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UPDATE: Change amongst newly elected leaders of North's municipal councils

New mayors in Timmins and Thunder Bay, incumbents re-elected in North Bay, Sault, Sudbury
2018-10-22 George Pirie Wins MH
George Pirie, the new mayor-elect in Timmins, speaks to his supporters Monday evening. (Maija Hoggett/TimminsToday)

Residents of Northern Ontario's five major communities learned the results of their municipal elections on Oct. 22 and 23.

Incumbent Christian Provenzano was re-elected for a second term in Sault Ste. Marie, beating out closest rival Rory Ring, the CEO of the Sault Chamber of Commerce.

Both Provenzano and Ring appeared conciliatory Oct. 22, after a campaign in which Ring's war room relentlessly attacked both the mayor and journalists who challenged his often-contested facts or didn't promptly publish Ring's every public pronouncement.

Provenzano, who said this will be his last term as the Sault's mayor, told SooToday.ca he doesn't bear any animosity toward Ring.

In North Bay, Al McDonald won his third term as the city's mayor, but also said this will be his last. 

His closest challenger was Gary Gardiner, who actually arrived at city hall to congratulate McDonald, where the two shook hands after a hard-fought campaign, reports BayToday.ca.

Bill Mauro, a former Liberal cabinet minister under Kathleen Wynne's government who lost his seat in June's election, was elected mayor of Thunder Bay last night.

He prevailed in the crowded race to edge out sitting councillors Iain Angus and Frank Pullia, and retired journalist Shane Judge. 

Mauro will replace the city's embattled outgoing mayor Keith Hobbs, who has been Thunder Bay’s top municipal elected official since 2010, and has been facing some legal problems.

“I understand how much assistance has come to the city over my 15 years as an MPP so we’ll continue to try and see that as much of that kind of assistance still flows to the city of Thunder Bay to provide relief for our taxpayers,” Mauro told TBNewswatch.com.

In Timmins, there will be a new leader at the council table, as incumbent mayor Steve Black was defeated by former mining executive George Pirie in the mayoral race.

“It’s a tremendous endorsement of what I talked about during the campaign,” Pirie told TimminsToday.ca.

In Sudbury, as in several other municipalities across the province, a technical glitch crashed the electronic voting website, leaving thousands without the opportunity to cast a ballot and delaying results in that city. Voting has been extended to residents until 8 p.m. tonight on Oct. 23.

After the ballots were counted, incumbent Brian Bigger was returned for a second four-year term, earning 28.32 per cent of the vote. He's the first mayor since the city's amalgamation in 2001 to serve consecutive terms.