Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 58 • Issue 49
Thompson voters heading to the ballot box again for byelection to fill eighth council seat after judicial recount confirms a tie vote BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
POLICE SEEK GAS STATION ROBBERS NEWS PAGE 2
BURNTWOOD GETTING NEW INTERCOM NEWS PAGE 3
A byelection will be held to fill the eighth seat on Thompson’s city council after a judicial recount confirmed that candidates Andre Proulx and Chiew Chong tied with 1,008 votes each. An election day rejection of one ballot was overturned prior to the recount but another ballot that had been accepted in the original tally was rejected, the City of Thompson said in a Nov. 30 press release. “The judicial recount that was triggered by a tie vote for the eighth council seat during Thompson’s 2018 municipal election is complete, and the tie vote has been upheld,” said the press release, issued around 6:30 p.m. “A local byelection for the eighth council seat will be called in the coming weeks, once preparations are in place.” Any qualified candidate – a Canadian citizen at least 18 years old who has been a Thompson resident or owned property in the city for at least six months as of the election date – could run for that vacant council seat, not just Proulx or Chong. The application for a provincial court judge to review the rejection of the ballot, which had two marks in the mayoral portion – one of them a solid marking indicating a vote for one of the candidates and the other an
Thompson Citizen file photo A judicial recount has confirmed that candidates Andre Proulx and Chiew Chong tied for the eighth and final council seat in the Oct. 24 municipal election so a byelection must be held to fill the vacant spot. “ambiguous” mark – and conduct a recount, was filed around noon Nov. 7, senior election official Dave Turpie said. The two marks in the mayoral section of the ballot resulted in it being rejected by the machine that tabulates votes. There were also eight properly marked votes for councillors and seven for school trustees, Turpie previously told the Thompson Citizen. Both Andre Proulx and Chiew
Chong – the council candidates who finished tied for the eighth spot on council with 1,008 votes – objected to the ballot rejection, the City of Thompson said in an Oct. 26 press release, which meant that Turpie had to apply for a judicial recount under the Municipal Councils and School Boards Elections Act. The Municipal Councils and School Boards Elections Act says that if two or more candidates for
the same office can not be declared elected because each has received the same number of votes, the senior election official must declare the office vacant and hold a byelection to fill it, except when a judicial recount is applied for. The senior election official must apply for a judicial recount if a tie has been declared and any objection was made to a decision by an election official to accept or reject a ballot.
Hosting 2018 Manitoba Games had million-dollar impact on Thompson economy, Sport Manitoba says VOLUNTEERS HELP OUT HURRICANE SURVIVORS NEWS PAGE 5
WOLVES EDGE CAPITALS TWICE AT HOME SPORTS PAGE 7
Sport Manitoba said Dec. 3 that the 2018 Manitoba Games in Thompson last March generated an economic impact of $1.1 million in the city. An additional $200,000 of economic activity was generated within Manitoba and the economic impact for Canada was calculated at $1.7 million. The economic data compiled by the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA) found that direct spending by out-of-town athletes, family members, spectators and other visitors, combined with money spent by event organizers, totalled $859,000 and supported $506,000 in wages and salaries across Canada, the equivalent of nine jobs across the country, with two-thirds of that total in Thompson. A majority of the household income that resulted – $326,000 – stayed in the Thompson area. Sport Manitoba communi-
Thompson Citizen file photo The 2018 Manitoba Games in Thompson were one of the best ever, said Jeff Hnatiuk, CEO of Sport Manitoba, which released an economic impact assessment Dec. 3 which found that the March 2018 event generated $1.1 million of economic activity in Thompson. cations co-ordinator Sarah Tone said that the economic impact is calculated using an economic impact modelling tool called steam pro2.0, which was developed by the CSTA, and analyzes spending by out-of-town visitors,
expenditures of event organizers to put on an event, and capital construction costs directly related to hosting an event. “The visitor statistics cited in this report were derived from an on-site intercept
survey that was developed by CSTA’s economic impact consultant for this assignment and administered by volunteers engaged by event organizers during the event,” said Tone. Games organizers say that more than 1,450 participants took part in 13 sports – including short track speed skating which made its first-ever appearance in the Manitoba Games. About 1,200 were athletes, while 244 were coaches, manager and officials. An estimated 2,500 family supporters took in the games, which had more than 13,000 spectators overall, a Manitoba Winter Games record. “We are incredibly pleased with the overall success of the 2018 Manitoba Games powered by Manitoba Hydro,” said Sport Manitoba president and CEO Jeff Hnatiuk in a news release. “As a direct result of hosting these games in Thompson, we’ve
already been involved in the development of new sport programs, with specific interest in speed skating and wrestling in the community. We want to congratulate the organizers, volunteers, and participants who made this one of our best-ever Manitoba Winter Games.” Mayor Colleen Smook said in the same news release that economic activity was not the most significant impact of the games. “The boosts to local business, and the many investments from Sport Manitoba, were a huge benefit to Thompson,” said Smook. “What the numbers don’t show, however, might be the most important part of the games for us: the amazing opportunity to showcase the spirit of Thompson at its best, and the reminder of what it means for us to come together as a community, and accomplish something great.”