Oliver Paipoonge mayor won’t run again
By: Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative ReporterSource: The Chronicle-Journal
Long-time Oliver Paipoonge mayor and councilwoman Lucy Kloosterhuis says her current term will be her last when it ends next fall.
“Earlier this year I thought I could do one more year, but not four more,” Kloosterhuis said on Thursday.
“I also think it’s time for me to move on,” she added. “I’ve enjoyed (being on council), but I’ve been doing other things now, like volunteering, and I want to keep on doing that.”
Ontario’s next municipal elections are to take place next October. Councillors are elected to four-year terms, a length of time Kloosterhuis supports.
“I think it’s a good idea because it gives your municipality some stability,” she said. “And people get a chance to know you, see you at events and ask you questions.”
She added: “Sometimes you even get a pat on the back. But you can’t please all the people.”
Kloosterhuis demurred when asked if she’s heard of any potential candidates who might seek the mayor’s chair in next year’s election.
As news of Kloosterhuis’s looming departure spreads, some regional municipal colleagues are giving her a pat on the back.
“Lucy has dedicated her work to building her community, as well as advocating for all of the municipalities in the district of Thunder Bay,” said Shuniah Mayor Wendy Landry.
“She’s a quiet force and a pleasure to work with.”
Kloosterhuis first became involved in municipal politics in 1991, before the former townships of Oliver and Paipoonge merged into a single municipality seven years later.
Oliver Paipoonge, with a population of about 6,000, is the largest rural Thunder Bay municipality by population.
It’s also only the second Northwestern Ontario municipality after Thunder Bay to not be patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police. Oliver Paipoonge is policed under a contract with Thunder Bay’s municipal force.
Kloosterhuis has sometimes remarked that it feels like her community has two police forces, since the OPP patrols provincial roads that run through the sprawling municipality.
Though she has been in favour of mergers among rural Thunder Bay municipalities, Kloosterhuis’s efforts hit a roadblock in 2020, when the rest of her council voted against joining up with nearby Conmee Township.
Former Conmee mayor Kevin Holland, currently the area’s Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP, was among those who supported the merger.
Kloosterhuis said politicians have to take occasional defeats in stride.
“You’re lucky if you have a good council to work with, and I think we have,” she said. “When we walk out the (council chamber) door, we are still friends.”
