Charlie Clark defeats Don Atchison to become Saskatoon's new mayor-elect
Clark served as city councillor for a decade
Saskatoon voters have elected Charlie Clark as the city's mayor-elect.
Clark defeated incumbent Don Atchisonwho wasseeking afifth term. He was named the unofficial winner after polls closed at8 p.m. CST.
The unofficial results were Charlie Clark with 41 per cent of vote, Don Atchisongot 37 per cent, Kelley Moore received 22 per centand Devon Hein got oneper cent of the vote.
The final leg of the campaign was a close three-way race between Clark, Atchison, and Kelley Moore.
Entering city hall to a roar of cheers, Clark said he's proud of his campaign team and he's excited to lead Saskatoon forward into a new era.
"I'm over the moon. It's an incredible feeling to have the support of voters. We worked very hard to offer up a choice for change in this city in what I feel is a very important time for us in this city," Clark said.
Despite being behind the polls throughout the campaign and trailing Moore and Atchison in the two final polls leading up to the election, Clark said it wasthose moments where the team around him pushed harder to ramp up support.
"In a lot of ways, every result thatwasn't good for us, we saw more people get engaged and more people fighting harder for this city they knew we could create together and there's so much talent in this city and so many incredible people behind me in this campaign."
Speaking to reporters at city hall following the final results,Atchisonreflected on the campaign and respected the outcome of the election.
"The voters have spokentonightand the voters are always right in the end," Atchison said, adding he has no idea why he lost in the end.
"We thought we ran a wonderful campaign in the sense of being honest, straight-forward and telling people what we believed in."
Clarkserved as the citycouncillorfor Ward 6 for the pastdecade. He said he wanted to focus on smarter spending and on core services during the campaign. He also focused onissues including taxes, transit, crime in the city and how the city plans to grow.
The voters have spokentonightand the voters are always right in the end.- Don Atchison
One common theme leading up to the election was how the new mayor would control taxes, after what's been a string of record tax increases in Saskatoon.
While Clark didn't go into specifics about how he would lower the tax burden, he said one thing he would not endorse was a shift to lower the commercial tax ratio.
Clark said from 2001 to 2010 city hall approved a taxshift from business to homeowners that accounted for a 14 per cent tax increase for residents. He said thatlowering the commercial property tax would not bring business into Saskatoon as some in the business community had argued.
The issue of street checks and carding came frequently in the campaign. Clark stated he stands against racial profiling and carding and the solution starts with building community relationships and working with social services.
Clark also outlined his plan for growth stating his plan calls for growth upwards, not outwards, and a focus on the city's core development. Hesaid his plan will save the city $500 million a year with no need to build new overpasses for every new neighbourhood.
"I've been working with citizens and leaders and council for 10 years on making a new infill guidelines plan," he said. "When infill comes into neighbourhoods, it's designed to fit into the neighbourhoods and to not overwhelm surrounding neighbourhoods. Where the city has gone wrong is adding neighbourhoods on the outside with choke-points that now require $50 million overpasses. I've been fighting against that kind of planning for 10 years."
The right infill plan will help build the tax base, create jobs and lower costs in the long run.
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