Knut Bjorndal has narrowly defeated incumbent Dave MacDonald to become the next mayor of Port Edward. Bjorndal earned 113 votes compared to 103 votes for MacDonald, according to unofficial results posted by CivicInfo BC.
All but one of the incumbent councillors running for another term were re-elected, with Grant Moore losing his seat to Murray Kristoff, who previously served on council for 18 years before taking a break in 2014. Kristoff will join James Brown, Dan Franzen and Christine MacKenzie.
Below is the full list of the candidates for mayor and council.
Candidates
Mayor:
Knut Bjorndal
Doug Larsen
Dave MacDonald (incumbent)
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Council:
James Brown (incumbent)
Dan Franzen (incumbent)
Murray Kristoff
Christine MacKenzie (incumbent)
Grant Moore (incumbent)
Boundary
Port Edward is located on B.C.’s North Coast, about 22 kilometres from Prince Rupert.
Population (2016)
467
History
Port Edward was set out as a townsite in 1908 as the Grand Trunk Railway looked to expand to B.C.’s North Coast.
Parcels of land were bought up but development of the community stalled when Grand Trunk Railway president Charles Hays decided to move it to Kaien Island, which would later become known as Prince Rupert.
Fishing would become an industry in Port Edward after 1909, becoming the region’s biggest fish processing area.
Port Edward would later be used as a Second World War military base.
Port Edward is named for King Edward VII. It was incorporated in 1966.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$118,528/$111,736
Political representation
Federal
Nathan Cullen (NDP)
Provincial
Jennifer Rice (BC NDP)