Huson proud to defeat ‘heavy-hitters’ for Region seat
Pelham newcomer had to overcome lack of name recognition
Diana Huson was confident in her bid to represent Pelham on regional council, even though she lacked the name recognition that went with two of her two competitors.
The 41-year-old Brock University administrator won the contest Monday against three opponents, including the current mayor, Dave Augustyn, and veteran regional councillor Brian Baty, who was seeking a fifth consecutive term.
Also entered in Pelham’s regional councillor race was Jim Hagar.
“I was really up against two heavy-hitters,” she said Tuesday, explaining that she switched to her married name two months before registering, dropping her maiden name, Panter.
“Even people who knew me weren’t completely aware I was running,” said the regional councillor-elect, who also feels being last in alphabetical order on the ballot can be an impediment.
But she certainly isn’t selling herself short.
“I do have some great credentials that make me a qualified candidate,” said Huson, the holder of degrees in marketing and political science, a longtime committee member with the United Way, as well as being on Pelham’s economic development working group.
She ran a “positive campaign” and is the first female candidate to have ever entered Pelham’s regional councillor race. She is now one of eight women who will sit on regional council in the upcoming term, alongside Leanna Villella (Welland), Barbara Butters (Port Colborne), Barbara Greenwood (Niagara Falls), Sandie Bellows (St. Catharines), Laura Ip (St. Catharines) and Sandra Easton (mayor of Lincoln).
There are four women on the out-going roster of regional council.
Although Huson is proud to be a part of this recently-elected group, her campaign didn’t focus on gender.
“It’s never been about voting for me because I’m a woman,” she said.
With a sweeping change across every contest in Pelham that results in six new ward councillors and mayor, as well as public school board trustee, Huson said it appears voters wanted a fresh slate.
“They certainly got what they were looking for,” she said.
Councillor expense issues at the Region will be one of her first orders of business, starting with how to be more responsible with taxpayers’ money.
“I’d love to champion something like that right out of the gate.”
Augustyn, mayor since 2006, said he is grateful of everyone who has been supportive of him over the years and during the most recent campaign, but attributes Monday’s results to two things.
A push by a group of residents, including mayor-elect Marvin Junkin, to slam decisions made by the current council, is one of them.
“It was a concerted effort from folks saying they haven’t been pleased with how council has been operating, and they’ve been very vocal,” said Augustyn, noting heavy criticism for the past couple of years.
“We’ve been trying to deal with that and I guess we didn’t get all the information across to the electorate,” he said.
Augustyn also said the many changes coming across Niagara at the regional and municipal levels are signs that people had a “distrust of the establishment” and were eager to see new faces elected, largely helped by thirdparty groups such as A Better Niagara, which endorsed many candidates in all 12 municipalities.
He looks forward to helping the new town council transition into office before exploring other career options.
Baty, first elected in 2003, when the position was created for the town, could not be reached for this story.
Huson received 2,817 votes, Baty had 2,283, Augustyn had 1,694 and Hagar had 287.