Wilf Carter hasn’t been deterred by last night’s mayoral election results.

While Carter placed second out of three candidates, incumbent Dan Curtis blew out the doors of Carter and Mandeep Sidhu.

From the very first results posted at city hall after the polls closed Thursday evening, it was abundantly clear Curtis was heading into his second term in office.

At the end of the night, the incumbent received the nod from 4,640 voters, equalling 79 per cent of the ballots cast for mayor.

Carter, on the other hand, received 835 votes – 14 per cent – and Sidhu garnered 437 – seven per cent.

With a few gremlins inside the new election software, the numbers didn’t come as quickly or as smoothly as expected, but they were all in an hour and 15 minutes after the polls closed, the fastest return in recent memory.

It was standing room-only at the height of the evening, with candidates, family and friends milling about, chewing the fat and sharing a chuckle or two.

Long after Curtis had a lock on the win, he quietly leaned over and jokingly asked Coun. John Streicker if he thought it was safe for him to call his mom and give her the news. And then he discreetly left council chambers and called his 83-year-old mother.

In an interview prior to the first results being posted, Carter said he didn’t come into the campaign with lofty expectations, but rather gave himself an outside shot at the mayoralty.

As time passed, however, he believes voters started buying into his vision. In the last three days in particular, the support he received was astounding.

So much so, that he’d elevated his chances to 50-50.

Carter said this morning he had fun, learned a lot of valuable lessons and met a lot of great people.

He feels his candidacy provided the opportunity to put forward new ideas for the new council to consider.

“That was the whole purpose in running, was to get the city moving in the right direction,” he said.

Carter said his candidacy was a personal test, but it was also a means of putting his name out there, because he does intend to run in next year’s territorial election.

“This was just plan A for me, and I’m right down to plan D,” he said. “I got out in the community, I got my face known, and there is a territorial election coming.”

Carter said he’s not sure what banner he’ll run under, though he is card-carrying member of the Yukon Party and a Conservative by nature.

“We’ll see,” he said.

“The people of the city of Whitehorse told me they want to see their governments working together, number one.”

Similarly, Sidhu doesn’t look at his last-place finish as a loss but as an occasion to bring forward another perspective, an opportunity to impress upon Curtis and his council that there’s more than one way to do business.

“Whitehorse must be happy with the direction Dan Curtis is going in,” he said. “If that is the case, that is the case.

“I ran a platform to bring forward different issues. I brought forward issues that I thought mattered.”

Sidhu said he didn’t think his recent court case on charges of dangerous driving was a factor in his defeat, though it may have come into play a little.

After all, public image is a large part of running for public office, he acknowledged.

Sidhu said he’s all about working for the betterment of the city and the citizens of Whitehorse.

He’s hopeful Curtis and his newly elected council will benefit from the issues he discussed, and he’s hopeful the mayor is more open to entertaining the input he receives from the general public.

“I am not going to sit here and say Whitehorse isn’t doing well,” he said. “I just wish it was doing better.

“Some of the simplest problems could be solved easily, so hopefully, Dan does pay attention to the emails and letters he’s getting.”