Photo by Vince Fedoroff
OPPONENTS MEET – Mayor Bev Buckway and unsuccessful mayoral challenger Al Fedoriak confer at city council chambers.
Many familiar faces return to council
There won't be a lot of changes inside council chambers after the new council is sworn in to office on Oct. 26.
There won't be a lot of changes inside council chambers after the new council is sworn in to office on Oct. 26.
On Thursday, Whitehorse voters elected five incumbents to office – including Mayor Bev Buckway, who took just over 60 per cent of the mayoral vote with 2,540 votes – with Betty Irwin and Ranj Pillai being the only newcomers to office.
Buckway's only competitor was Al Fedoriak, who ended up with 1,580 votes or 37.46 per cent.
Coun. Jeanine Myhre was the only councillor seeking re-election who wasn't returned to office, coming up just short of a seat in seventh place, with 1,459 votes.
Coun. Jan Stick, who opted not to return for another term, was one of about a dozen people – mainly city staff and election candidates – on hand in council chambers to watch the results for much of the evening. Stick gave Buckway a hug before she left.
Ahead of Myhre, taking the final seat on council, was Coun. Dave Austin, who ended up with a final vote count of 1,750 after a back-and-forth battle with another incumbent throughout the evening.
Coun. Florence Roberts saw her spot move from fifth to sixth and back again throughout the evening as votes were tallied, but by the end, she found herself ahead of Austin to take the fifth seat on council with 1,794 votes.
Roberts was among those on hand in council chambers throughout much of the evening to watch the results come in. As the night came to an end, she joked she was glad she hadn't gotten rid of some of the older budget documents.
Holding firm to the fourth spot on council was veteran Coun. Dave Stockdale, who will head into his 10th consecutive term with 1,986 votes cast in his favour.
As the results continued to trickle in, Stockdale showed up with a hug for Buckway and stayed to mingle with others taking in the event at city hall.
Irwin was the first candidate to top the 2,000-vote mark, making it just over that with 2,001 votes in her favour, good enough for the third seat on council.
Pillai, the most popular newcomer to council and perhaps a more familiar face due to his election signs, had 400 more votes than Irwin, with 2,422. That was still 200 votes fewer than incumbent Doug Graham, who took the top spot on council with 2,678 ballots cast in his favour, marking 63.4 per cent of the vote.
It was a lead Graham took early in the evening and held onto as all the ballots were counted.
While Graham had the most votes, Michael Buurman walked away with the fewest, at 1,021. Ahead of him was Jan Brault, who took 1,163, while Skeeter Miller-Wright had 1,370.
Graham Lang was just 25 votes ahead of Miller-Wright with 1,395, while Ron Swizdaryk finished in eighth with 1,405.
A further 31 ballots were rejected for councillors while 98 of the mayoral ballots were rejected.
With 4,218 of a possible 11,508 voters casting their ballots, voter turnout was at 36.7 per cent compared to the 39.9 per cent of eligible voters who voted in the 2006 municipal elections.
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Comments (10)
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name withheld on Oct 23, 2009 at 11:55 pm
It is truly time for a new bylaw.
Either you vote or you pay a 10% surcharge on your property taxes.
When the ballot is cast, you get a chit or chits to submit with your taxes, or, they can levy the 10% based on the voter rolls. Only a doctor's note or other acceptable circumstances get you off the hook.
This is being DONE in other democracies around the world.
This would both raise money, and get the vote out.
What is wrong with us? People in strife torn, new democracies turn out at 85 to 90 percent to vote. We must be incredibly stupid....incredibly stupid, to let 10 percent of the people have the say so. It doesn't take much of an election machine to get the vote out and win if only 10 percent is needed. The Yukon Party are masters at this, as is the federal conservative party. Bev has obviously studied well.
We get what we deserve. All you fools sitting back and complaining about your taxes have NOTHING to complain about if you didn't vote.
The names of those who voted should be published on a website so we can all use peer pressure next time around. The slackers deserve our scorn.
Democracy....use it or lose it.
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jeff reid on Oct 21, 2009 at 10:14 am
"Bev BUCKway 4 Prime Minister"
Hell no, we are suffering enough in the yukon under her dictatorship
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Arn Anderson on Oct 21, 2009 at 12:13 am
Bev BUCKway 4 Prime Minister!!!!
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francias pillman on Oct 20, 2009 at 6:24 am
Its rather funny when people just sit at home when such an important election was held. Its funny because they will feel the effect of money being stolen from their pockets. So just keep sitting there, you reap what you sow. Your apathy is a threat to us all.
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Joel on Oct 20, 2009 at 4:59 am
This is the sad part of Whitehorse...aprox. 20% of the eligible people voted for Bev...and the eligible people only account for 50% of the official population of Whitehorse.
Basically, 10% of the people of Whitehorse think Bev is capable of doing her job for another term. The rest either don't think so or don't care enough to bother to vote. I love how the real stats can tell a story. I wonder if anyone on council realizes less than 10% of the people support them?
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Joseph Campbell on Oct 18, 2009 at 8:41 am
Judging by the big smile on Buckway's face it almost seems she is rejoicing over not having to go back to lowering ears. Now she can continue raising taxes. The people of Whitehorse deserve it. Don't complain when she does.
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mosi on Oct 17, 2009 at 5:41 am
Oh well, Here we go again (down the drain).
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Jack Malone on Oct 17, 2009 at 4:24 am
Hey, Jeff markam - who is "Pam"? Are you referring to Pam's sister, Bev Buckway, who was re-elected as mayor? I agree that you are "dumbfounded."
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Max on Oct 16, 2009 at 8:52 am
Too bad we haven't had a change in the guard. Voter apathy is incredibly high as evidenced by low voter turnout.
Buckway and other council members will probably spin this and declare their reinstatemnt as a sign that voters are happy with their performance.
This is hardly the case, I think. There is a large segment of Whitehorse voters who are very unhappy with the way that the city has been run during this council's reign. Many of those voters just stayed home on election night.
Voters feel powerless to affect change, and have seen how critics are bullied by the current council - in council chambers and without. Meanwhile, the parade of tax hikes continues, the petition regarding McLean Lake will be ignored, Whistle Bend will go ahead as planned, CBC will lose their a.m. capability, and Takhini North dissidents have been silenced.
Oh - and mayor and council get salary increases and shiny new laptops.
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Jeff markam on Oct 16, 2009 at 8:26 am
Is whitehorse afraid of change? Pam did nothing positive in the past few years she was mayor. I am... dumbfounded.. as to why she was elected again. I shake my head at the voters of whitehorse who want tax increases from buckway