By paNOW Staff

‘I’ve got a clear mandate:’ Dionne looks to the next four years

Oct 26, 2016 | 10:31 PM

Greg Dionne might have bested his nearest opponent, Martin Ring by nearly 1,700 votes but the re-elected mayor found his win a “humbling” experience.   

“I have to thank the people of Prince Albert for putting their trust in me again. I’m more excited about the second term than I was about the first one,” he said after the results were confirmed. 

As for his goals for the next four years, Dionne believes the residents of Prince Albert have spoken. 

“I ran on the number one thing people wanted to see… a new hospital. That’s loud and clear so I’ll be on to the health board and the government [to say] ‘let’s get going.’ I’ve got a clear mandate to move ahead with that,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ring said he will be “taking a break” after his unsuccessful bid for mayor.

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“Obviously I’m a little bit disappointed. Nonetheless it looks like I’m going to finish second behind Mr. Dionne and he is the incumbent,” he said.

“As soon as there were four players in the race we knew that it was going to be a tough task.”

Ring gave Dionne “full marks” for his campaign performance, and said he would be calling the newly re-elected mayor to offer his congratulations. In his concession speech Ring stressed the importance of holding Dionne accountable to his campaign promises, but told paNOW he was glad Dionne won over Josh Morrow.

“We had a candidate that threw a lot of crap out at us, and I took the high road as much as I could,” Ring said of Morrow. “He had it out for me at some points. I don’t know if I was a threat at that point, but he certainly alienated a pretty sizable demographic in our city.”

Dionne was re-elected with 4,450 votes, followed by Ring’s 2,774. Morrow and Conrad Burns finished back with 1,562 and 1,447 votes, respectively.

While Dionne may have won his seat handily, only three of his eight councillors will be returning to chambers.

Charlene Miller retained Ward 1 with 596 votes. Rick Orr was overtaken by Terra Lennox-Zepp in Ward 2. The newcomer won the ward with 639 votes.

Evert Botha won Ward 3 with 583 votes, knocking out Lee Atkinson who held the seat for over a decade. Botha won by the smallest margin in any ward race, beating Atkinson by 45 votes. Don Cody held on to Ward 4 with 682 votes, while Dennis Ogrodnick trounced Ward 5’s incumbent councillor Tim Scharkowski by almost 500 votes. The new councillor merited 794 votes.

Blake Edwards won Ward 6, Ring’s old ward, with 868 votes. Ward 7, left empty after Mark Tweidt vacated his seat earlier this year, was won by Dennis Nowoselsky with 532 votes. Ted Zurakowski’s fate was decided before tonight, as he was acclaimed in Ward 8.

Outside Prince Albert, Rick Lang was re-elected as Melfort’s mayor. Denis Daughton was also re-elected in Christopher Lake.

Gordon Stomp was elected mayor of Air Ronge, and Rennie Harper wins the mayor’s seat in Nipawin with 1,099 votes. In Meath Park Michael Hydamycka wins the mayor’s race with 57 votes, beating opponents Lyle Forrest and Kristal Wood by the slimmest of margins with 55 votes each. 

Marc Caron was acclamation as mayor in St. Louis, replacing retiring mayor Les Rancourt. Lloyd McDougall and Derek Jenny retained their council seats, while newcomers Joan Boyer and Pauline Doucet makeup the remaining spots.

In the R.M. of Prince Albert, Paul Rybka takes over as reeve after Norma Sheldon declined to run again. Wayne Acorn won the Division 5 council seat with 91 votes. Lance Fehr was elected as reeve in the R.M. of Paddockwood, while Garry Sumlic and Tom McKnight won Divisions 1 and 5, respectively.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated regularly with names of those elected in several communities.
 

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow