The race to become mayor of Orillia is down to the final hours. For candidates Steve Clarke and Whitney Smith, election day has arrived in the Sunshine City with the two-term former mayor vying to regain his seat against Smith, who has served as a councillor in Ward 1 for the past four years. While Clarke is campaigning on delivering a new hospital to the city and expanding Lakehead University, Smith is on a mission to create ‘A Greater Orillia’ by reining in spending and managing growth responsibly. Both candidates have put a focus on community safety and dealing “compassionately” with the city’s growing homelessness and drug crises. Clarke, who retired in 2022, after eight years in office, announced his candidacy in August. Smith, a longtime local business owner, announced she was running for mayor when Don McIsaac announced he was not going to run again. Smith has prioritized “keeping taxes as low as possible” while “ensuring Orillia continues to grow and thrive.” In 2018, Clarke won the mayor’s seat with about 67 per cent of the vote and earned about 90 percent of the vote with 8,090 of 8,990 ballots cast in his favour in 2014. Smith earned the second of two councillor seats in Ward 1 with 951 votes, more than double the third-place finisher in 2022.
