Voters in City of Powell River’s general election chose continuity over change for the next four years.
Two-term incumbent Dave Formosa ran on the economy and the message that his leadership was necessary because outside investors in Powell River asked him to stay on. He said this would be his last election and that he will not be running in 2022.
Formosa had the advantage of holding office over his two opponents during an economic upturn in Powell River.
“We've still got some work to do with the mill,” said Formosa, referring to the recent sale of Catalyst Paper Corporation to Paper Excellence Canada Holdings. He hinted at another plan for a project inside the mill site that may bring 300 to 500 jobs to Powell River.
“We've still got some work to do with Santé Veritas [Therapeutics] for getting them some more land for their growth,” he added.
Formosa said Sino Bright School for international students is still alive and he hopes to have an announcement soon about land for the project. There is also work to do with the aviation centre being developed at Powell River Airport, he added.
“We have two or three other projects you're going to hear about: data farms and microchip mining,” said the mayor.
Formosa won by a comfortable margin of 650 votes or 54.6 per cent of the total voter turnout over Ron Woznow. Formosa received 2,642 to Woznow’s 1,992 (41.1 per cent). The third candidate for mayor, Glenn Holstine, received 192 votes.
Formosa said before the numbers from mail-in, special ballots and advance polls came in, Woznow called him to concede.
“Dave had a large and experienced political campaign team and loyal supporters who worked very hard over the last nine months to develop and implement a winning strategy,” said Woznow in a statement following the election. “My campaign team was incredibly motivated but we underestimated the amount of work Dave’s campaign team was doing in the background.”
Holstine declined to comment on the election results.
Formosa said he expected the margin with Woznow would be closer.
At Powell River Recreation Complex, where the majority of Westview ballots were cast, the difference between Formosa and Woznow was 398.
Formosa took all four polling stations, with the exception of a tie at the Brooks Secondary School polling station where he and Woznow received 135 votes each.
In previous elections, Formosa had never done well in Townsite. He also won in Cranberry and Wildwood.
