New reeves for RMs of La Broquerie, Hanover, Stuartburn, Ste Anne, Tache
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This article was published 27/10/2022 (969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Change swept through the Southeast on Wednesday, toppling heads of councils in several rural municipalities, making Steinbach, where all incumbents were returned to office, an exception to the rule.
La Broquerie’s new reeve, Ivan Normandeau, accepts a pint of beer from a supporter in Habs Bar on Wednesday night. Normandeau defeated two-term incumbent Lewis Weiss.
Normandeau unseats Weiss
Two-term councillor Ivan Normandeau became the RM of La Broquerie’s new reeve, defeating incumbent Lewis Weiss by a spread of 890 to 625.
The reeve’s race offered voters a choice between two experienced candidates who espoused opposite views on COVID-19 and vaccines.
A crowd of about 100 supporters cheered loudly as Normandeau walked into Habs Bar for a celebration party minutes after the results were finalized.
“I knew I was in tough with Lewis,” Normandeau said. “He’s got a lot of people he knows and a lot of people follow him, so I’m very happy with the results, and I can’t complain.”
Normandeau said the voters he met on the campaign trail were focused on meat and potatoes issues.
“We’ve got to focus on the roads and drainage, and keep our taxes as low as possible,” he said, “and in the rural areas, try to find a way to get some garbage pickup for everyone.”
Normandeau attributed his victory to his deep roots in La Broquerie and to his years of community involvement and board work.
He said voters weren’t interested in making the race a referendum on COVID-19 stances.
“Surprisingly enough, I didn’t hear a lot of that on the campaign trail, so I don’t think it had anything to do with that,” Normandeau said.
“I think it’s just people wanted a change, and it was a good time for a change.”
In La Broquerie’s Ward 1, Darrell Unger retained his seat, while incumbents Alvin Derksen and John Letkeman were voted out. They were replaced by Benno Friesen and Andy Loewen.
In Ward 2, incumbents Larry Tetrault and Paul Gauthier were returned to office, along with Fernand Piche, who previously served on council.
Outgoing RM of Hanover reeve Stan Toews congratulates incoming reeve Jim Funk on Wednesday evening. Funk, a former ward councillor for the Grunthal ward, beat out opponent Don Bouchard.
Funk grabs gavel
A new reeve and a few new councillors were elected in the RM of Hanover.
Jim Funk moved down the council table, trading his Grunthal ward seat for the reeve’s chair after a two-man race in the municipality.
Funk beat out Donald Bouchard, earning 1,949 votes to Bouchard’s 551.
“It feels good,” Funk said late Wednesday evening. “We’ve run a good campaign, I’ve had an absolute great team, and I could not imagine doing this on my own.”
Funk takes the reins from Stan Toews. Toews was elected to Hanover council in 1995 to represent the New Bothwell ward, serving as councillor for 16 years before narrowly winning a three-man race in 2006 to become reeve.
Elsewhere, candidate Ed Penner beat one-term incumbent John Giesbrecht in Ward 4 by a narrow margin of just 18 votes while Roberto Hiebert won the open race in Ward 3 left by Bob Brandt, who did not seek re-election. Hiebert beat out candidates Nathan Froese and Roger Harder with 191 votes.
Incumbent councillors Travis Doerksen (Ward 1), Brian Esau (Ward 2), and Darrin Warkentin (Ward 5) were acclaimed to another term, while Curtis Dawydiuk took Ward 6 by acclimation, a seat that Funk vacated to run for reeve.
Funk said with new faces on council, his first order of business will be discussing municipal priorities moving forward. A new deputy reeve will be chosen Thursday morning.
Michael Zwaagstra earned the most votes of any Steinbach city council candidate as voters endorsed the status-quo.
Status quo in Steinbach
There will be no new faces around the Steinbach city council table after the slate of incumbents were re-elected. Michael Zwaagstra repeated as the most popular candidate with 1,434 votes.
He was just ahead of Jac Siemens with 1,406, Susan Penner with 1,346, Bill Hiebert with 1,270, Jake Hiebert with 1,251 and Damian Penner at 1,137.
First-time Steinbach city council candidate Shawn Liska hands his completed ballot to an elections volunteer on Wednesday.
First time candidate Shawn Liska earned 882 votes.
Despite his strong showing, Zwaagstra described election night as “nerve-wracking”. “You never know until the votes are actually counted,” he said.
He wasn’t sure why he has consistently earned the most votes in the last two elections.
