As the sun rose bright and early this past Sunday morning, it signaled a lot of changes to the political scene on the Sunshine Coast.
In Gibsons, residents spoke loud and clear on the direction they want to see council move by re-electing Mayor Wayne Rowe along with a young council full of promise, business sense and experience — Silas White, Charlene SanJenko, Stafford Lumley and Jeremy Valeriote.
In Sechelt, challenger Bruce Milne defeated incumbent Mayor John Henderson and newcomer Christine Younghusband. Sechelt voters chose youth and experience by electing Noel Muller, who topped the polls, bringing back experience in Darren Inkster, Alice Lutes, Mike Shanks and Darnelda Siegers and electing Doug Wright with impressive numbers.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District board table also saw some change as Ian Winn and Mark Lebbell in areas F and D were newly elected, while Lorne Lewis retained his seat in Elphinstone. Directors Garry Nohr and Frank Mauro, acclaimed in Halfmoon Bay and Pender/Egmont respectively, now have their team in place. It will be interesting to see what direction this group will go and what councillors from Sechelt and Gibsons will sit at the table.
Our school board welcomed only one new face at the table, Pammila Ruth, who was acclaimed in Gibsons. Trustees Betty Baxter, Lori Dixon and Greg Russell were all re-elected, joining other acclaimed incumbents Lori Pratt, Christine Younghusband and Dave Mewhort.
So what does the make-up of our new governments mean?
It seems the electorate desired some change, some fresh eyes and fresh perspectives, while also choosing experience in many cases.
We like the make-up of what we see at all the government tables.
This election campaign was hard fought and bitter. There were a lot of hard feelings towards some incumbent politicians for their work the past three years. Those feelings were shown in the vote totals and who got elected and who didn’t.
Despite how you voted and how you feel, it’s time we come together as a community and help those elected to set the direction we want to see the Sunshine Coast head.
We know it’s not going to be easy. And we know there are residents who are disappointed in the election results and who their leaders now are. So we say, take some time to reflect, and instead of putting out negative energy, put forward some positive energy into the process.
The Sunshine Coast has proven time and time again that we are much stronger moving collectively together than working apart.
