The Greater Sudbury municipal election, 2003 was held in the city of

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

on 10 November 2003. All municipal elections in the province of

are held on the same date; see

2003 Ontario municipal elections In the 2003 municipal elections in Ontario, voters in Ontario, Canada, elected mayors, councillors, school board trustees and all other elected officials in all of Ontario's municipalities. Results of election According to thAssociation of Municip ...

for elections in other cities. The election chose the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

and

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

lors who would sit on

Greater Sudbury City Council Greater Sudbury City Council () is the governing body of the City of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the mayor plus a twelve-person council. The city is divided into twelve wards; each ward is represented by one councillo ...

from 2003 to 2006.

Issues

The primary issue in the 2003 elections was the municipal

amalgamation Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

of 2001. Prior to 1 January 2001, the current city of Greater Sudbury consisted of seven separate municipalities, together comprising the

Regional Municipality of Sudbury The Regional Municipality of Sudbury was a regional municipality that existed in Ontario, Canada, from 1973 to 2000, and was primarily centred on the city of Sudbury. It served as an upper-tier level of municipal government, aggregating municipal ...

. On that date, the provincial government of Ontario dissolved all seven former municipalities and the regional government, merging them all into the current city government. Under longtime mayor Jim Gordon, the preceding city council – the first to govern the amalgamated city – had struggled to pull the new city together, with soaring costs and deterioration of public services that had not been foreseen by the provincial government when the amalgamation was legislated. Voter anger was directed primarily at the provincial government of

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

rather than the city council, although the council was criticized for some of the budgeting decisions it made, such as closing many municipally-owned recreational facilities.

Ward boundaries

When the current city of Greater Sudbury was created in 2001, the city was divided into six wards, each of which was represented by two councillors. This structure was controversial, as some voters felt that the division of responsibility among councillors was vague and ill-defined – it could, for example, be unclear which of the two ward councillors to approach in regards to a political issue. In 2005, the city council adopted a new ward structure, in which the city would now be divided into twelve wards with a single councillor per ward. The new ward structure was implemented for the first time in the 2006 municipal election.

Results

Mayoral race

Incumbent mayor Jim Gordon did not run for reelection in 2003. As a result of his retirement, the mayoral race attracted an unexpectedly large field of 14 candidates. This was the second largest slate of mayoral candidates of any Ontario city in this election cycle –

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

was the only city in the province with more candidates for mayor. The race was generally perceived, however, to have two leading candidates:

David Courtemanche David Courtemanche (born 7 April 1964) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is the former mayor of Greater Sudbury, having served one term from 2003 to 2006. Background Courtemanche was raised in West End, Sudbury Ontario. A former student o ...

, an incumbent city councillor, and Paul Marleau, a businessman and the husband of the city's federal Member of Parliament

Diane Marleau Diane Marleau, (June 21, 1943 – January 30, 2013) ...

Ward 1

Two to be elected.

Ward 2

Two to be elected.

Ward 3

Two to be elected.

Ward 4

Two to be elected.

Ward 5

Two to be elected.

Ward 6

Two to be elected.

References

{{Greater Sudbury Elections 2003 Ontario municipal elections

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

November 2003 in Canada