pottie.
Jonathan Lerner was the top vote-getter among Lantzville council candidates with 1,104 votes, followed by incumbent Ian Savage who earned 1,066 votes. Joan Jones was next with 1,064 votes, then Rachelle Mundell with 880 votes. Among candidates who didn’t earn a seat at the council table, John Dunn was closest with 604 votes.
According to prelim results from @RDNanaimo, Jessica Stanley has won in Area A and Lauren Melanson in Area C, both are in @NanaimoBulletin's coverage area. #election22
— Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin) October 16, 2022
In the Regional District of Nanaimo’s electoral areas A and C, there will be new regional directors for both areas as both incumbents were soundly defeated.
In Area A (Cedar-South Wellington-Cassidy-Yellow Point), Jessica Stanley was elected area director with 359 votes, just ahead of runner-up Kate Poirier, who had 319 votes. Incumbent Keith Wilson was third with 123 votes.
In Area C (Extension-Nanaimo Lakes-East Wellington-Pleasant Valley), Lauren Melanson will be the next area director, as she earned 217 votes, ahead of incumbent Charles Pinker, who earned 131 votes.
The Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools election results were delayed and didn’t come in until 11 p.m. Incumbent trustee Naomi Bailey topped the polls with 10,395 votes, followed by incumbents Tania Brzovic with 10,001 votes, Greg Keller with 8,981 votes and Charlene McKay with 8,761. Leana Pellegrin, Mark Robinson, Leanne Lee, Chantelle Morvay and Tom Rokeby are the others who will make up the next school board. Incumbent Bill Robinson was not re-elected, finishing 10th in vote count.
For links to election coverage, click here.
READ ALSO: It’s Election Day in Nanaimo: Here’s what you need to know
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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