Keith Bertrand won a narrow victory over incumbent Don McPherson to become the next mayor of Tumbler Ridge. Bertrand earned 32.8 per cent of the vote compared to McPherson’s 31.1 per cent, according to unofficial results posted by CivicInfo BC.
The district’s six council seats will be filled by incumbents Darryl Krakowka, Will Howe and Joanne Kirby, along with first-time candidates Chris Norbury, Bernie Lehmann and Curtis Miedzenski.
Below is the full list of candidates for mayor and council.
Candidates
Mayor:
Keith Bertrand
Garret Golhof
Don McPherson (incumbent)
Jerrilyn Schembri
Council:
Barry Blackman
Monty Hendrickson
Will Howe (incumbent)
Joanne Kirby (incumbent)
Darryl Krakowka (incumbent)
Stacey Lajeunesse
Bernie Lehmann
Curtis Miedzinski
Chris Norbury
Frank Wood
Boundary
Tumbler Ridge is located in B.C.’s Peace River region, about 100 kilometres from Chetwynd.
Population (2016)
1,987
History
The history of the region where Tumbler Ridge lies can be traced back to the Triassic period, home as it is to the first dinosaur bone beds in B.C.
Discoveries of trackways found in Tumbler Ridge helped to expand understanding of the Tyrannosaurus Rex as pack hunters.
Human settlement has been dated back approximately 5,000 years, and the first European to have arrived in the area was Alexander Mackenzie.
Other explorers would follow, and an attempt to build a road through the area to help farmers move their grain to market was later abandoned.
Tumbler Ridge would begin to develop as a community in earnest in the 1970s, following the discovery of coal deposits.
Starting in 1981, two mines would be built and so would a town and infrastructure such as a road, a transmission line and a rail line.
Tumbler Ridge endured hardship in the early 2000s with the closures of two mines.
Another mine, the Wolverine Mine, would open in 2005, followed by Peace River Coal’s Trend mine.
But they, too, would see further hardship in the mid-2010s, with slowing activity at both those mines.
Unemployment in Tumbler Ridge was estimated at 23 per cent in the 2016 Census.
Median after-tax income of households (2015)/B.C. median
$111,936/$111,736
Political representation
Federal
Bob Zimmer (Conservative)
Provincial
Mike Bernier (BC Liberal)
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