A previous version of this story omitted Morgen Reinhardt as a new councillor in district 1. Additionally, a breakdown and comparison of election results has been included below.
Despite the high risk of shifting gender representation on the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg’s (MODL) town council, electors voted in female candidates in seven out of ten districts in Saturday’s election.
The list includes incumbents Pam Hubley, Wendy Oickle, Cathy Moore, Kacy DeLong and Chassidy Veinotte, along with new district 6 councillor Alison Smith and district 1 councillor Morgen Reinhardt. Incumbent Martin Bell, and new councillors Edgar Burns and Ben Brooks round out the list of councillors.
Candidate and incumbent councillor Kacy DeLong hosted an election night party at Chicory Blue General Store. Dozens of supporters young and old spent the evening listening to CBC radio awaiting results.
The room erupted with cheers when DeLong took the call that confirmed another four years on council.
“I’m really pleased with the results. I am really grateful to everyone who’s supported me. It’s been a whirlwind this campaign but I’m really proud of the campaign we ran,” says DeLong, who listed out winners in the other districts. “It’s going to be a good council, I think.”
The unofficial results of the election on the MODL website put mayor-elect Elspeth Maclean-Wile at over 62 per cent of the vote, beating out incumbent Carolyn Bolivar-Getson by nearly 2500 votes.
Prior to being mayor, Bolivar-Getson represented the electoral district of Lunenburg West in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2003 to 2009 as a member of the Progressive Conservatives.
Maclean-Wile has not previously served in politics but brings significant experience as a business owner, farmer, and active community volunteer.
In a Facebook video posted on Oct 20, Maclean-Wile says she’s “feeling very encouraged and very excited about the days ahead.”
MODL Election Results
| 2024, 2020, and 2016 MODL Election Results | |||
| 2024 | 2020 | 2016 [b] | |
| Total Votes | 10,072 | 9,084 | 8449 |
| Voter Turnout | 45.4% | 43.9% | 40.9% |
| Mayor – 9,992 votes (99.2% of all voters) | |||
| *Elspeth McLean-Wile | 6240 (62.4%) | *Carolyn Bolivar-Getson – 5,437 (60.4%)[a] | *Carolyn Bolivar-Getson – 4,256 (50.9%) [c] |
| Carolyn Bolivar-Getson (Incumbent) | 3752 (37.6%) | Caleb Wheeldon -3,563 (39.6%) [a] | Tom Lockwood – 4,102 (49.1%) [c] |
| Did not vote for any mayoral candidate | 80 (0.8%) | 84 (0.9%) [a] | 91 (1.0%) [y] |
| District 1 – 889 votes (8.8% of all voters) | |||
| *Morgen Reinhardt | 604 (67.9%) | *Leitha Hayson (acclaimed) [a] | *Eric Hustvedt – 432 (66.4%) [d] |
| Tyler Veinotte | 285 (32.1%) | – | Dean Karkling – 219 (33.6%) [d] |
| District 2 | |||
| *Martin E. Bell (incumbent) | Acclaimed | *Martin E Bell -687 (57.0%) [a] | *Martin E. Bell – 505 (53.7%) [d] |
| – | Morgen Reinhardt – 519 (43.0%) [a] | Derek Purcell – 436 (46.3%) [d] | |
| District 3 – 953 votes (9.5% of all voters) | |||
| *Wendy Oickle (incumbent) | 519 (54.5%) | *Wendy Oickle – 339 (40.5%) [a] | *Lee E. Nauss – 424 (54.1%) [d] |
| Andrew Himmelman | 434 (45.5%) | Lee E. Nauss – 326 (39.0%) [a] | Pamela Hubley – 360 (45.9%) [d] |
| – | – | David Sutherland – 172 (20.5%) [a] | – |
| District 4 – 1,120 votes (11.1% of all voters) | |||
| *Pam Hubley (Incumbent) | 698 (62.3%) | *Pam Hubley – 662 (67.4%) [a] | *John Veinot – 639 (65.2%) [d] |
| Gary B. Mailman | 422 (37.7%) | Bud Webster – 320 (32.6%) [a] | Andrew Feener – 341 (34.8%) [d] |
| District 5 – 1,048 (10.4% of all voters) | |||
| *Cathy Moore (Incumbent) | 582 (55.5%) | *Cathy Moore(Acclaimed) [a] | *Cathy Moore (Acclaimed) [d] |
| Andy Veinotte | 317 (30.2%) | – | – |
| Suzanne Kutach | 149 (14.2%) | – | – |
| District 6 – 1,185 (11.8% of all voters) | |||
| *Alison Smith | 575 (48.5%) | *Sandra Statton – 490 (54.8%) [a] | *Claudette E. Garland – 521 (70.1%) [d] |
| Blair Clark | 258 (21.8%) | Claudette E. Garland – 404 (45.2%) [a] | Larry Power – 222 (29.9%) [d] |
| Wade Carver | 256 (21.6%) | ||
| Byron Veinotte | 96 (8.1%) | – | – |
| District 7 – 835 (8.3% of all voters) | |||
| *Edgar Burns | 517 (61.2%) | *Michelle Greek – 594 (60.7%) [a] | *Wade Carver – 431 (53.4%) [d] |
| Elizabeth Crossland | 203 (24.3%) | Wade S Carver – 385 (39.3%) [a] | Terry Dorey – 375 (46.5%) [d] |
| Carroll W. Publicover | 115 (13.8%) | – | – |
| District 8 – 1,006 (10.0% of all voters) | |||
| *Kacy DeLong (Incumbent) | 620 (61.6%) | *Kacy DeLong(Acclaimed) [a] | *Michael S. Ernst – 619 (61.8%) [d] |
| Phil Williams | 195 (19.4%) | – | Milton Countway – 383 (38.2%) [d] |
| Barry Owen Dupuis | 191 (19.0%) | – | – |
| District 9 – 1,045 (10.3% of all voters) | |||
| *Ben Brooks | 578 (55.3%) | *Reid Arthur Whynot – 577 (57.0%) [a] | *Reid Arthur Whynot – 573 (62.5%) [d] |
| Dean Schmeisser | 467 (44.7%) | Frank Fawson – 438 (43.2%) [a] | Frank Fawson – 344 (37.5%) [d] |
| District 10 | |||
| *Chasidy Veinotte (incumbent) | Acclaimed | *Chasidy Veinotte – 442 (46.0%) [a] | *Errol Knickle – 606 (78.2%) [d] |
| – | – | Josh Healy – 332 (34.5%) [a] | Jerry Jardine – 168 (21.7%) [d] |
| – | – | Ann Westhaver – 188 (19.5%) [a] | – |
| Source: | |||
| All figures come from MODL 2024, unless otherwise noted. | |||
| [a] UNOFFICIAL results – MODL 2020 *Note: Electoral boundaries changed in 2024 making these figures not directly comparable to 2024 results | |||
| [b] Voter Turnout – MODL 2016 | |||
| [c] Lighthouse Now 2016 – Bolivar-Getson edges past Lockwood to become mayor of MODL (Wayback Machine) | |||
| [d] CKHK – Bolivar-Getson Edges Lockwood To Become Next MODL Mayor | |||
