PORT HAWKESBURY - As the dust settles on a unique election campaign that included everything from pandemic precautions and electronic voting to gender issues, Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton is grateful to town voters for awarding her the "gift" of a second term. 

Acclaimed to the mayor's position in 2016 after four years as a town councillor, Chisholm-Beaton faced her first contested mayoral election - and only the third such vote in the past two decades - before defeating first-time municipal candidate Archie MacLachlan by a count of 1121 to 769. In doing so, Chisholm-Beaton chalked up the most votes of anyone running for any position on Port Hawkesbury Town Council this year.

Chisholm-Beaton suggested that the interest generated by the mayoral race helped contribute to the high voter turnout in Port Hawkesbury this year. An estimated 73 per cent of town residents cast their ballots in 2020, as opposed to roughly 59 per cent in 2016 and 72 per cent in 2012.

Of those who participated in the election, Chisholm-Beaton noted that 75 per cent cast their ballots via electronic voting, making Port Hawkesbury's first use of the internet-driven electoral method a success. She added that the town expects to use this method again in future elections, whether or not the COVID-19 pandemic is still a factor. 

As she prepares for her second consecutive swearing-in ceremony as Port Hawkesbury's mayor this coming Tuesday evening at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre, Chisholm-Beaton is expecting the town to continue its focus on such issues as retention and recruitment of family doctors, development of affordable housing opportunities, and a renewed focus on the town's waterfront. Public hearings in this regard got under way last August, and Chisholm-Beaton is hopeful that the town's waterfront development strategy - including the recent refurbishment of the town's Creamery building as the Strait Area Innovation Centre - can continue in earnest as the new council settles down to business. 

At the same time, Chisholm-Beaton is hopeful that her re-election as mayor can be part of a new wave of acceptance for women seeking public office in Cape Breton. The co-chair of the Government FOCUS group that launched a Leadership School for Women this past August, Chisholm-Beaton was enthusiastic about the election of Amanda MacDougall as mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and the election of two women in Richmond County, including Amanda Mombourquette, who was recently chosen as the county's new warden.

However, Chisholm-Beaton noted that Mayor-elect MacDougall had received scorn for seeking her CBRM post while pregnant, and added that she has received her own gender-based criticism during her time as Port Hawkesbury's Mayor. At the same time, she added that the Strait area seems to be moving past these outdated ideas and embracing a "wave" of inclusiveness in terms of gender, skin colour, race and sexual orientation.