Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis wins recount
Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis will hang onto his seat following a recount of the October mayoral election.
Recounts are normally held within 30 days of an election, as per the Municipal Election Act. But when a motion calling for a recount was brought forward at Brantford city council in November, it failed in a tie 5-5 vote.
The city agreed to the recount earlier this year after candidate Dave Wrobel – who finished just 208 votes behind Davis according to the official count in October – filed a court challenge.
In a statement issued last month the city said “in order to avoid a lengthy and expensive tax-funded legal process” it would hold a recount.
RUNNER-UP 'VERY HAPPY' WITH RESULTS
The City of Brantford said the count began at 9 a.m. Saturday with five recount tables set up in council chambers and two staff members at each manually recounting ballots.
Just before 2 p.m. the City announced the results in a media release.
According to the recount, 9,223 votes were cast for Davis and 9,013 votes for Wrobel – a difference of 210 votes.
“I’m very happy with the overall results and I say this because democracy and votes are very important to me,” Wrobel said.
“I guess the best way to explain this is every vote is like democratic currency and when things don't add up, you want those cheques and balances no different than you have your bank account.”
Wrobel said he will run again, adding it’s unfinished business for him.
FRUSTRATED WITH COMMUNICATION
Wrobel said he was told by officials 274 votes were “unaccounted for” after election night.
Given he lost by 208 votes, “you do the math and you go, you know, there’s a pretty good probability that things could change so let’s make the request,” he said.
Wrobel said his push for a recount was based on what he felt was a lack of transparency.
“That’s what we premised the whole argument on,” he said, referring to his lawyer and the “unaccounted for” votes.
On Saturday he got his answer.
He said during the recount, city staff explained that the 274 “unaccounted for” votes were ballots where a selection for mayor had not been marked correctly.
He said “ultimately if there was a good sense of transparency at the beginning, back at the end of the election in 2022,” the recount process may not have been necessary.
“[I’m] absolutely frustrated that they could have talked about this months ago and we would have had a better sense on where the numbers were without having to go through the recount process,” he said.
“Let’s be accountable, let’s be transparent with our democratic process.”
Staff from the City of Brantford were unavailable for comment Saturday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.