Charlie Clark is back for a second term as Saskatoon’s mayor.
With all 77 polls reporting, Clark had a 12,000 vote lead over Rob Norris in the municipal election.
“I’m very honoured to be standing here today with a mandate for another four years,” Clark said at his campaign office.
“Now, I’m really ready to get back to work.”
Norris, a former Saskatchewan Party cabinet minister, conceded.
“The people of Saskatoon have spoken clearly. And the people are right to move in the direction that they have selected,” Norris said.
“That’s the democratic process.”
Don Atchison, Saskatoon’s longest-serving mayor, was in third place.
“The vote isn’t completed yet, it would take a small miracle for us to get to the end,” Atchison said.
Vote-splitting between Norris and Atchison may have played a factor in the election.
“Both Rob Norris and Don Atchison are viewed as right of centre candidates and Charlie is viewed as a left of centre candidate,” said former city councillor Tiffany Paulsen.
She said Clark would have known vote-splitting would happen.
“I think another reason why his campaign took such a fairly low level, no big commitments, no wild swings, because he knew that split was going to happen.”
Clark ran on a platform of being fiscally prudent and reducing property taxes, in part through efficient city growth.
He is in favour of the new downtown library proceeding as approved by the previous city council, as well as going forward with the bus rapid transit system.
Clark said one of his first priorities is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re going through one of the most difficult times any of us can remember in our city,” Clark said, adding that he plans to meet with leaders in the community to ensure everything is being done to flatten the curve.
“There’s a lot of worry and concern and we need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to try to find that balance between getting the right restrictions and practices… while also keeping people working and looking after our mental health.
Cary Tarasoff, Zubair Shiekh and Mark Zielke also received votes for mayor.
The election was scheduled for Nov. 6, but was postponed with 90 minutes of voting left due to a winter storm that left streets in the city clogged with snow.
A Saskatchewan government ministerial order issued on Monday allowed municipalities to postpone their elections due to the weather.
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