At long last, we finally have a definitive list of everyone running for HRM Regional Council. Yesterday was the final deadline to submit an application, and with no names dropping out today the municipality has its finalized ballot the October 15th election. Here’s how the 17 districts break down.
Mayor
Though cab driver Paul Boyd flirted with the idea, now that the dust has settled it’s only environmental advocate and downtown business owner Lil MacPherson whose name is on the ballot to challenge Mike Savage. The latest poll numbers show a commanding lead for the incumbent mayor, possibly because of media-friendly stunts like launching his re-election campaign aboard Theodore Tugboat.
District 1: Waverley—Fall River—Musquodoboit Valley
One of four open races this election (thanks to the retiring Barry Dalrymple). Former ousted councillor Steve Streatch returns for another shot at District 1 after having lost to Dalrymple in 2012. He’s joined by real estate agent Alison McNair, of the unfortunately named One Percent Realty, and horse doctor Trevor Lawson. Also in the race is Canada Post officer Steve Sinnott, Dartmouth Adult Service Centre executive director Cathy Deagle-Gammon and social media abstainer Colin Castle (who is promising to knock every door in the sprawling district).
District 2: Preston—Chezzetcook—Eastern Shore
Documentary filmmaker and African Nova Scotian Music Association board member Shelley Fashan is looking to unseat incumbent David Hendsbee, as are Lake Echo bus driver Gail McQuarrie (who lost to Hendsbee in 2012) and newcomer Sydnee L. McKay.
District 3: Dartmouth South—Eastern Passage
With no one to run against him, Bill Karsten wins another four-year term by acclamation.
District 4: Cole Harbour—Westphal
Ditto for Lorelei Nicoll, as the noted Sidney Crosby appreciator becomes the second of four acclaimed councillors
District 5: Dartmouth Centre
Eight names are fighting to be crowned the next ruler of Dartmouth. Tim Rissesco was hand-in-hand with outgoing councillor Gloria McCluskey last spring to stop the closure of the King Street fire station, and heads up the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission. But he faces stiff competition from urban planner Sam Austin and journalist (slash Coast theatre critic) Kate Watson, both of whom ran last election and are no strangers to City Hall. Rounding out the stacked ballot is Solidarity candidate Gabriel Enxuga, luthier Ned Milburn, navy veteran Derek Vallis, Health Authority porter Adam Bowes [Ed: Bowes has suspended his campaign, as of October 4] and Dartmouth insurgent Warren Wesson.
District 6: Harbourview—Burnside—Dartmouth East
Incumbent Tony Mancini only won his seat at council eight months ago in a by-election to replace Darren Fisher. Somewhat surprisingly, none of the other candidates from that race have returned to try again. Instead it’s CeaseFire outreach worker Carlos Beals, whose campaign is focused towards the many lower-income families living in North Dartmouth.
District 7: Halifax South Downtown
Political newbie Dominick Desjardins may be the wild card in the District 7 battle between incumbent Waye Mason and Sue Uteck, the former councillor that Mason narrowly defeated in the last election. Desjardins could siphon off enough votes from either candidate to make a difference on election day. Or he might wind up winning it all himself. Who knows.
District 8: Halifax Peninsula North
Three names snuck in under the wire this week in the crowded battle for north end Halifax. Regular election applicant Irvine Carvery announced on Monday, followed several hours later by former councillor Patrick Murphy, and the next day by Hydrostone resident Martin Farrell. All three will have to campaign hard to catch up to frontrunners Brenden Sommerhalder and Lindell Smith. Also on the ballot are former school board representative Chris Poole and artist Anthony Kawalski.
District 9: Halifax West Armdale
Is incumbent Linda Mosher worried about challenger Shawn Cleary’s chances? Mosher snatched up the shawncleary.ca and .com domain names before the Mount Saint Vincent University professor could buy them for himself. She only released the domains once the news broke publicly, and blamed the decision on a campaign advisor. As far as we know, no one has tried to buy Kyle Woodbury’s domain names, which might not be a good sign for the other District 9 challenger.
District 10: Halifax—Bedford Basin West
If he wins in October, incumbent Russell Walker will mark a quarter of a century representing Fairview, Clayton Park, Rockingham and all the other Bedford Basin West communities at City Hall. In the way of that milestone is Halifax Public Libraries employee and former NSUPE local vice president Andrew Curran, and Mohammed Ehsan (whom we don't have a lot of information about at the moment).
District 11: Spryfield—Sambro Loop—Prospect Road
Stephen Adams is also no novice when it comes to council, having been first elected way back in 1991. This election he’ll face off against personal care worker Dawn E. Penney, who calls herself District 11’s “environmentally friendly candidate” on Facebook.
District 12: Timberlea—Beechville—Clayton Park—Wedgewood
Reg Rankin’s old seat is the last of the four open council races this election. It’s being contested by former Canadian Forces member Scott Guthrie (who also served on the Otter Lake landfill’s monitoring committee), advanced care paramedic John Bignell (who’s also a member of the St. Margaret’s Bay water quality committee), former Liberal MLA Bruce Holland (who’s also a community newspaper publisher) and meteorologist Richard Zurawski (who also has a talk show on News 95.7). Rounding out the ballot are Department of Justice administrative assistant Iona Stoddard and 2012 council candidate Bruce E. Smith.
District 13: Hammonds Plains—St. Margarets
Deputy mayor Matt Whitman is in a three-Segway race to represent District 13. He’ll face off against his rival Pamela Lovelace and Lewis Lake resident Harry Ward. The former is a communications officer, and the latter a home renovator. Both have strong volunteer experience, which will be needed to reverse-network Whitman from his throne.
District 14: Middle/Upper Sackville—Beaver Bank—Lucasville
North West Planning Advisory Committee member Kevin Copley looks to put his community design degree from Dalhousie to good use in his efforts to unseat incumbent Brad Johns in District 14. He’s joined in that goal by fellow candidate and journalist Lisa Blackburn, who’s spent over two decades as a radio broadcaster.
District 15: Lower Sackville
It looked like car lot general manager George MacPherson was going to take run for office (how very Sackvillian), but no dice. Steve Craig wins another four-year term by acclamation.
District 16: Bedford—Wentworth
Our breakdown ends with not a bang, but a whimper. Tim Outhit wins by acclamation and gets another four years to play with trains and do his best Jim Halpert impression.
Below we’ve embedded our full candidate breakdowns, including links to official websites and social media accounts (that we could find), plus the HRM school board nominees.
The municipality has a lot of this info in its official candidate list, but ours has some accounts not mentioned there and also is in colour, so we thought we'd include it. As our website is narrow and your browser is probably wide, we’ve formatted this to look best if you open it in a new tab. Please do so by clicking here. Alternatively, just scroll back and forth below. Your call. We’ll update the Google document with any new info and pics we get for the candidates as the next 32 days of election coverage continue.
