TIGNISH, P.E.I. - The campaign for mayor of Prince Edward Island’s westernmost town pits a veteran municipal politician against a relative newcomer to Tignish.
Allan McInnis served as a councillor for Tignish almost continuously from 1999 until he took over as chairman of the community council in 2012. He was re-elected in 2014 and became mayor a year and a half ago when Tignish was granted town status.
Dryden Buote just moved into Tignish last November, but he comes from the “next-door” community of Anglo-Tignish.
He says he loves his town.
“Just the small-town feel of it; everybody knows everybody, and it is a very welcoming and warm community,” he observed.
“I’ve been very transparent and I talk to a lot of people in the coffee shops and on the streets and I ask them their opinion,” McInnis said in describing his leadership style. “We try to accommodate our constituents in the community. I think it makes everything easier when you do that.”
McInnis says he’s proud of the Tignish council’s accomplishments during his six years as chairman and mayor, highlighting a splash pad at Bicentennial Park, sidewalks on Dalton Avenue and MacLeod Lane and a new lagoon.
Buote says he thinks things have been going fairly well in the new town and he wants to play a part in promoting Tignish even more, so that people right across the province know Tignish as a “really great place.” He said he wants to promote its wholesomeness.
Approximately 560 Tignish residents, out of a population of around 700, are eligible to vote either in Saturday’s advance poll or on election day Monday.
Tignish council candidates
- Samuel Arsenault
- Colleen Dwyer
- Edward Gallant
- Debbie Fennessey
- Lloyd Gavin
- John McInnis
- Angel Murphy
- Judy Morrissey-Richard
