The 2014 Greater Sudbury municipal election was held on October 27, 2014 to elect a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

and 12 city councillors in Greater Sudbury,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. In addition, school trustees were elected to the

Rainbow District School Board Rainbow District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 3 prior to 1999) covers a geographic area of more than in the heart of the Rainbow Country and is the largest public school board in Northern Ontario. The ...

, Sudbury Catholic District School Board,

Conseil scolaire de district du Grand Nord de l'Ontario The Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l'Ontario (CSPGNO, known as French-language Public District School Board No. 57 prior to 1999 manages the French-language schools in much of Northern Ontario. The area in which this school board operat ...

and

Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario The Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (also known as Conseil scolaire catholique Nouvelon and formerly known as French-language Separate District School Board No. 61 prior to 1999) is a school board in the Canadian province of Ontario. ...

. The election was held in conjunction with those held in other municipalities in the province of Ontario. For other elections, see 2014 Ontario municipal elections. Candidate registration opened on January 2, 2014. The last day for candidate registration was September 12, 2014; although the offices of mayor and all twelve city council seats saw contested elections, some candidates for election to the school boards were declared acclaimed to office on that date as no opposing candidates registered by the deadline. For the first time in the city's history, the 2014 election included an

online voting Electronic voting (also known as e-voting) is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting ballots. Depending on the particular implementation, e-voting may use standalone ''electronic voting machines'' ( ...

option as part of efforts to increase

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

Issues

The predominant election issue was the functioning of

Greater Sudbury City Council Greater Sudbury City Council (french: Conseil municipal du Grand Sudbury) is the governing body of the City of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the mayor plus a twelve-person council. The city is divided into twelve wards ...

in the 2010-14 term. Under mayor

Marianne Matichuk Marianne Matichuk is a Canadian politician, who was elected mayor of Greater Sudbury, Ontario in the 2010 municipal election."Taxpayers deserve better: Matichuk"
'' Northern Life'', September 28, 2012. the council's work frequently bogged down in a state of political

gridlock Gridlock is a form of traffic congestion where "continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill". The term originates from a situation possible in a gr ...

."Get past public spats, former mayor urges council"
''Northern Life'', October 10, 2012. In addition, the council faced extensive criticism for its 2013 decision to refuse oversight from the

Ontario Ombudsman The Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario is an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. Role The office's jurisdiction includes more than 500 provincial government ministries, agencies, corpor ...

's office, as well as the management of

community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists ...

funds, disbursed by city councillors, which have been widely criticized as having the potential to be misused as political slush funds. In conjunction with the election, a municipal

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

was held on the issue of deregulating retail store hours in Greater Sudbury, which was one of the few cities in Ontario where retail stores were still not permitted to open on Boxing Day."Sudburians to decide store hours"
''Northern Life'', September 12, 2012. Matichuk had pledged to deregulate store hours in the 2010 election, although her motion to do so failed when she presented it to council on February 9, 2011; the referendum was approved by council in September 2012. A poll conducted by Oraclepoll Research for the city's '' Northern Life'' newspaper found that despite the transparency and government effectiveness issues that had dominated the municipal political scene over the previous term, basic pocketbook issues such as road maintenance and property taxes were most commonly identified by voters as their main priorities in the election, with integrity and ethics ranking as the top priority for only a small minority of voters."Roads most important issue for Sudburians, poll finds"
'' Northern Life'', September 28, 2014.

Mayoral race

In the early months of the campaign, Matichuk's silence about her reelection plans gave rise to media speculation that Premier

Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...

planned to appoint Matichuk as the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser since August 2022. The party espouses the principles of li ...

's candidate in the provincial electoral district of Sudbury for the 2014 provincial election. Both Wynne and Matichuk denied the reports; however, the speculation failed to die down because of Matichuk's continued lack of clarity about her plans, and the local Liberal riding association's inability to get a firm date commitment for its nomination meeting from the party's head office. The party finally nominated Andrew Olivier as its candidate on May 8. In addition, virtually all of the major figures from Matichuk's 2010 campaign team publicly declared that they would not participate in a 2014 campaign on her behalf. Matichuk announced on June 19 that she would not run for a second term as mayor. Despite the controversies that marred her first term in office, however, Oraclepoll Research's first poll of the race, released on June 24, 2014, suggested that she still held a healthy lead over any of the declared candidates among decided voters, with 38.1 per cent support. Former mayor

John Rodriguez John R. Rodriguez (February 12, 1937 – July 5, 2017) was a Canadian politician. He served as the mayor of Greater Sudbury, Ontario from 2006 to 2010 and previously represented the electoral district of Nickel Belt in the House of Commons of ...

, who was defeated by Matichuk in the 2010 election, registered as a candidate for mayor on May 9. The other declared candidates were Jean-Raymond Audet; Jeanne Brohart;

Brian Bigger Brian Bigger is a Canadian politician who was the mayor of Greater Sudbury, Ontario from 2014 to 2022. He was elected in the city's 2014 municipal election. Prior to serving as mayor, Bigger served as the first Auditor General for the city. Back ...

, who took leave from his job as the city's

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...

to mount his campaign; Ron Dupuis, the incumbent city councillor for Ward 5 ( Valley East);"Dupuis sets his sights on mayor's seat in next municipal election"
'' Northern Life'', March 18, 2014. Jeff Huska, a biomedical engineering technologist at Health Sciences North; Richard Majkot, a retired former staffer at

Toronto City Hall The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened i ...

