The Oct. 22 municipal election saw three ward incumbents turfed from office, and four candidates elected in wards that did not have incumbents going into the vote.
In the wake of the vote, community volunteer Glen Gower had beaten Shad Qadri in a head-on-head battle in Stittsville; former school board trustee Shawn Menard had wrestled the Capital ward seat away from David Chernushenko; and, former broadcaster Carol Anne Meehan had taken the Gloucester-South Nepean seat from Michael Qaqish.
Laura Dudas, a city hall staffer, will succeed Jody Mitic in Innes ward after losing to the army veteran in 2014. Business leader Jenna Sudds will take the torch from longtime politician Marianne Wilkinson in Kanata North. School board trustee Theresa Kavanagh won Bay ward, taking over from Mark Taylor. And, Canadian Forces veteran Matthew Luloff was victorious on a 17-candidate ballot in Orléans ward. He succeeds Bob Monette.
The results are considered unofficial for now. The city clerk is scheduled to make the results official on Thursday. The preliminary voter turnout rate was 42.55 per cent, notably better than the 39.92 per cent in the 2014 municipal election. The new council will be sworn in on Dec.1
National
Japanese and South Korean citizens have been banned from using legal pot in Canada. Last week a few hours before the cannabis was decriminalized the South Korea embassy tweeted a reminder that South Korean law still classifies cannabis as a banned substance. The consultant- general of Japan tweeted out a similar statement.
International
The U.N. Human Rights Committee has declared that France ban on full-face Islamic veils, such as the niqab and burqa, is a violation of Muslim women’s rights.
The committee, a body of 18 independent experts that monitors how nations implement an international civil rights treaty, said that France has failed to adequately explain why the 2010 law, which has come to be known as a burqa ban, was necessary.