Click here to find out the newsmaker of the year

Nipissing MPP Monique Smith has been voted local newsmaker of the year for 2003 in a poll of local media outlets.

Smith, who defeated Al McDonald in the October 2 provincial election, beat out North Bay Mayor Vic Fedeli, who came in second and Nipissing MP Bob Wood, who finished third. Former North Bay Mayor Jack Burrows and McDonald round out the top five.

“I’m delighted by this,” Smith said Tuesday.
“I think it reflects a real mood of change in the community, and I hope to live up to the expectations. I’m pleased and very honoured by this.”

The daughter of Dick Smith, who had been Nipissing’s MPP for 12 years, Smith, a lawyer, returned to North Bay from Toronto, where she had been chief of staff for Dalton McGuinty, and beat out George Maroosis and Mac Bain for the provincial Liberal nomination.

She beat McDonald by 2,800 votes to become Nipissing’s first female MPP.