Former lord mayor is the second candidate to drop out

And then there were three.

Regional council candidate Pat Darte has dropped out of the Niagara-on-the-Lake election just 10 days before voters head to the polls.

In an interview Friday morning, Darte, who served as lord mayor from 2014 to 2018, refused to say why he is quitting the race so close to voting day.

As of early last week he was still campaigning and placed an ad in last Thursday’s edition of The Lake Report.

His name will still appear on the ballot but in a media statement he asked that people not vote for him. The deadline for removing names from the ballot was Aug. 19.

Initially there were five regional candidates. Darte is the second person to drop out of the regional race this year.

Barbara Worthy, the community engagement co-ordinator for the NOTL Museum, quit the race in early September. Her name also will still appear on the ballot.

Andrea Kaiser, Paolo Miele and William Roberts are the remaining candidates running for NOTL’s regional seat. 

Gary Zalepa is the town’s current regional councillor, but he is running for lord mayor.