Ushering in new era in capital

Philip Brown says affordable housing and infrastructure will be two of his big priorities

Philip Brown is ushering in a new era in Charlottetown.

Having lost to current incumbent Mayor Clifford Lee in the previous two municipal elections, Brown walked away from Monday night’s municipal election with a win by a margin of over 900 votes. In the final tally, Brown had garnered 6,136 votes.

The former city councillor and retired educator edged out four other candidates – Cecil Villard, Kim Devine, Jamie Larkin and William MacFadden – for the post. In his victory speech at his campaign headquarters, Brown talked about his plans to re-invest in affordable housing and city infrastructure, two issues that had been the touchstone of his campaign. “We’re going to be working on affordable housing, the CADC and cleaning up the rivers,” Brown said.

“It’s quite obvious the issue we want to deal with first. It’s affordable housing.” Brown said he sees his role as a mediator working closely with federal and provincial authorities – being the “grease on the wheels”¬ as he put it – to address pollution in the Charlottetown harbour and the city’s housing issues.

Brown had previously served two terms as a city councillor in Charlottetown from 2001 to 2006. He ran unsuccessfully against Mayor Clifford Lee in 2010 and in 2014. Lee, who is stepping down from the post in order to work as the province’s special adviserr on affordable housing, won both contests handily.

Devine summed things up quite succinctly when asked what the difference was.

“More people voted for Philip,’’ Devine said, referring to Charlottetown mayor elect Philip Brown.

While the race was relatively tight most of the night Monday night — Brown led by Devine by fewer than 300 votes most of the evening — Brown never lost momentum en route to the mayor’s chair.

“You’re either going to win or lose,’’ Devine said. “It’s one or the other.’’