Wollaston elects Graham Blair as new Reeve

October 29, 2014

By Jim Eadie

In what can only be described as an upset, Reeve Dan McCaw has been defeated in the Wollaston Township municipal election contest.
Taking almost 50 per cent of the ballots cast in the Wollaston election, the current Deputy Reeve Graham Blair will succeed McCaw as the newly elected reeve. In fact, Blair is the only remaining member of the previous council to be re-elected to any position.
“The new council that we now have in place will be able to deliberate and discuss issues,” said Blair, “and comfortably able to disagree. It is my intention to encourage each councillor to express his or her opinions. In the past, there were too many votes where there was no real debate.”
Blair noted that his intention is to see more effective communication between council and the electorate, to continue to address rural inequities in the comprehensive zoning bylaws, and to continue to do what he can do to increase municipal autonomy in the sphere of upper tiers of government.
Acclaimed deputy Reeve Marilyn Brickles was thrilled with the make-up of the new council.
“I think we have the best candidate elected for the positions,” she said.
“I expect there will be many things that will come up, and we can deal with them positively. To reduce taxes is impossible. But we need to grow our economy and increase development.”
Brickles also noted the incredible skills in the residents who put their name up for election, and the need to tap into that resource going forward.
“We need to re-establish a development committee,” she said.
Wollaston Results:

Reeve:
Graham Blair 435 Elected
Dan McCaw 311
Maryann Post 179

Deputy Reeve:
Marilyn Brickles Acclaimed

Councillors:

Bob Ireland 393 Elected
Michael Fuerth 342 Elected
Lynn Kreuger 296 Elected
Dave Naulls 273
Rebecca Smith 252
Jim Alexander 227
Larry Legault 162
Denise Hohn 137
Lee-Anne King 109
Bev Lepinski 108
Reg Corey 107