TUESDAYNOVEMBER 18, 2014
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SCIENCE OF A MATTRESS
ELECTION COVERAGE
Family business celebrates 14 years in Parksville
20-year-old Jacob Gair wins school board seat, RDN results
A9
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INSIDE MAD NESS SEE PAGES A35-A3
MUNICIPAL ELECTION RESULTS
9
Qualicum turnover
Mayor re-elected but two incumbents lose their seats JESSICA SKELTON
reporter@pqbnews.com
Teunis Westbroek remains the only person this century who can call himself mayor of Qualicum Beach. Westbroek won re-election Saturday with 2,901 votes, besting challenger Denyse Widdifield (1,597 votes). Westbroek was first elected in 1999, re-elected by acclamation in 2002 and won mayoral races in 2005, 2008 and 2011. The voter turnout was huge in this election — 62 per cent (4,542 votes cast with an estimated 7,307 eligible voters) “I’m impressed with the turnout,” Westbroek said Saturday night, adding that one of his top priorities will be to “unify the community.” The town council Westbroek leads for the next four years will have a different look, and political make-up, then it did the last three sometimes-tumultuous years at town hall. Anne Skipsey topped the polls for council with 3,032 votes, followed by Barry Avis (2,547 votes), Neil Horner (2,165 votes) and Bill Luchtmeijer (2,049 votes). Luchtmeijer was the only incumbent councillor to win re-election as incumbents Mary Brouilette (1,732 votes) and Dave Willie (1,585 votes) were defeated. “I think we will have a better chance at cohesiveness,” Westbroek said of the new council. “I want everyone to feel there’s a place for them. I want to thank councillors Mary Brouilette, Dave Willie and Scott Tanner for their three years of solid service. We had some opposing views, but I respect their opinions.” Widdifield was gracious in defeat. “I want to thank the people who voted for me,” Widdifield said through an e-mail on Sunday. “We campaigned very hard and, looking back, I have no regrets for letting my name stand.” See TWO ROOKIES, page A3
JOHN HARDING PHOTO
Parksville Mayor-elect Marc Lefebvre, centre, is flanked Saturday night by the two top vote-getters in the council election, Sue Powell, right, and Al Greir.
PARKSVILLE ELECTION RESULTS
It’s Lefebvre in a landslide
JOHN HARDING
editor@pqbnews.com
Marc Lefebvre is the new mayor of Parksville. Lefebvre, a city councillor since 2002, earned 1,983 votes in the municipal election Saturday. His closest competitor, fellow councillor Bill Neufeld, garnered 1,072 votes. When he kicked off his campaign in August, Lefebvre said “fiscal discipline” was going to be the main plank of his
platform and he stuck with that message throughout a campaign that was mild but dominated by the spectre of the city’s need for a new water plant. Lefebvre said Saturday night the water treatment plant, downtown revitalization and what the city should do with taxpayer-owned land at Jensen Avenue and the Alberni Highway will be front and centre issues early in the new council’s mandate. “I want to hit the ground running,”
said Lefebvre, who was endorsed by some local political heavyweights, including popular outgoing mayor Chris Burger, former mayors Sandy Herle and Randy Longmuir, and RDN chairman Joe Stanhope. Neufeld said he will stay active in the city. “I may not be on council anymore, but there are certainly things I can still do, and what all citizens can do, to make sure that this new council is held accountable,” he said.
See WATER WILL BE MAIN TOPIC, page A5
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