Gerry Cormier cruises to victory in Miramichi

Gerry Cormier will return as mayor in Miramichi, easily winninga secondterm as the northern city's mayor.

Cormier has 4,317 votes to Reg Falconer's 3,046 votes. Keith Kenny was far behind with 356 votes.

All the votes are now in, according to Elections New Brunswick.

Falconer previously served 10 years on Miramichi council, but ran unsuccessfully against Cormier in the 2008 election.

On Monday, Cormier said all of the candidates deserved a big round of applause, but he wasted no time in laying out his plans for the next four years.

"I want to keep doing what I'm doing to attract business and jobs to our city," he told CBC News. "I want to bring the workforce back home."

Malley loses re-election bid

Meanwhile, Miramichi residents will not see former Progressive Conservative MLA Michael (Tanker) Malley and former Liberal MLA John Foran on the same council.

There are eight at-large council spots in Miramichi and Malley finished ninth.

The former Tory MLA was three votes behind Peggy McLean.

Foran, however, was elected.

Malley and Foran sat on opposite sides of the legislature between 2003 and 2006.

There were a total of 24 candidates for theeight councillor positions in the city that has been hard hit in recent years with mill closures and job losses.

The winning candidates were:

• Lisa Harris
• Nancy Lordon
• Brian King
• Joan Cripps
• Billy Fleiger
• Shelly Williams
• Peggy McLean

There were five women elected to the eight-person council.

Only three incumbent councillors Lordon, King and Cripps were re-elected.

Many voters, such as Claude Theriault, said they wanted to see some change.

"I'd like to see some new and old together. Because you can't just put a whole bunch of new people in because they need the experience of the other people to help them out," he said.

Councillor elects Foran andHarris have both held council seats in the past.

Miramichi is still recovering from the collapse of its mills and loss of many of its workers, but is hoping anew federal payroll centre, with an estimated 550 employees, will helprebuild its economy.

Rupert Bernard and Jason Harris did not re-offer.

This election was only the second time the city chose its councilors on an at-large basis rather than individuals serving wards.

Mayor Cormier was first elected in 2008 when former mayor John McKay decided not to re-offer, citing a dysfunctional council.

Cormiers political career began in 1995 when he was elected councillor-at-large for the newly amalgamated City of Miramichi. He was re-elected in 1998 and 2001.