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Cynthia Block successfully launched her campaign to become Saskatoon’s first female mayor in June in her bright and packed downtown campaign office.

Block smiled and expressed his enthusiasm and optimism on the future of the city.

Hours later, Gord Wyant launched his mayoral campaign in a darker location in the Riversdale neighborhood. The rain had started to fall outside. If the dour Wyant smiled throughout his campaign, it was barely noticeable.

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As the campaign progresses, Wyant’s message claimed Saskatoon was “broken”, adopting terminology used by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and the UK’s Brexit campaign.

In the end, Wyant’s strategy was broken – or perhaps the candidate himself was fatally flawed, striving to distance oneself of the Saskatchewan Party provincial government, he served for over a decade as a minister.

Saskatoon voters overwhelmingly chose Block’s bright vision over Wyant’s dark vision.

The voting process was very similar to that of four years ago. Just as incumbent Mayor Charlie Clark finished well ahead of the field of six candidates, Block garnered 45 percent of the vote, compared to Wyant’s 30 percent.

Wyant performed slightly better than fellow former Saskatchewan Party minister Rob Norris (26 percent) four years ago. So maybe it’s time to put an end to the experiment of the former Cabinet minister running for mayor.

Former Mayor Don Atchison, candidate a thrifty campaignpolled 15 percent, compared to 20 percent in 2020. Remarkably, his vote share has declined in five consecutive elections, but he seems oblivious to the obvious message.

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Maybe one day Saskatoon’s longest-serving mayor will appear as just a head in a jar maintained by future technology. Meanwhile, Atchison tarnishes his legacy.

In this election, he made a stupid statement about an alleged City Hall plot to replace the Confederation Mall with a transit village and promoted a questionable plan to house the homeless in shelters. 3D printed caravans.

City Hall critic Cary Tarasoff, who spent four years posting videos bashing Clark and the council, got 9%, double his 2020 share.

Yet Block not only fought against attacks from his adversariesbut a consultation anonymous online effort to discredit her and the outgoing council.

This included a mysterious online entity linked to a former Saskatoon councillor. Myles Heidt and former members of the Saskatchewan Party who are also linked to the oil industry lobby.

Wyant has denied any connection to the website, which has spent thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars on Facebook ads and portable billboards.

His campaign manager, Samantha Yaholnitsky, admitted that she had worked for the obscure group before the campaign. And Wyant regularly repeated the Facebook group’s claims.

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Block’s campaign, led by neophyte Rebecca Cormack, chose to stick mostly to his message and ignore all the negative noise. It appears voters did the same, which is very positive in an increasingly toxic political environment.

Block, a former broadcast journalist and CTV anchor who served two terms as a city councilor, criticized misinformation during the campaign.

Those lies included claims by Atchison’s campaign and Wyant that city hall was running deficits, even though both should know — Wyant is a former Saskatoon councilor — that deficits are prohibited at the municipal level.

As midnight approached Wednesday and grumpy reporters wondered why election results were taking longer in Saskatchewan’s largest city than in Regina, Block entered city hall. She performed his convincing victory as an endorsement of “hope” and its positive message.

She also said her top priority as mayor leading a council with six new members will be homelessness.

This monumental challenge with a mostly new board will severely test his positivity. Block turned 60 this summer, but she looks 10 or maybe 20 years younger. She will need her seemingly limitless energy in her new role.

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As one of the main promoters of a controversial new project downtown arena districtBlock emerged unscathed from the issue that was to dominate the campaign. The other big supporter, veteran incumbent Troy Davies, also won his west ward easily.

Trying to move forward with this improbable $1.2 billion plan poses another daunting challenge for Saskatoon’s 34th mayor.

Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

ptank@postmedia.com

twitter.com/thinktankSK

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