Northern Ont. community votes to replace mayor, council

The northern Ontario town of Black River-Matheson has a new mayor and council after a byelection Monday mandated by the province. 

Polls were open until 8 p.m. Monday and town officials said results should be known shortly thereafter as constituents are casting their ballots via telephone and the internet.

A total of 26 candidates were running in the byelection with only a couple of incumbents seeking re-election.

In total, seven candidates competed for the mayor’s seat.

They include Chris Riach, Dave Dyment, Linda Mercier, Albert Royer, John Mackenzie, Paul Fortin and Murray Horan.

With 728 votes, former town councillor Dyment will become the new mayor.

Black-River Matheson has six wards and there is a race in each one of them.

The only other person from the former council to return is Coun. Louise Gadoury.

• Bree Allen elected to Ward 1 with 81 votes
• Dan Charbonneau elected to Ward 2 with 87 votes
• Steve Campsall elected to Ward 3 with 333 votes, the most in any ward
• Scott McCutcheon elected to Ward 4 with 36 votes, two more than Dan DeMarchi, who resigned three months after he was acclaimed for his second term in 2022
• Gadoury elected to Ward 5 2with 77 votes
• Alain Bouchard elected to Ward 6 with 106 votes

The province dissolved the former council earlier this year when it refused to meet for more than 60 days.

Some of the issues that plagued the former council included a lockout of the town’s public works employees, court battles and a revolt by half of council.

In the 2022 municipal election, the mayor and all wards except for one were acclaimed.

Advance polls closed Sunday and voting resumed Monday morning at 10 a.m.

• Download our app to get local alerts on your device
• Get the latest local updates right to your inbox