Five returning and three new members will make up the 2022-2026 Nanaimo City Council. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

nanaimovotes

Voter turnout under 25 per cent as Nanaimo selects new Council

Oct 15, 2022 | 9:50 PM

NANAIMO — Voters have sent five incumbents and three new candidates to the City Council table for the next four years.

A brand new Nanaimo City Council was confirmed during the 2022 Municipal Election, with voters returning five of the seven incumbents seeking re-election.

Sheryl Armstrong (10,260), Ian Thorpe (8,040), Ben Geselbracht (8,383), Tyler Brown (6,805) and Erin Hemmens (7,497) will all return, led by Armstrong and Thorpe in their third terms.

“I think we have to remember it was an extremely challenging four years…as we map out what the next four years look like,” Brown told NanaimoNewsNOW. “We definitely want to be doing the things that are important for the community and bringing people together to address those challenges and do our part to lower the temperature.”

Hemmens was grateful for the opportunity to continue working at the Council table.

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“I think the last four years have been building a foundation,” Hemmens said. “We want to have a core cohort going forward of people who were there, who built that, who understood it and can carry it out.”

New to the table is former Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation CEO Janice Perrino (7,131), former Green Party MP Paul Manly (10,366) and former journalist Hilary Eastmure (5,650).

“We have to work with the senior levels of government,” Manly said. “Clearly with the issues we’re facing we need support…especially when it comes to affordability, the homeless situation, criminal justice reform to deal with the public safety issues we have on our streets.”

Eastmure took in results from home, as she recovers from COVID.

“People are expecting us to hit the ground running on the issues that really matter to them like community safety, housing affordability and that will take some serious proactive work in the next four years and I’m ready to get to it,” Eastmure said.

Incumbent Don Bonner (5,524) was barely on the outside looking in, finishing in ninth place 126 votes behind Eastmure in what turned out to be a hotly contested race for the final council seat.

Zeni Maartman (4,759) also fell short in her re-election bid.

At least one new face on Council was guaranteed, following Jim Turley’s decision not to seek re-election.

Mayor Leonard Krog will again head the Council table for a second term.

Unofficial results were announced at 9:40 p.m. by chief election officer Sheila Gurrie, with official results to be confirmed Wednesday.

A total of 18,664 ballots were cast in the City of Nanaimo, representing an approximate voter turnout of 24.39 per cent.

It’s a sharp decline from 2018 where just over 40 per cent of voters turned out.

The new Nanaimo City Council will be sworn in during a ceremony at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre on Monday, Nov. 7.

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