The voters of Chatham-Kent have re-elected Darrin Canniff as mayor for a second term.
Canniff was challenged by Andy Fisher and William Pickard, but won the mayor's race handily.
Canniff garnered 75 per cent of the vote with 17,981 votes, Pickard had 3,588 votes, and Fisher had 2,364 votes.
Mayor Canniff thanked his team and his family for their support and told the crowd that he's excited for the next four years because of the expected growth across the community.
"Next term each councillor is going to have $25,000 to spend on capital projects, I'm going to have some money to spend. It's going to stimulate a lot of small to mid-sized projects in the community right across Chatham-Kent," said the mayor.
Canniff said he also wants to build a community with all the needed amenities and jobs to keep youth home.
"I'm looking forward to the next four years working with the other 17 people that are elected. I trust that collectively each and everyone of us, if we do five per cent more in Chatham-Kent, we are going to have an absolutely amazing place," Canniff said.
Canniff said there will be a campaign in the Greater Toronto Area soon targeting those residents to move to Chatham-Kent.
Canniff said building more affordable housing will be the big challenge for the next term of council because the 200 local units of affordable housing either in the planning stage or being built is not enough.
"If I had a magic wand to be able to fix anything, it would be affordable housing. That's a huge issue moving forward and it's not going to fix itself tomorrow. We need federal and provincial money, that's what makes housing affordable, it's being subsidized by federal, provincial, municipal," he said.
The mayor also expected a low voter turnout this time, but wasn't prepared for the 30.5 per cent voter turnout Monday night.
Canniff was first elected as mayor in Chatham-Kent in 2018 after serving as a councillor in Ward 6 in Chatham for one term from 2014 to 2018. None of the candidates who ran against Canniff in the 2018 election were on the ballot opposing him in 2022.
In the 2022 municipal election, Chatham-Kent had 43 council candidates vying for 18 seats at the council table.
There were races in every ward but one. Councillors Carmen McGregor and Aaron Hall were acclaimed as councillors in Ward 5 in Wallaceburg.
