3 new faces, and a familiar one, coming to council

Winnipeg city council will see three fresh faces, as well as one familiar face, as a result of Wednesday's civic election.

Incumbent councillors Donald Benham (River Heights-Fort Garry), Jae Eadie (St. James-Brooklands), Mark Lubosch (North Kildonan) and Franco Magnifico (St. Boniface) lost their seats in the election.

In one of the most hard-fought ward races, Benham was defeated by Brenda Leipsic, who gathered 6,719 votes, or 42 per cent of the vote. Benham secured 5,296 votes, or 33 per cent.

While Benham had been considered a favourite early in the campaign, the race heated up in the days leading up to Wednesday's election, with Katz officially endorsing Leipsic.

"You'd really have to ask way more voters as to why they voted, whether the mayoral race was an influence on them or not, whether the endorsement was an influence on them or not," Benham said on Wednesday.

"The people who talked to me tended to say it made them decide the other way, but that might be a self-selecting sample."

Leipsic said her victory was "absolutely fantastic, overwhelming."

"I'm just trying to find the right words to thank everybody … I'm just humbled," she said Wednesday night.

"I'm just so pleased to have the opportunity to get to city council and roll my sleeves up, get working."

In another council race, civic newcomer Jeff Browaty, 29, won 6,820 votes, or 52 per cent of the vote, over incumbent Mark Lubosch, who had secured 4,563 votes, or 34 per cent.

26-year council veteran defeated

Eadie, who had served on city council for 26 years, lost to Scott Fielding, who won the ward with 4,036 votes, or 48 per cent of the vote. Eadie had 2,454 votes, or 29 per cent.

"I've got to do some clean up around here and then I've got some 10 days to sort of clean out 26 years of work and memories at City Hall … I'll think about things after that," Eadie said Wednesday.

"I hope I'm remembered by the people of this community as someone who had integrity."

"The simple fact is Scott got more votes than I did, and that's how you win elections. People in our community have made their decision and I've accepted it."

Fielding thanked Eadie for his two decades of service and said he looks forward to being a new face on council.

"I tried to focus in on bringing in some new ideas and some positive energy to the campaign, and it looks like the people of St. James embraced that," Fielding said.

New face in St. Charles

In the St. Charles ward, which was the only ward without an incumbent running, Grant Nordman won a close four-way race to replace Peter de Smedt, who stepped down earlier this year.

Nordman, the president and CEO of the Assiniboia Chamber of Commerce, had the support of de Smedt and Katz. He won 3,415 votes, or 34 per cent of the vote, over closest rivals Kelly de Groot and Shawn Dobson, who won 2,727 and 2,515 votes respectively.

"Certainly Mr. Dobson and Ms. de Groot are strong, strong competitors and they've shown real well," Nordman said, adding that he now plans to get some rest.

"We've had a long, long campaign. At the end of it, you just feel like you're Play-Doh. But, you know, to see all these friends and supporters here tonight is a wonderful thing," he said.

"It's in large part because they were with me every step of the way."

Nordman noted that it was an emotional victory for him, since his late father Ric served as both councillor and MLA for the area in the 1970s and 1980s.

Vandal gets his old job back

In what was supposed to be another tight race, longtime St. Boniface councillor Dan Vandal reclaimed his seat after a two-year absence from civic politics. Vandal secured 9,785 votes, compared to 6,989 votes for incumbent Franco Magnifico.

Vandal had represented the St. Boniface ward from 1995 until 2004, when he stepped down to run against Katz for mayor in a byelection. Vandal had received 55,644 votes, which was just over half as many as Katz.

Magnifico, an area businessman, took over the ward in the same byelection.

The contest between Magnifico and Vandal was supposed to be a close one: while many area residents remembered Vandal's work on council, Magnifico had been endorsed by Katz during his re-election campaign. Still, Vandal handily won back his ward with 56.7 per cent of the votes cast there.

Vandal said Wednesday he will have no problem working with Katz, his formal mayoral rival.

"I'm looking forward to working with Sam. I mean, my job now is to advance the interests of St. Boniface. And, of course, I need the mayor's support for that, and I need the support of the majority of the other 15 councillors," Vandal said.

"I'm not difficult to work with. I focus on the common interests and get stuff done."

Vandal said he was surprised that a controversial proposed hog processing plant in St. Boniface proved to be more of an issue among voters than he had expected.

Magnifico, who had supported the proposed OlyWest plant, said that issue was just one of a number of reasons he lost.

"I think it was a combination of his [Vandal's] name recognition, a little bit of OlyWest, a little bit of not getting the vote out in the south," he said. "Probably a little bit of everything."

Council members will be inaugurated on Nov. 7.