Meet the people who will make up Wilmot Township's new council
CBC
There will be a whole new council in Wilmot Township next month when the people who won Monday's municipal election are sworn in.
Natasha Salonen will be the next mayor of the township, taking over for Les Armstrong who did not seek re-election. She beat current Coun. Jenn Pfenning in the mayoral race.
In Ward 1 and Ward 2, incumbents were defeated. The Ward 3 and Ward 4 races were open after current councillors didn't seek re-election for those seats.
The new councillors are:
Salonen was born and raised in the township. She went to the University of Oxford, but moved home in 2019 to help care for her father, who has ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
She worked for MPs and MPPs in Kitchener-Conestoga — she was endorsed by former MP Harold Albrecht. She also received endorsements from Armstrong and Wilmot Coun. Jeff Gerber, who did not seek re-election.
"I've learned a lot about the issues that Wilmot faces," she said during a mayoral panel with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.
Most recently, she's worked for Ontario's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
In the community, she also is the current president of the Baden Optimist Club, sits on the Wilmot Agricultural Society, is a member of the Wilmot Homecoming steering committee and is a member of 100 Women Who Care Wilmot.
In an interview on election night, Salonen said she felt like her campaign resonated with voters who want "to get back to what's under municipal jurisdiction."
"With two candidates [for mayor], it was either more of what they'd already seen on council or something new, and a change with fresh new ideas," Salonen told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo on election night. "I believe the community is looking for some change out here."
Salonen said one of her priorities, once she gets situated in her new job, will be to improve communication between the township and the community "so that going forward any decision that we make is well communicated across the community and we can get strong input from all of our residents."
LISTEN | Natasha Salonen on why she thinks her campaign resonated with voters, what she's looking forward to working on in the next four years:
Cressman describes himself on his campaign website as a "family-oriented farmer" who volunteered with minor baseball and hockey and is a church elder at the New Dundee Bethel Church.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.