Saint John elects new mayor

Saint John has a new mayor after Monday's municipal election.

Moving up from councillor to the mayor's chair isIvan Court, who beat out four contenders, including the incumbent.

Court took 8,850 of the ballots, while incumbent Norm McFarlane received 3,978, finishing fourth in the race for mayor. John Ferguson had 6,187 votes, while former deputy mayor Michelle Hooton took 4,211 and Mike Richardson garnered 751.

There was a 50.58 per cent voter turn out in the port city where there are 47,600 eligible voters.

Court had largely run his campaign on his record of voting against an LNG tax deal in the city.

"It was a bad deal. The taxpayers are going to pay for this and so is business," Court said during the campaign.

Three years ago Saint John city council voted to give Irving a tax break on the LNG project.

Though the project has brought hundreds of jobs to the city, the decision remained a contentious one in this year's municipal election.

This is also the first year since 1980 that the Saint John returned to a ward system rather than voting for councillors at large.

Eight people were elected to represent four wards in the city, while two councillors at large will also serve on council.

Incumbents Stephen Chase and Chris Titus will be the councillors at large, beating out six other candidates who also ran for the two positions.

Ward 1 will be represented by incumbents Peter McGuire and Bill Farren.

In Ward 2, incumbent Carl White was re-elected and will serve with Gary Sullivan.

In Ward 3, incumbent Jay Chang was ousted and Donnie Snook and Carl Killen will represent area constituents.

In Ward 4, Bruce Court (brother of Ivan) and Joe Mott will serve as councillors.