Wolfville elects almost all-female council with 5 out of 6 councillors

The Town of Wolfville elected women for five of its six council seats in Saturday's municipal election, bucking a national trend.

"I think we're a very progressive community," Wendy Donovan said Saturday night after she was re-elected. "I'm happy with this council."

There were 10 candidates for six council positions and Mayor Jeff Cantwell was acclaimed.

'We try to work with each other'

Wolfville is undergoing a major municipal planning strategy review that will determine land use and design, so negotiating big decisions is on the council's agenda, Donovan said.

"[Women] try and find a common ground, and we try to work with each other," she said. "It's the antithesis of this, 'Sit here, make your argument and have a vote.'"

When Donovan was first elected four years ago, only two women ran, she said. This time, half of the 10 candidates were women.

That seems to buck a trend. In the Halifax Regional Municipality, for example, two women were elected to council out of a possible 16 seats. The city's race this year saw the fewest women candidates in a dozen years.

'Year after year after year'

The other female incumbent who kept her seat in Wolfville is Mercedes Brian.

"One of the questions every councillor should ask is, 'Who's not being represented here?'" Brian said. 

"To have such a strong female component will help us represent a constituency that hasn't been represented, year after year after year after year in Wolfville, in Nova Scotia, in Canada."

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities estimates about a quarter of municipal councillors countrywide are women.

'Get their feet wet'

Donovan says she was involved with town affairs for years before deciding to run. She recommends interested people, including students at Acadia University, get involved with town committees to "get their feet wet."

"There's a lot to learn before you end up on council, and I think that may be lost on people," she said. 

"I just think that Wolfville has picked a good council — a council that I think will work together."