Isaac Skuban won the Sept. 17 Westlock County Div. 5 council seat by eight votes over David Woynorowski.
After a five-week campaign of door-knocking, hand-shaking and meeting voters, Isaac Skuban will take the seat at the Westlock County council table Oct. 8, after topping three other byelection hopefuls.
Skuban received 101 votes (38 per cent) from Div. 5 residents in the Sept. 17 byelection, while David Woynorowski trailed with 93 votes (35 per cent). Lori Latreille got 40 votes (15 per cent) and Mary Ashton-Groulx managed 33 votes (12 per cent). Compared to the 219 voters who came out in the 2017 municipal election, the byelection saw 267 votes cast, a substantial increase in voter turnout.
Skuban said he was at the home on the family farm when he was notified of the results, soon after the polls closed at 8 p.m.
“It was hard to process when I heard I won and when I heard I won by eight votes too,” he said.
“That just made me really grateful for all the hard work I put in and I think my family kind of realized it in the moment too and they were all pretty ecstatic. I think they really believed in me so it was just a good night.”
He said it probably won’t really hit him fully until he’s sitting in that chair between reeve Lou Hall and Coun. Jared Stitsen at the next council meeting.
Skuban employed a strategy of talking to as many residents of the division as he possibly could and he was surprised how many acreage owners in their thirties there are, who are just starting their families.
“They really do see the utility in having a young person on council and that was where a lot of my support came from ... I probably got votes from all demographics, but that was definitely an audience that was very receptive to me and heard what I had to say,” said Skuban.
He was happy to see three other candidates running alongside him as their obvious skills made him want to work even harder and be an even better candidate.
“You go in and you want to be a good candidate, but when you have three talented and qualified people running, you kind of figure ‘I have to be the best candidate in order to win.’ That kind of changed things and made me work harder. The past few days have been interesting,” Skuban said.
The young councillor doesn’t plan on going in with guns blazing, instead he plans to learn the issues and the processes and rules that guide municipal governments.
“I think the biggest learning curve for me will just be catching up with the other councillors. It’s hard for me to do anything unless I know the ins and outs of the county. Once I get used to that I can start working towards change and that’s really all I can promise for the next two years,” he said.
Woynorowski netted 93 votes, eight shy of Skuban’s 101 and said he graciously accepts the will of the people.
“I congratulated Isaac on winning the byelection and I certainly wish him well in addressing the many challenges and issues that Westlock County faces,” said Woynorowski. “I ran on my qualifications of over 30 years of experience in government and business, but the voters of Division 5 chose Isaac and I certainly respect that decision and I wish him well.”
Woynorowski has been somewhat of a thorn in council’s and administration’s side, raising issues he feels are not being addressed appropriately directly to county staff and through Letters to the Editor in this newspaper. He said he will likely back off for a while, but will not stop being curious about how his home municipality is functioning.
“I’m going to give Isaac some time and space to settle himself into the position and to represent Division 5 ratepayers. I’ll always continue to raise what I think are valid issues and concerns about how the county is being run, irrespective of who is in Division 5,” said Woynorowski.
Skuban had a message for supporters: “I just want to say thanks to everyone who supported me ... It meant a lot to me to know that if I do go in and try to affect change then I know residents are behind me and even the residents that maybe didn’t vote for me, a lot of them were very positive about me running. That’s definitely enough for me to work with and I plan on spending their money wisely,” said Skuban.
