Vote brings sweeping change to Region
The winds of change have swept through the regional council chamber.
Newcomers will fill seats all around the council horseshoe after Monday’s municipal elections.
Tops on the list of missing faces is Regional Chair Alan Caslin, who finished 19th out of 23 on the ballot in St. Catharines. He received just 1,941 votes.
Sandy Annunziata was upset in Fort Erie by newcomer Tom Insinna with 3,783 votes to 3,497.
Insinna, a retired RCMP officer who grew up in Crystal Beach, spent the evening watching the results flip back and forth. He was considered a long-shot at best to defeat Annunziata, who held the high-profile post as chair of the embattled Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.
“We tried to get to as many doors we could,” he said. “We walked three or four hours a day. I had a supportive team behind me. It worked.”
The new term of regional council will start officially Dec. 1 with the inauguration on Dec. 6 and the first meeting Dec. 13.
Selina Volpatti finished fourth in Niagara Falls, 782 votes behind Bob Gale, who took the third and final seat with 7,211.
Peter Nicholson and Barbara Greenwood will fill the seats of Bart Maves, who didn’t run, and Selina Volpatti. Nicholson, the son of MP Rob Nicholson, was the top vote-getter with 9,674.
Incumbent Tony Quirk lost in Grimsby to Wayne Fertich, 5,060 to 3,566.
Bruce Timms, a veteran regional councillor from St. Catharines, who often finished first or second in voting, came in ninth with 5,851 votes.
“I’m disappointed in the result, but I’m satisfied with what I was able to accomplish in 27 years, and I was glad to be of service to the municipality in that time,” he said. “What we did right in the last term will stand the test of time.”
Two other St. Catharines incumbents, Kelly Edgar and Debbie MacGregor, weren’t returned nor was another veteran, George Marshall — the Region’s longestserving councillor — in Welland.
Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn lost his bid for a regional seat, finishing third in the town’s regional councillor race, with 1,694 votes. Brian Baty had 2,283.
Diane Huson won with 2,817 votes. Of a record number of 22 names on the ballot in St. Catharines with only two incumbents are returning, Tim Rigby and Brian Heit.
Jim Bradley, the city’s longtime Liberal MPP, lost provincially in June but was the top vote-getter regionally in St. Catharines with 18,895 votes for more than 14 percent of the vote. He will be joined by newcomers Laura Ip, George Darte and Sandie Bellows.
In Thorold, Tim Whalen knocked off Ted Luciani, who’s mayor seat was eyed by regional councillor Henry D’Angela, who also lost.
Gary Zalepa Jr. won the race in Niagara-on-the-Lake as did current city councillor Barbara Butters in Port Colborne.
Welland’s regional councillors will be current city councillor Pat Chiocchio and incumbent Paul Grenier, while in Lincoln Robert Foster defeated John Kralt for Bill Hodgson’s seat. Results from West Lincoln weren’t available at press time.