Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

4 comment(s)

Dalhousie - Dalhousie mayor Clem Tremblay saw off a challenge by middle school principal and former member of Parliament Guy Arseneault in a decisive manner. Tremblay gathered 1,647 votes to his opponent's 484.

Enlarge Photo

Bill Clarke/Tribune

Clem Tremblay with his wife Monique on Monday night.

After the election results were posted showing that he had received an overwhelming majority, Tremblay said that he was both humbled and encouraged by the support he received.

Tremblay said that on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, he would meet with all the elected councillors to find out their preferences for committee chair positions and that these would be decided by the end of the week. The council will be sworn in on May 26.

"I'm confident that with the council, staff and administration, we will be able to do good things for the Town of Dalhousie, and have a mandate to do it," Tremblay said. "I'm very proud to see the kind of results I received from the Town of Dalhousie, but we have a lot of work ahead of us, and certainly the council is prepared to face the challenge."

He said that people never know what an election will bring, but that he thinks the people realize the work that the outgoing council did over the last four years. Although the town suffered from the closure of its two largest industries during the past half year, Tremblay said that this was not the fault of either the council or himself. He said that over the next 12 to 24 months, the council will have "big decisions," but that they are ready for them.

Arseneault thanked those who supported him and wished Tremblay "the best of luck."

"He has a very strong mandate and he has a plan for the town, and now he has to implement it," Arseneault said. "I hope those who voted for him will continue to support him."

Arseneault said that he had been told that people wanted change, but that they apparently wanted another four years of the same type of council. Arseneault said that the main message he wants to send is that he likes his town, is proud of his town, and always will be.

Councillors elected were Roland Dumont (1,257), Kenny Savoie (1,169), incumbent Sylvia Malley (1,145), incumbent Anthony Letourneau (1,061), incumbent Robert "Bob" Harquail (1,018), and Mark-Daniel Arseneau (959). Defeated were incumbent Gail Fearon (851), Doug Matthews (794), Laurie Harquail (774), and Donald Roy (728).

There were 3,111 eligible voters, of whom 2,154 voted, for a voter turn-out of 69.24 per cent.