New, incumbent Port Hope councillors look forward to getting to work
By correspondent Alan Rivett
A “super happy” and incoming Port Hope Ward 1 councillor candidate Caleb Carisse could hardly contain his enthusiasm for the new role he’s about to embark upon after election night.
He’s been offered a chance by the electorate to serve as one of two new Port Hope councillors after the 2026 municipal election results were announced at the Capitol Theatre on Monday, Oct. 26.
Carisse is joined by council newcomer Jamie Ferguson, who was also elected as a new Ward 2 councillor. Ferguson secured the highest number of votes – 1,390 – in the rural ward.
Although she’s currently serving as a Ward 2 councillor, Vicki Mink has also been elected to represent Ward 1 for the upcoming four years of council. Mink secured more votes than any other councillor candidate with 2,812 ballots in her favour, according to the municipality’s official election results.
In addition to the incoming new mayor Todd Attridge, others on council will include incumbent Ward 1 councillors Adam Pearson, who earned the second highest number of votes with 2,661.
Carisse followed just behind for Ward 1 candidates with 2,623 votes. Current Ward 1 Coun. Claire Holloway Wadhwani retained her seat with 2,661 votes.
In Ward 2, Coun. Darrell Toms was also re-elected with 869 votes, while runner-up Glenn Deeth secured 778 votes.
In the immediate aftermath of his election victory, Carisse said he was charged by the voters with making a difference – and he’s ready to comply with that request.
“Part of (the reason for running for council) was making a bigger impact on the community in particular. I have always had this need to serve others, and I think one of the best ways we can do that is through municipal services,” said Carisse, who’s a lifelong Port Hope resident who has “deep roots” in the community. “And, so that’s part of the reason why I wanted to run and make a difference for the town.”
And he said his ability to make a difference is directly tied to his business mindset that’s been gained through his involvement with the corporate world, specifically with Accenture, serving as a managing director with the consulting firm for the past five years. He said he’ll put his business acumen to good use in helping to keep costs in line for Port Hope residents.
“Making sure that we’re taking care of where our money’s going, making sure we’re limiting our tax impacts to the community and our water bills, and ultimately, I think cost-of-living is the No. 1 priority for us as we move forward,” said Carisse. “There’s also economic growth, but I think at the end of the day, where we want to boil it down to is a better way to reduce our cost to our residents.”
Joining Carisse in excitement around the council table will be Pearson, who also currently serves as Port Hope’s deputy mayor. Commenting soon after the election verdict was delivered, Pearson noted he was proud to once again be able serve local residents.
“It’s incredible to know that I have the support of so many Port Hopians. That’s always my pride,” said Pearson. “I’m a very big community individual so it’s just nice to see that they appreciate the work that I’ve done, and I’m looking forward to the next four years of work.”
Pearson was heartened but not surprised by the turnout of 43.3 per cent of eligible voters who cast a ballot in the election.
“Port Hope is a very engaged community, and we’ve seen that year-after-year, and we also saw that in the previous election, too, where we were somewhere around the same voter turnout. So it’s nice to see that we’re maintaining that community input. So no, I’m not actually shocked.”
“This is what I expected of Port Hope, and we got exactly what we expected.”
Pearson noted there won’t be any easing into the next term of council as it will need to immediately jump into planning for the 2027 budget.
“The first priority is going to be budget. We’re going to be going right into the budget season, and we have to get that ready for the next year to make sure that we are fiscally-responsible,” he said.
In terms of other priorities for the new council, Pearson noted long-term planning for the future will be a front-and-centre issue of council, mostly as it pertains to a potential Ontario Power Generation (OPG) plant at Wesleyville.
“We have (potentially) extremely large growth coming in the Wesleyville area with a potential – let me emphasize, a potential OPG power plant – and with that, you have to be making sure that you’re planning appropriately for the long-term, not for one term, but for decades, because this has the potential to reshape how Port Hope is.”
Following her election victory, Holloway Wadhwani said she was eager to get to work with new Mayor-elect Attridge at the helm and with fellow councillors.
“I’m thrilled. I’ve been standing with my colleague Todd Attridge since the very beginning, and I’m just over the moon. Can’t wait to get to work with Mayor Todd,” she said. “And I think it’s a great team.
“I’m excited to have Caleb (Carisse) joining council as well. I think he’s going to be an excellent edition. Jamie Ferguson, who’s in Ward 2, he’s also newly-elected, and I think he’s going to be a great addition.
“I think this is going to be a really good team and I’m excited for the next four years.”
Holloway Wadhwani said her focus was on the environment and housing during her first four years on council, and she plans to press on with those issues during the upcoming term. That said, she emphasized this council wants to improve communication with residents, as well as to improve upon “how we do business and how we make decisions.”
“I think you’re going to see a council that’s going to be a lot more forthcoming with information, a lot more transparent, and a lot more community-centred in terms of the voices we want to hear from and how we’re going to be making those decisions moving forward,” she said.
In terms of other candidates, long-time incumbent Les Andrews didn’t maintain his seat in Ward 1 despite recording 2,241 votes, according to municipal results. He finished sixth in the Ward 1 race involving eight candidates.
Amelia Bray was just ahead of him with 2,340 votes. Candidates Norm Orviss secured 1,240 votes, while Miranda Lukaniuk took home 631 votes.
In the election of school board trustees, Terry Brown and Jane Klassen Jeninga were elected as trustees for the English public school board for the Kawartha, Pine Ridge Kawartha District School Board. Matthew Hilts was acclaimed as the trustee for the English language separate school board for the Peterborough, Victoria, Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board.
Erik Lapointe was acclaimed for the French language public school board trustee for Conseil Scolaire Viamonde. And Marcellin Kwilu Mondo was also acclaimed for the French language separate school board trustee for Conseil Scolaire Catholique MonAvenir.
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