Cathy Heron will be the next mayor of St. Albert after capturing 49 per cent of the vote, defeating challengers Cam MacKay and Malcolm Parker. Heron will have new councillors Natalie Joly, Jacquie Hansen, Ray Watkins and Ken MacKay by her side for the next four years. Incumbents Wes Brodhead and Sheena Hughes will be also be returning. Incumbent Bob Russell finished in thirteenth place with 4,083 votes. Heron finished in first place with 10,714 votes, Cam MacKay finished with 6,840 votes and Malcolm Parker came in third with 3,905 votes, according to unofficial results from the city. Results become official at the end of the week. Heron said that she is "over the moon" with the result and plans on reaching out to all of the successful candidates tonight to begin to foster good relationships. "Councillor Hughes will probably be my first call. We will find some common ground," Heron said. Ken MacKay, Hansen and Brodhead waited for the results with Heron at the Century Casino. Watkins and Joly arrived after the results were announced to huge applause. The new mayor said she is excited to work with the new group and will be meeting one-on-one with the councillors in the next week. Hughes joined Cam MacKay at the Celtic Knot along with a large group of supporters to await the election results. In his concession speech, Cam MacKay thanked everyone who helped him on his campaign as well as Hughes, who he credited with convincing him to run for mayor in the first place. "I'm really proud of the campaign that we ran. I'm really proud of the message we got out and I'm really proud of you guys," he told the crowd. "I can tell you, I did my absolute level best." Cam MacKay said he's happy the campaign is over and he will be returning to private life. "This is it for me," he said when asked whether he would consider running for election in the future. Along with voting for council, residents cast their ballots for capital projects, including a branch library, ice sheet and aquatics space. A majority voted no to the branch library, with 61.7 per cent casting their ballots against the project. The ice sheet finished with 50.2 per cent voting against it. The aquatics space received the most support, with 55.7 per cent voting in favour. Voter turnout was higher than usual with 42.9 per cent casting their vote in the election.
