Colin Ratushniak received more than 400 votes for mayor. (submitted photo/Colin Ratushniak)

By Derek Cornet

incoming council

Ratushniak claims mayor chair with more than half of votes

Nov 10, 2020 | 12:25 PM

Colin Ratushniak will become mayor of La Ronge after capturing 52 per cent of the vote Monday in a four-person race.

“I couldn’t predict the outcome of this election, but after door knocking and actually speaking with the residents, I found people just really wanted new leadership, a new vision for La Ronge and they wanted someone who could go after it and do it,” he said.

Ratushniak won the municipal election with 406 votes out of 774. Matthew Klassen came in second with 145 votes followed by Tracy Fiske with 130 and Glen Watchel with 93.

Joining them on council are Jordan McPhail (re-elected) with 578 votes, Joe Hordyski with 454, Hugh Watt (re-elected) with 386, Viviana Ruiz Arcand with 380, Ryan Veteri with 380 and Abby Besharah with 365.

During his campaign, Ratushniak promised voters there would be no backdoor deals or biased decisions if he was elected mayor. He noted his biggest commitment would be to ensure ethical and unbiased community-minded decisions are made.

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“I’m excited for the other councillors who have been elected,” Ratushniak said. “I think we now have a very diverse group of people who will bring many different things to the table with the different levels of experience and the different backgrounds we have. Also, seeing some women on council is fantastic.”

Ratushniak also believes he is the first openly gay mayor west of Winnipeg. He doesn’t think his sexuality had an impact on the results, noting voters wanted someone who could do the job and do it well.

“It’s amazing people were able to finally move to 2020 and realize people are people,” Ratushniak said. “At the end of the day, I humbly accept people just want someone who is going to do the best job and I am happy that they chose me.”

Ratushniak will jump into his new role fairly quickly as a long range and strategic planning meeting has been scheduled for Friday. In the future, he’d also like to arrange a town hall meeting to ensure any concerns that weren’t mentioned during the campaign aren’t missed.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno