2 tight races for Edmonton council end well for only 1 incumbent

Wards 3 and 7 were the battlegrounds in Edmonton's 2017 civic election in an otherwise tepid race for mayor and council.

With Mayor Don Iveson sliding to an easy second-term win, two of his colleagues didn't have such a cakewalk.

• Don Iveson easily wins 2nd term as Edmonton mayor

The only incumbent to lose his seat was Dave Loken in Ward 3 to Jon Dziadyk, a 35-year-old urban planner who's lived in Edmonton for 11 years.

Dziadyk campaigned on more investment for roads, sidewalks and parksin the north Edmontonward, which he said has been"ignored" by the city.

Loken, who lost by 464 votes, said he was shocked by the results after running what he considered a solid campaign with more volunteers than his previous campaigns.

"I know I brought a number of improvements to the ward," he said. "I had a number that I'm sure I was going to be able to deliver next term, which unfortunately I'm not going to be the guy,"

• Edmonton Votes 2017: Safe streets a priority for culturally diverse Ward 3

Loken said that when he was elected in 2010, only one neighbourhood in Ward 3 was up for renewal, and he has since added five more to the list.

"It was a good ride, it was a wild ride, it was a tough ride, it was a funride," he said. "We'll take a pause for a while here and see what happens."

Karen Principe came in third place in Ward 3, followed by John Oplanich and Sarmad Rasheed.

Tony Caterina won his fourth term in Ward 7, squeaking by challenger Kris Andreychuk by165 votes.

"You're anxious, certainly, and you want the results to come in.You certainly want them to come in in your favour," Caterina told CBC News after all the polls were countedshortlyafter 10:30 p.m.

Caterinaadmitted Ward 7 was the tightest race in this election but said he believes he's made a big difference since being elected 2007.

The incumbent got more votes tonight but I feel like we won- Council candidate Kris Andreychuk

"Ward 7 is an interesting ward," he said. "It's old neighbourhoods [with]many, many issues that other wards don't experience, certainly being closeto the inner city."

Caterina said redeveloping the Northlands site is high on the agenda at city Hall, an issue echoed by Andreychuk, his main challenger.

Andreychuk, a public safety supervisor with the city and a former constituency office manager for the NDP in 2004 to 2008, said volunteer support during the campaign made a difference.

"We had an army of people across the political spectrum," Andreychuk told CBC News Monday night.

"People who liked what we were talking about, saw themselves reflected in the campaign and wanted something better for their neighbourhood," he said.

"The incumbent got more votes tonight but I feel like we won."

Caterina's four other challengers were Andrzej Gudanowski, Liz John-West, Matthew Kleywegt and Mimi Williams.

Caterina was not expected to be a shoe-in for Ward 7, where lingering issues like crime, revitalizing118th Avenueand the future of the Northlands site persist.

• Incumbent Caterina faces strong election challenges in northeast Edmonton ward
• Edmonton Votes 2017: Future of Northlands site an issue in northeast Ward 7
• Northlands Coliseum will close permanently at end of this year

Voters may recall Caterina also ran in the 2015 provincial election in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview, where he lost to NDP MLA Deron Bilous.

Caterina was the only incumbent not to respond to CBC's questionnaire sent to all candidates ahead of the election.