“That’s something voters decide,” he said. “I work hard, and I take my job seriously and I do my best to work together with the rest of council and I think we make a pretty good team.”
Zwaagstra added the fact all incumbents were re-elected reflects well on council.
“I think there’s been a lot of exciting things that have happened over the last four years and I think the results indicate that people are happy with the overall direction and want us to continue,” he said.
Voter turnout in Steinbach was 16.85 percent.
Pelletier sends Saindon packing
Richard Pelletier’s risky decision to abandon the mayor’s chair in the Town of Ste Anne and seek the reeve’s chair in the RM of Ste Anne paid off.
Pelletier garnered 373 votes to incumbent Paul Saindon’s 293. Newcomer Kyle Waczko was elected in Ward 2, the RM’s only other race.
In the neighbouring Town of Ste Anne, Krystyn Zaretski (229) lost out to Jason Einarson (328), Cornie Klassen (301), Lyle Davis (250), and Jeremy Wiens (239). Mayor Yvan St Vincent was acclaimed.
Poirier unseats Bohemier
In the RM of Tache, a two-term councillor has beat out the incumbent mayor, while two ward incumbents lost their seats to new names on the ballot.
Armand Poirier will take over as mayor after beating Justin Bohemier by just a few hundred votes. Poirier, who served Lorette for the last eight years, secured 1,442 votes to Bohemier’s 1,066 votes.
Ward 1 incumbent Jacques Trudeau lost his seat to Steven Bowker, Trudeau receiving 125 votes and Bowker securing 160 votes. Ward 5 incumbent Victor Black fell to candidate Marcel Manaigre, who squeaked past him with 159 votes to Black’s 148 votes.
Councillors George McGregor and Natasha Lapeire were acclaimed, while councillors Steve Stein won back one of two seats in Ward 4, joining new councillor Colleen Jolicoeur. In Ward 3, candidate Dawn Braden beat out rival candidate Andrea Clarke by a margin of 230 to 175.
Gawronsky edges out Kiansky
RM of Stuartburn voters chose former MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky (386) as their new reeve over incumbent David Kiansky (189). Dan Bodz will represent Ward 1, Dylan Gurman was elected in Ward 2, and Michael Paciorka was elected in Ward 3.
Turnover in De Salaberry
RM of De Salaberry council saw significant turnover. Johnny Lahaie will represent the Dufrost ward after besting incumbent Bruno Hebert. Diana Cline beat incumbent Louis Courcelles by a margin of 10 votes. Charlene Geiler, former chair of the Red River Valley School Division board of trustees, was elected in the Otterburne ward, defeating incumbent Gaby Tetrault.
Incumbents fall in Ritchot
In the RM of Ritchot, incumbents lost their seats in Ste Agathe and St Adolphe.
St Adolphe’s two-term incumbent Ron Mamchuk was bested by Jason Bodnarchuk. In Ste Agathe, Joel Lemoine beat out one-term incumbent Curtis Claydon.
New faces in Niverville
Two new faces will join council in Niverville, where seven people battled it out for four seats.
Bill Fast and Meghan Beasant bested incumbents John Funk and Kevin Stott, who only claimed 447 and 354 votes.
Fast and Beasant got 578 and 547 votes, respectively. The new councillors will join incumbents Nathan Dueck, who got the most votes at 742, and Chris Wiebe, who captured 547 votes.
Just a few will do
In many smaller municipalities, fewer than 75 votes were needed to secure a seat on council.
In Reynolds, all four ward incumbents—Curtis Buley, Michael Huzel, Kim Zalitach, and Harriet Yarmill—won their respective races. Trudy Turchyn was not elected after seeking a ward seat instead of another term as reeve.
In Emerson-Franklin, Ward 1’s Todd Nichols beat out Kim French, while in Ward 2, Brian Grier came out ahead of Ron Mihaychuk.
The lone race in the RM of Piney, for Ward 3, saw David Beaudry elected over Jacob Dyck.
In the RM of Whitemouth, Walter Amerongen was returned as reeve by a wide margin over challenger Paul Baskerville.
No elections were held in the RM of Montcalm and Village of St Pierre, where whole councils were acclaimed.
A total of 1,380 municipal candidates ran across Manitoba, a drop of 10 percent from 2018, according to the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. Women accounted for 21 percent of candidates, up from 19 percent four years ago.
At press time, results were not available for the RM of Springfield.