Saint John councillor Donna Reardon. (Image submitted)
Donna Reardon has a commanding lead that would see her become the next mayor of Saint John with 71 of 80 tabulators reporting.
Reardon currently has 10, 089 votes, according to data on the Elections New Brunswick website.
In second place Mel Vincent Jr. sits with 5,895 votes, followed by Darrell Bastarache with 466 votes and Howard Yeomans with 312 votes.
Vincent’s campaign announced it had phoned Reardon to concede after the results were announced.
Reardon said the feeling was ‘euphoric’ after seeing the large 4, 000 plus vote lead she had with results still coming in.
“I’ve done a lot of work, a lot of hard work, so it’s a great feeling,” Reardon said.
Outgoing finance chair paints a rosy picture for Saint John after years of cuts
The city was on the edge of a financial crisis with a budget that was $9 million short. Council and committee had to cut, and cut deep, to avoid falling off the cliff to bankruptcy.
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Screen grab from the Human Development Council on Facebook.
Saint John’s four mayoral candidates met Monday for the first forum of the 2021 campaign to discuss issues facing the five priority neighbourhoods.
Darrell Bastarache, Donna Reardon, Mel Vincent Jr., and Howard Yeomans responded to questions about topics including affordable housing and how to rejuvenate the city’s old north end.
Hosted by the Human Development Council and moderated by Julia Wright, the questions were crafted by the five priority neighbourhood committees.
Affordable Housing
Candidates were first asked how they would improve the city’s stock of affordable housing options.
Reardon began by suggesting the next council could take cues on dealing with affordable housing from other municipalities.