;"Majkot joins mayoral race"
'' Sudbury Star'', April 21, 2014. Dan Melanson, the former president of a local taxpayers' lobby association who was himself an advisor to Matichuk's campaign in 2010; and Ed Pokonzie and David Popescu, both

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

s in the Sudbury area.

Opinion polls

Percentages of decided vote.

Election results

Referendum

In conjunction with the municipal election, three

questions on store hours in the city were posed to voters. The referendum results were not legally binding on the city, as participation on all three questions fell slightly short of 50 per cent of registered voters; although the overall election passed 50 per cent voter turnout, the referendum questions garnered only 47 per cent participation."Referendum fails, but Bigger will push for deregulation"
'' Northern Life'', October 28, 2014. Some voters who were opposed to the proposal reportedly opted to

abstain Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with ...

from the referendum questions, out of the mistaken perception that rather than bouncing the issue back to city council again, a failure to achieve 50 per cent turnout would make it legally impossible for any change in store hours to take place at all. Mayor-elect Brian Bigger and several of the new councillors stated that they considered the result to be a sufficient mandate to proceed with deregulation of store hours, and the city's store hours bylaw was repealed at the new council's first official business meeting on December 9, 2014.

Question 1

''Are you in favour of retail business establishments having the choice to open to the public on December 26?''

Question 2

''Are you in favour of retail business establishments having the choice to open to the public on the Civic Holiday, the first Monday in August?''

Question 3

''Are you in favour of allowing retail business establishments to choose the hours when they are open to the public?''

Council

Ward 1

Ward 1 was an open seat, as former councillor Joe Cimino was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2014 provincial election.

Ward 2

Ward 3

Ward 3 was an open seat after Claude Berthiaume announced his retirement from politics.

Ward 4

Richard Paquette was a registered candidate, but withdrew his candidacy for personal reasons in April.

Ward 5

Ward 5 was an open seat, as incumbent councillor Ron Dupuis was a candidate in the mayoral race.

Ward 6

Ward 7

Frank Mazzuca, Jr. was a registered candidate, but withdrew on May 22, 2014.

Ward 8

Ward 9

Ward 10

Ward 11

Ward 12

Rainbow District School Board

Zone 1

Zone 1 consists of Wards 1 and 2 in the city.

Zone 2

Zone 2 consists of Wards 3 and 4 in the city, as well as much of the

Unorganized North Sudbury District Unorganized North Sudbury District is an unorganized area in the Canadian province of Ontario, comprising all portions of the Sudbury District which are not organized into incorporated municipalities. Despite its name, there is no longer an accompa ...

north of the city, including the townships of Cartier, Cascaden, Foy, Hart, Harty, Hess, Moncrieff, Shining Tree and Trill.

Zone 3

Zone 3 consists of Wards 5 and 6 in the city.

Zone 4

Zone 4 consists of Wards 7 and 8 in the city, as well as the outlying municipalities of French River,

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...

Markstay-Warren Markstay-Warren is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Sudbury District. Highway 17, from the city limits of Greater Sudbury to the Sudbury District's border with Nipissing District, lies entirely within Markstay-Warren. ...

and St. Charles, and the unorganized townships of

Burwash Burwash, archaically known as Burghersh, is a rural village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. Situated in the High Weald of Sussex some 15 miles (24 km) inland from the port of Hastings, it is located five ...

, Cox, Davis, Eden, Hawley, Hendrie, Henry, James, Laura, Loughrin, Secord, Servos, Street and Tilton.

Zone 5

Zone 5 consists of Wards 9 and 10 in the city.

Zone 6

Zone 6 consists of Wards 11 and 12 in the city.

Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Zone 1

Zone 1 consists of Wards 1 and 2 in the city.

Zone 2

Zone 2 consists of Wards 3 and 4 in the city, as well as much of the

north of the city, including the townships of Cartier, Cascaden, Foy, Hart, Harty, Hess, Moncrieff, Shining Tree and Trill.

Zone 3

Zone 3 consists of Wards 5 and 6 in the city.

Zone 4

Zone 4 consists of Wards 7 and 8 in the city, as well as the outlying municipalities of

and St. Charles.

Zone 5

Zone 5 consists of Wards 9 and 10 in the city, as well as the outlying municipalities of French River and

, and the unorganized townships of

, Cox, Davis, Eden, Hawley, Henvey, Hendrie, Henry, James, Laura, Loughrin, Secord, Servos, Street, Tilton and Wallbridge.

Zone 6

Zone 6 consists of Wards 11 and 12 in the city. Cameron was subsequently removed from office on March 30, 2015, after failing to file his financial statements from the 2014 election by the filing deadline of March 27; even though Cameron had been acclaimed to his seat and thus had no campaign expenses to report, he was still legally required to file a statement formally declaring his lack of expenses."Catholic School Board chair removed from office"
'' Sudbury Star'', March 30, 2015. Calling the matter an accidental oversight, Cameron appealed the decision and was reinstated as trustee and board chair in April."Jody Cameron restored as chair of Sudbury Catholic School Board"
CBC Sudbury, April 24, 2015.

Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l'Ontario

Zone 7

Zone 8

Zone 9

Zone 10

Zone 11

Zone 12

Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario

Zone 4

Two to be elected.

Zone 5

Two to be elected.

Zone 6

Two to be elected.

References

External links

City of Greater Sudbury Municipal Elections 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greater Sudbury Municipal Election, 2014 2014 Ontario municipal elections

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