Ward results
Katherine Hobbs 4197
Jeff Leiper 7557
Ellen Lougheed 272
Michelle Reimer 1530
Larry Wasslen 95
Eligible voters: 28685
Ballots cast: 13849
Turnout %: 48.28
The people of Kitchissippi Ward again voted for change Monday, turning out incumbent Katherine Hobbs in favour of community activist Jeff Leiper.
His runaway victory capped an election that developed into a bitter, personal contest between Leiper, the former president of the Hintonburg Community Association, and Hobbs, a councillor who sold her car in order to better understand the life of the city’s transit users.
In the end, Leiper captured 55 per cent of the popular vote.
“When I started this campaign, I said the voices of the people in Kitchissippi were not being heard at city hall,” Leiper told his jubiliant supporters at the Carleton Tavern. “I wonder if they can hear us now?”
Leiper, who left the podium to cries of “Jeff, Jeff, Jeff,” becomes the fourth different councillor to serve the ward since 2003.
In an interview, Leiper said that unlike Hobbs, he will offer Kitchissippi residents meaningful consultation on key issues before votes are cast. “I’m going to be bringing people in before my mind is made up,” he said.