Regina Leader-Post

Saskatoon mayor’s race remains tight

- PHIL TANK With files from Alex MacPherson ptank@postmedia.com twitter.com/thinktankS­K

Saskatoon’s three main mayoral candidates are focused on translatin­g their support into votes after the campaign’s final poll suggested a major shift in the race.

The Mainstreet Research/Postmedia Network Inc. poll of 799 Saskatoon residents showed Don Atchison and Charlie Clark in a statistica­l tie with 32 per cent and 28 per cent respective­ly. Kelley Moore dropped to third place with 20 per cent in the telephone poll, which was conducted on Sunday.

Clark and Moore have essentiall­y swapped places from a poll taken on Oct. 18.

Moore maintained on Monday that she is the candidate representi­ng change after 13 years of Atchison in the mayor’s chair and 10 years of Clark as a city councillor.

“The incumbents are struggling with the fact that people want change and they’ll do whatever it takes, desperatel­y, to keep the status quo,” Moore told reporters at a news conference at her campaign office.

“And I challenge the people of Saskatoon to see through that.”

Sunday’s poll included both land lines and cellphones and is considered accurate within 3.47 per cent 19 out of 20 times. The fourth mayoral candidate, Devon Hein, registered three per cent; 17 per cent of respondent­s said they were undecided.

Moore repeated several of her campaign themes for reporters, such as the need for greater transparen­cy and financial accountabi­lity at city hall.

She deflected questions on the poll results, pointing to a recent online panel survey that suggested different levels of support for the three main candidates. She called the Mainstreet poll “questionab­le.”

“If you are looking for change, then I am your candidate,” she said.

Clark agreed people want change, but framed the election as a showdown between Atchison and himself. He invited soft supporters of Moore to vote for him.

Clark said he saw the poll results as a validation of what he and his campaign volunteers have been hearing on the doorsteps. He said his consistenc­y throughout the election has paid off, repeating a criticism of contradict­ions in Moore’s campaign.

“The polls have been good for me and they’ve been bad for me,” Clark said.

“Right now what we’re focused on is we’ve got the best ground game I think the city will have ever seen. We’ve got hundreds of volunteers getting ready to come out on election day and get people out to vote. I’m looking forward to seeing higher voter turnout than we have in the past.”

Clark repeated his assertion that if future growth is more balanced, Saskatoon can be a more affordable city.

Atchison continued to focus his message on his record of leadership and economic growth.

“We’re just going to keep knocking (on) doors and talking to people and making sure that people understand that what we’re about is strong leadership — and we want to make sure that there’s lots of jobs out there,” Atchison said.

Atchison acknowledg­ed some of the criticisms about his leadership style that surfaced during the campaign,

“Often times I’ve been criticized, for example, that I don’t duke it out with the federal government or the provincial government,” Atchison said.

“My question to you is: What does that truly accomplish in the end? I thought it was all about building good relationsh­ips, having a community that’s united, wanting to make sure that we all go in the same direction.”

Hein questioned the poll results on social media.

Catherine Folkersen, the City of Saskatoon’s first independen­t returning officer, said Monday that 14,772 Saskatoon residents voted in the advance polls, an increase of about 50 per cent over 2012.

The advance polls closed on Saturday.

“I think this is the third election in a year and people are used to advance polls,” Folkersen said.

She noted there were fewer advance polling days this year than in 2012.

Only two days were scheduled at the University of Saskatchew­an, compared to five days in 2012, which were poorly attended. However, Folkersen said the same number of people at the U of S voted this year compared to 2012, despite having three fewer days to do it.

More than 3,700 voted at the advance polling station at Market Mall, she said.

If the election follows similar patterns to 2012, Folkersen said she expects 75,000 to 80,000 people will vote on Wednesday.

In 2012, 66,497 of 180,411 eligible voters cast a ballot, for a turnout of 36.9 per cent. In 2009, 46,511 of 170,272 eligible voters cast a ballot for a turnout of 27.32 per cent.

About 700 temporary workers were hired for this election.

 ??  ?? Kelley Moore
Kelley Moore
 ??  ?? Charlie Clark
Charlie Clark
 ??  ?? Don Atchison
Don Atchison

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