Voters in the 13 municipalities that make up the Edmonton metropolitan region cast ballots on Oct. 20, ultimately electing six new mayors and several new candidates to councils.
Taproot has compiled the mayoral winners and changes to councils for each jurisdiction in the region by population size, from largest to smallest.
Strathcona County
Incumbent Mayor Rod Frank won with 77% of the vote, compared to his lone challenger, Benjamin Biel, who had 23%. Mike Derbyshire will be the new councillor for Ward 2, where Dave Anderson did not seek reelection. Incumbents are set to win in the remaining seven wards, including one by acclamation.
St. Albert
Scott Olivieri will be the next mayor. Olivieri received 9,453 votes, while runner-up and city councillor Wes Brodhead received 4,965. Outgoing Mayor Cathy Heron did not run for reelection. Incumbent councillors Shelley Biermanski, Sheena Hughes, and Ken MacKay have been reelected. New councillors Neil Korotash, Sandy Clark, and Amanda Patrick will replace councillors Brodhead and Mike Killick, who did not run, and Natalie Joly, who was elected as a public school board trustee.
Spruce Grove
Jeff Acker will be mayor after receiving 72% of the vote. There has been a change to council, however, with Spencer Bennett, Brad Mastaler, and Jeff Tokar replacing Stuart Houston, Reid McDonald, and Dave Oldham, respectively — none of whom sought reelection.
City of Leduc
Lars Hansen will be the next mayor after receiving more than double the votes of his closest opponent. Bob Young, who was mayor from 2017 until October, did not run for reelection. Only two of six incumbents have been reelected, Bill Hamilton and Laura Tillack, as four councillors did not seek reelection. The new council members are Brett Baynes, Ryley Miller, Shawn Raymond, and Jill Spinks.
Parkland County
Rod Shaigec has defeated incumbent Allan Gamble, marking the only defeat of an incumbent mayor in the region. Shaigec received 56% of the vote, compared to Gamble's 43%. Shaigec was the mayor of Parkland County from 2010 to 2021, when he stepped aside to recover from a severe injury. As for council, only Sally Kucher Johnson was reelected. Meanwhile, Jason Doucette defeated incumbent Kristina Kowalski, and Kristine Olson did the same against incumbent Rob Wiedeman. Ben Jespersen, Corey Kyle, and John Alexander McNab won the remaining slots with no incumbent opponent.
Fort Saskatchewan
Lisa Makin is the next mayor, receiving 3,637 votes. Her opponent, Ajibola "Jibs" Abitoye, received 2,256 votes. Makin has served as a councillor since 2017. Gale Katchur decided to run for council after 15 years as mayor, and was elected. Birgit Blizzard, Gordon Harris, and Patrick Noyen were reelected to council. New councillors are Allan Wesley and Arjun Randhawa.
Beaumont
Lisa Vanderkwaak will be the new mayor. Vanderkwaak received 1,602 votes, narrowly winning out over Catherine McCook, who received 1,404 votes. Outgoing mayor Bill Daneluik ran for one of the six council positions, but did not succeed. New councillors in Beaumont include Christopher "Paul" Heide, Anthony Kohlsmith, and Kim Murray.
Sturgeon County
Alanna Hnatiw has been elected mayor for her third consecutive term. Hnatiw won with 2,368 votes, compared to challenger Patrick Tighe's 1,691. New councillors in Sturgeon County include Amanda Papadopolos and Richard Boissonneault.
Rod Shaigec was the only mayoral candidate in the Edmonton region to defeat an incumbent — Allan Gamble in Parkland County. Shaigec previously served as mayor from 2010 to 2021, and stepped aside in 2021 due to a severe injury. (Supplied)
Stony Plain
William Choy will continue as mayor of Stony Plain after he ran unopposed for the position. Choy joined council in 2007 and became mayor in 2012, making him currently the longest-serving mayor in the region. Unofficial results show the town reelected all but one councillor, Pat Hansard, who received 11 fewer votes than challenger Melanie Loyns.
The Local Authorities Election Act stipulates that votes can be recounted for various reasons, including if a candidate or voter makes a request. One ground for a recount is if the difference in the number of votes between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less. The unofficial results show Hansard's results don't meet the 0.5% threshold, but she told Taproot that a recount may happen in Stony Plain.
Leduc County
Leduc County Council will acclaim one of its members as mayor on Nov. 3. Current Mayor Tanni Doblanko was acclaimed as councillor in Division 5 because she ran unopposed. Council acclaimed her mayor in both 2017 and 2021. New to council are Glen Bienert, Bonnie Thomas, and Glen Belozer. Sam Kobeluck, who is in second place in the unofficial results against Belozer, received eight fewer votes.
Morinville
Simon Boersma has been acclaimed as mayor for a second term. The new councillors in town are Daryn Duliba, Nathan Himschoot, Lisa Parenteau, and Jayson Wood.
Devon
Jeff Craddock has been reelected mayor, receiving 955 votes compared to Blake Adams, his sole challenger, who received 747. Newly elected councillors include Kayla Fitzpatrick and Dale Babuik.
Gibbons
Rick Henderson has been elected mayor. Henderson won with 534 votes, while the only other candidate, Dale Yushchyshyn, received 355. Yushchyshyn had served as acting mayor in the year leading up to the election because former mayor Dan Deck resigned in February. Gibbons voters have elected an entirely new council — Darrell Burak, Travis Currie, Darren Longstaff, Ashley Morrison, Robert Simonowits, and Sharla St. Germain.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct Jason Doucette's name and which incumbent councillors were reelected in Fort Saskatchewan.