Oakville voters elect Jeff Knoll as new mayor

Jeff Knoll will serve as the next mayor of the Town of Oakville following the municipal election held on Monday, Oct. 26. The former councillor secured the position by defeating incumbent Rob Burton in a competitive race that involved four primary candidates for the top executive post.

The Town of Oakville released full unofficial results approximately two hours after polling stations closed at 8 p.m. All 47 polls contributed to the final tallies, which confirmed Knoll’s lead over the other contenders. The vote counts for the mayoral race were as follows: Jeff Knoll received 21,866 votes, representing 36.3 per cent of the total. Sean O’Meara finished second with 13,567 votes, or 22.5 per cent. Rob Burton, the sitting mayor, garnered 12,254 votes, accounting for 20.4 per cent. Julia Hanna placed fourth with 10,642 votes, or 17.5 per cent.

Voters also elected representatives for all seven local and regional wards. In the local town wards, Alexandra Caldwell won Ward 1 with 48.3 per cent of the vote. Ray Chisholm claimed Ward 2 with 73.1 per cent, while Morgan Elliott took Ward 3 with 75.9 per cent. Peter Longo secured Ward 4 with 80.4 per cent. Audrey Wubbenhorst won Ward 5 with 29.2 per cent, and Natalia Lishchyna captured Ward 6 with 65 per cent. Scott Xie received 54.5 per cent of the votes in Ward 7.

In the combined town and regional wards, Jonathan McNeice was acclaimed for Ward 1. Stacey Saunders won Ward 2 with 30.3 per cent of the vote. Janet Haslett-Theall was acclaimed for Ward 3, while Roger Lapworth received 34 per cent in Ward 4. Mackenzie Grant took Ward 5 with 43.5 per cent. Tom Adams was acclaimed for Ward 6, and Nav Nanda secured Ward 7 with 40.5 per cent of the vote.

The election also determined the composition of the school board trustees. Carole Baxter won the HDSB Wards 1 and 2 seat with 82.2 per cent of the vote. Rebecca Mayville captured the HDSB Wards 3 and 6 position with 79.1 per cent. Ira Davidov received 40.7 per cent for the HDSB Ward 4 seat. Kim Tait won the HDSB Wards 5 and 7 race with 27.5 per cent.

In the Catholic and French language boards, Mario Jelic won the HCDSB Wards 1, 2 and 3 seat with 51.6 per cent. Chris Saunders was acclaimed for the HCDSB Wards 4 and 7 position. Helena Karabela secured the HCDSB Wards 5 and 6 seat with 62.2 per cent. Sonia Macaluso was acclaimed for the Conseil Scolaire Viamonde seat, and Diane Courchesne was acclaimed for the Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir position.