Hollingsworth captures Ward 2 seat

Ward 2 voters have made their choice.

Sandra Hollingsworth will sit as one of the ward's two city councillors after winning Monday's municipal byelection.

She will represent the ward's residents along with current city councillor Susan Myers, who has represented Ward 2 since 2006.

Hollingsworth won the byelection with 767 votes, 131 more than second-place finisher Luke Dufour.

They were followed by Susan Milne with 427 votes and Jody Curran with 382.

Other candidates who ran in the election included Les Weeks, John Duke, David Poluck, Ron Schinners and Andy Martens.

"I feel very honoured, extremely honoured that I received such great support from the ward, and I truly want to say thank you to the other candidates, I thought everybody ran their campaign extremely well," Hollingsworth told SooToday.

"The number one priority (as Hollingsworth prepares to take her seat on council), which basically does link into Essar, is defining a clear economic plan which involves collaboration of all community groups, individuals, the business community and various departments of the city, to define a vision for the city with the other council members and the entire community."

"I would like to set out clear action items and goals for the next two, five and 10 years that will focus on developing and growing small, medium and large businesses for this community, but most of all I want to empower the young and the entrepreneurs and to be the voice of existing businesses," Hollingsworth said.

"I feel that we have not given enough attention to existing businesses in this community that have contributed a great deal to us."   

The byelection was called after former Ward 2 councillor Terry Sheehan made the jump to federal politics last fall.

Hollingsworth worked as a business strategist for CIBC in Toronto and Vancouver before returning to her hometown of Sault Ste. Marie.

Dufour is the manager of a small contracting company.

Susan Milne is a well-known local horticulturalist, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (PRAC) member and currently a self employment benefit co-ordinator with the Community Development Corporation (CDC).

Jody Curran is a former Ward 2 city councillor and Sault Star reporter/editor/advertising department manager. 

Les Weeks is a local business owner who has been involved with various boards and groups.

John Duke is the owner of a private investigations company. 

David Poluck is the owner/operator of Northern Jewellery and member of the Sault Association of Ratepayers.

Ron Schinners is a retired veteran.

Andy Martens is an OLG employee and five-time council candidate.

Voter turnout for the byelection was low.

2,872 of 9,535 eligible voters in the ward cast ballots.

The campaign came in the middle of a tough economic time for Sault Ste. Marie, as Essar Steel Algoma and Tenaris Algoma Tubes suffer, causing spinoff trouble for many local businesses.

Throughout the campaign, the candidates discussed the need for economic diversification (largely through innovation), the need to access federal and provincial funding for the community in economically-challenging times, a friendly environment for small and medium-sized businesses, downtown revitalization, taxes, advocacy for youth and seniors, tap water quality, municipal daycare and the plan to cut the number of local firefighters.