WESTLOCK – Ralph Leriger is back as the mayor of the Town of Westlock and will be joined by at least three new councillors this fall, while all but one Westlock County division will be contested in the Oct. 18 municipal election.
Nomination day, Sept. 20, confirmed that there will be a race for the six town council seats as eight men and women are running. No one else submitted paperwork for mayor, meaning Leriger, who was also acclaimed in 2017, will serve another four-year term.
Three incumbents, Curtis Snell, Murtaza Jamaly and Randy Wold, will be joined on the town council ballot by Abby Keyes, Jon Kramer, Laura Morie, Brenda Lussier and Chad Cloutier. Incumbents John Shoemaker, Clem Fagnan and David Truckey all previously announced their retirement from council. Of note, with three women running that means at least one is assured a seat — the last female member of town council was Shelia Foley, who resigned in 2015. No women ran for town council in 2017.
County races
Westlock County features two-person races in every division except for Division 2.
Jared Stitsen, who’s served as county reeve since last October, was unchallenged — Stitsen won Division 2 handily in 2017 by a 272-vote margin over Lavern Bazin.
In Division 1, incumbent Victor Julyan faces challenger Sherri Provencal, while Division 3 features incumbent Lou Hall versus the man she defeated by three votes (108-105) in 2017, Ray Marquette.
in Division 4, newcomers Francis Cloutier and Lisa Germann will seek the seat left vacant by retiring incumbent Brian Coleman, while Division 5 incumbent Isaac Skuban, who won his seat in a September 2019 byelection, is up against David Woynorowski, who also ran in the same byelection.
Division 6, vacant since the resignation of Fred Slobodian last November, has two candidates, Stuart Fox-Robinson and Brian Anthony Schyryver.
Finally, Division 7 will also have a new councillor as incumbent Dennis Primeau isn’t running — vying for the seat are Christine Wiese and former county councillor Bert Seatter.
