Smith re-elected, Foley unseats Snell as voters split Team Wasaga slate

Wasaga Beach voters returned Mayor Brian Smith with a clear majority on Monday but broke up the slate he ran with, unseating Deputy Mayor Tanya Snell and Coun. Faye Ego and sending two candidates from outside the group to the council table.

Mike Foley defeated Snell by 468 votes in a head-to-head race for deputy mayor. Kyle Graves, a first-time candidate, topped the councillor vote. Voters also narrowly backed a ward system, but too few took part for the result to bind council.

The results, released Tuesday morning after an overnight delay, are unofficial until the Town Clerk certifies them.

At a glance

• Mayor: Brian Smith, re-elected with 51.3 per cent
• Deputy mayor: Mike Foley, 52 per cent, defeating incumbent Tanya Snell
• Council: Kyle Graves (new), with incumbents Sasha-Rose Dileo, Joe Belanger, Ellen Timms and Richard White
• Defeated: Deputy Mayor Tanya Snell and Coun. Faye Ego
• Ward question: 51.1 per cent yes, but not binding
• Turnout: 41.4 per cent (11,983 ballots from 28,934 registered voters)

A mandate for the mayor, a split decision on his team

Smith and five sitting members of council campaigned together this fall as Team Wasaga, under the slogan "Let's Keep it Going." Snell ran for re-election as deputy mayor, and Belanger, Ego, Timms and White sought new terms as councillors. The group ran on its record, including two new high schools, the Wasaga Stars Arena and library, new family doctors and county affordable housing.

Voters endorsed the mayor but not the whole package. Four of the six slate members won. Snell and Ego lost.

The new seven-member council will include three people who were not on the slate: Foley, Graves and Dileo, the only sitting councillor who ran without the group. Smith and his three re-elected running mates will still hold four of the seven votes, a working majority on most decisions.

A stronger mandate for Smith

Smith took 6,102 votes, finishing 2,718 ahead of Leslie Farkas in a four-way race. It is a much stronger result than four years ago, when he won the job back with 38.5 per cent of the vote against three challengers, including then-mayor Nina Bifolchi. Smith had lost the mayor's chair to Bifolchi in 2018.

Farkas, who finished fourth in 2022 with 1,862 votes, nearly doubled that total to 3,384 and placed second. Mark Winegarden drew 18 per cent.

Snell loses after one term

The deputy mayor race was the closest contest at the top of the ballot. Foley won 6,107 votes to Snell's 5,639.

Snell, a former public school board trustee, won the post in 2022 with 55 per cent of the vote in a three-way race. This time she faced a single challenger and lost about 600 votes from her 2022 total.

The result matters beyond town hall. The mayor and deputy mayor also represent Wasaga Beach on Simcoe County Council, so Foley will take Snell's seat at the county table as well.

Newcomer leads the council race

Voters could choose up to five of 13 councillor candidates. Graves, a lifelong resident and City of Barrie firefighter, was named on 6,785 ballots, more than 56 per cent of all ballots cast and almost 1,000 votes ahead of the next candidate. He campaigned on fiscal responsibility, affordable property taxes and responsible growth.

Dileo finished second, followed by Belanger, Timms and White. The fight for the fifth seat was tight. White edged Ego by 475 votes, and Dan Gale finished a further 220 votes back in seventh.

Wards win narrowly, but the decision returns to council

Asked "Are you in favour of moving to a ward system?", voters said yes 5,970 to 5,712, a margin of 258 votes, or 51.1 per cent.

That is not enough to force a change. Under Ontario's Municipal Elections Act, a ballot question binds council only if more than half of eligible voters answer it. With 28,934 people on the voters' list, that would have taken more than 14,467 answers. The question drew 11,682, or about 40 per cent of eligible voters.

According to the Town's ballot-question explanation, a non-binding result "may guide" council. That leaves one of the new council's first structural questions in its own hands: whether to keep electing every member at large or to divide the town into wards. A narrow yes on low participation gives both sides of that debate something to point to.

Turnout slips as the voters' list grows

Turnout fell to 41.4 per cent from about 49 per cent in 2022, as reported by CollingwoodToday at the time. But the drop reflects a larger voters' list more than fewer voters. The 11,904 votes cast for mayor this year were slightly more than the roughly 11,640 cast in 2022.

Results delayed overnight

Results did not appear on election night. In an Oct. 26 statement, the Town Clerk said Neuvote, the Town's contracted election services provider, was delayed in delivering results after polls closed at 8 p.m. The statement did not say what caused the delay. Totals were posted to the Town's results portal by early Tuesday, which showed all four polls closed and online votes tallied.

School board trustee

In the Simcoe County District School Board trustee race, Wasaga Beach voters favoured Julie Rose, with 3,423 votes (39.7 per cent), ahead of Adam Harrod with 2,544. The figures are Wasaga Beach's count only. Trustee seats can cover more than one municipality, so the town's tally may not decide the seat on its own. Shawn Cooper was acclaimed as trustee for the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board.

What comes next

The Town's election schedule lists Tuesday, Oct. 27, for certification of the results. The new council's term begins Nov. 15, and its inaugural meeting is set for Nov. 17 at the Wasaga Stars Arena. The Town has not yet announced a time.

Team Wasaga's platform gives an early sense of the agenda Smith will bring to the new term. It promised to pursue Service Canada, ServiceOntario and County of Simcoe service offices in town, attract more major retailers and restaurants, expand Mosley Street and continue the Destination Wasaga beachfront plan. The mayor can count on three re-elected running mates. How Foley, Graves and Dileo, none of whom ran on the slate, respond to that agenda will be one of the first things to watch.

For background on the candidates and the ward question, see Wasaga Daily's 2026 election voter guide.