Don McIsaac Wins
By John Swartz
Don McIsaac won Mondays’ municipal election and will become Orillia’s next mayor. He did so with an unofficial vote count of 4,861 – 1,516 votes more than opponent Mason Ainsworth. John Maxwell received 280 votes.
“I am gratified by the support. I loved that we built an excellent team. We did all the things we were supposed to. We took the high ground in every spot and it paid off,” McIsaac said amid supporters gathered at Couchiching Golf and Country Club.
As noted below, the spreads between candidates were close in several wards. Janet-Lynne Durnford won her Ward 4 seat by just 19 votes. Each ward returned one incumbent and elected a newcomer to council. There were 3,842 advance votes this year, 589 more than in 2018. The trend going back to the 1988 election is for higher advance poll turnouts as each election happens. The total voter turnout was 32.39%, or 8,570 of 26,460 eligible voters.
SUNonline/Orillia will have more election coverage in a follow up story. In the mean time, here are the results for each council l position and for school board elections.
Mayor
Don McIsaac 4,861
Mason Ainsworth 3,345
John Edward Maxwell 280
Ward 1
David Campbell 1,202
Whitney Smith 951
Robert Kloostra 475
Paul Cain 416
Rick Sinotte 364
Mathew Lund 244
Ward 2
Ralph Cipolla 740
Luke Leatherdale 708
Gilles Depratto 636
Alan Bayne 484
Ian Gordon 371
Robert Winacott 358
Dael Morris 240
Brian Hare 152
Harold Dougall 135
Ward 3
Jay Fallis 1,310
Jeff Czetwerzuk 830
Elizabeth Van Houtte 763
Deval Brahmbatt 560
Zak Gariba 453
Nick Wray 77
Ward 4
Tim Lauer 1,326
Janet–Lynne Durnford 919
Paula Hill –Coulson 900
Joe Winacott 452
Pat Reid 398
Kyle Peacock 242
Simcoe County District School Board
Jodi M. Lloyd 3,593
Meghan Dunlop 3,081
Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board
Jill Colin Acclaimed
French Language District School Board
Eric Lapointe ` 18
Saveria Caruso 10
French Language Separate School Board
Claire Thibideau Acclaimed
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia) Main: Don McIsaac and wife, Cindi, surrounded by family celebrating his election win to become Orillia’s next mayor.
