Incumbent Aaron Stone has been acclaimed mayor of Ladysmith after no challengers came forward. This will be Stone’s second term.
In the race for council, Duck (Donald) Paterson is the only incumbent to win another term, according to unofficial results posted by CivicInfo BC. The rest of the slate will be filled out by Tricia McKay, Jeff Vertanen, Marsh Stevens, Amanda Jacobson and Robert Johnson, who previously served on council between 2002 and 2008.
Below is the full list of the candidates for mayor and council.
Candidates
Mayor
Aaron Stone (incumbent)
Council
Steve Arnett (incumbent)
Joe Friesenhan (incumbent)
Amanda Jacobson
Robert G Johnson
Tricia McKay
Duck (Donald) Paterson (Donald) (incumbent)
Malcolm Stanfred Sacht
Marsh Stevens
Jeff Virtanen
Boundary
Ladysmith is located on the southeast side of Vancouver Island, about 22 kilometres from Nanaimo and across the water from Thetis Island.
Population (2016)
8,537
History
First, Coast Salish peoples lived in the Ladysmith area.
Then came the miners.
Coal was discovered in the Wellington area and James Dunsmuir though Ladysmith Harbour would make a great port for shipping the material.
Miners settled near the harbour and travelled to work on the train.
Ladysmith was named to honour a Boer War battlesite in South Africa.
A mine explosion killed 32 men in 1909.
A miners’ strike followed in 1913, and the military crushed it.
As coal supplies were exhausted, logging became the main industry in Ladysmith.
Then it was oyster farming, which started up in the Great Depression.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$115,712/$111,736
Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016
RCMP – municipal/B.C.
54.25 (-37.53)/93.63 (-0.71)
RCMP – rural/B.C.
80.53 (-5.39)/93.63 (-0.71)
Violent Crime Severity Index (CSI) — 2016
RCMP – municipal
40.74 (-27.89)/74.86 (-9.81)
RCMP – rural
103.24 (-21.56)/74.86 (-9.81)
Political representation
Federal
Sheila Malcolmson (NDP)
Provincial
Doug Routley (BC NDP)