On Monday night, Neil Ellis won the mayoral race in Belleville, Ont., by an astounding 3,500 votes over incumbent Mitch Panciuk.
Ellis, who served as Belleville’s mayor from 2006 to 2015, thinks the city wanted change.
“People seemed to want change. I haven’t had a total chance to look at all of council but it seems that there’s about three new councillors come aboard too, so,” said Ellis.
On the campaign trail, Panciuk relied on the successes he’s had as mayor for the past four years, namely major infrastructure investments and guiding the city through the tough pandemic years.
On the other side, Ellis said that things like housing and doctor recruitment and retention were under control at the end of his last mayoral term, and have since slipped under the radar of current administration.
Some of these, he said, are among his immediate priorities when he enters office.
“It’s about housing, it’s about infrastructure, wastewater plant, and it’s about doctor recruitment, so, those are the three top issues,” he added.
The defeat was a surprising one for Panciuk, who felt his reception on the campaign trail was very strong as he went door to door.
Panciuk only managed 36 per cent of the vote while 39.6 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.
“The reception was good. I told people that it was hard to go around canvassing because as we went around, people wanted to engage, they wanted to talk,” he said during his concession speech.
Panciuk congratulated mayor-elect Ellis in his concession speech and in a statement released on Wednesday.
In Quinte west, Mayor Jim Harrison retained his seat with 54 per cent of the vote ahead of former Coun. Karen Sharpe.
“This feels great, I’ve got a good council, a good group of people. I think we’ll take a look at our strategic plan and look at the services we provide,” he said.
Harrison, who has been involved in Quinte West municipal politics since 1994, said that he’s excited for what the next four years hold, and already has in mind some issues they’d like to attack, including voting means.
“The unfortunate part, I think, is that our process for voting hampered the number of people who voted. We’ve got to look at that carefully,” said Harrison.
For now, existing councils will wind down their last few meetings, after which the new term will begin with new faces and old to lead their municipalities.
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