History was made Monday night in North Bay, when Maggie Horsfield became the first woman elected mayor. She was one of two new mayors elected in the biggest cities in northeastern Ontario. Horsfield beat fellow city councillor Jamie Lowery by more than 2,700 votes. She was declared the winner just before 9 p.m. “It is a great honour. It’s overdue,” Horsfield told Eric Taschner of CTV News. “But I am happy to be here and I can’t wait to see what happens next.” She said that the next council appears already to have a “diverse perspective.” “We have people who work in the business sector, in social services, and they’re going to bring those perspectives,” Horsefield said. “I can’t wait to have that opportunity to work with them, to hear from them and to be able to debate those policies and processes and those issues and opportunities that we have as a community and move our city forward.” A new mayor is also taking office in Timmins, where former police officer and local businessman Rob Knox easily beat incumbent Michelle Boileau. He had 56.4 per cent of the vote (9,980 votes) compared to 16.5 per cent (3,016 votes) for Boileau. Turnout in Timmins was 52.7 per cent, a high number considering local elections often struggle to reach 40 per cent turnout. “Thank you, Timmins!” Knox said on social media after his win. “I’m incredibly honoured and grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me. This victory belongs to everyone who believed in our vision for a stronger Timmins.” He thanks his family, volunteers, supporters, “and everyone who took the time to vote.” “Now the real work begins. I’m ready to roll up my sleeves, bring our community together, and get to work for the people of Timmins.” In Sudbury, Paul Lefebvre was re-elected easily, taking home 33,978 votes (62.6 per cent) to beat his closest challenger, Miranda Rocca-Circelli, who received 14,709 votes (27.1 per cent.) “At the end of the day, I think the great majority of folks spoke loud and clear tonight,” he told the crowd at his headquarters. “It’s a strong message; it’s a strong mandate that we will continue moving our city forward. And I think that there is a lot of enthusiasm here tonight.” He said the city is enjoying strong momentum and there are a lot of opportunities ahead. “Although I’ve spoken about the challenges on a regular basis, we’re going to face that together. We’re going to keep ... that unity at council, with our staff to move that needle forward.” And in Sault Ste. Marie, Mathew Shoemaker was re-elected mayor of Sault Ste. Marie. Shoemaker, a lawyer, had a more than 2,000-vote lead over second-place finisher Joel Rowswell. He ended up with 12,360 votes, compared to 10,352 for Rowswell. Turnout was 40.33 per cent. “There’s lots going on in our community,” Shoemaker told supporters. “We got steel tariffs. We’ve had an uncertain economy since the beginning of 2025 And people want to know that there is a plan ahead of them for economic diversification to take care of their health care needs. And that’s what I tried to present to the people. That’s what I tried to champion. And that’s what I think resonated with people (are) the ideas behind the campaign.” Despite the challenges the city is facing, Shoemaker said he’s confident he can deliver for residents. “What I think helped is I had a platform I ran on last time and proof that I had gotten it done and that I could work with council, collaboratively, to get things done,” he said. “I think, you know, the proof will be in the pudding over the next four years, but I’m confident that I can work with council to get those objectives done.” -- With files from Lydia Chubak, Eric Taschner, Cory Nordstrom and Angela Gemmill
