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Estranged Ontario brothers still not talking after municipal election results

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No brotherly love was lost in Port Colborne after Monday's municipal election that pit two estranged siblings against each other.

Incumbent Bill Steele will serve another four years as mayor of the southern Ontario city after getting more than 60 per cent of the votes.

His brother, Charles Steele, received just under 40 per cent of the remaining ballots.

"I did better than I expected," Charles Steele told CTV News Toronto Monday night. "There was a definite reaction against my brother and I didn't expect this many votes."

Charles entered the race moments before registration for the municipal elections closed after learning that his brother was running unopposed. His decision surprised Bill Steele, who hasn't spoken to his brother in 30 years.

Prior to being elected mayor in 2018, Bill Steele spent 17 years as a city councillor. He told CTV News Toronto in September that he was always ready to fight for his seat.

“I mean, we were ready for a campaign,” he said at the time. “No matter who the candidate is, or would be against us, then that's who we're going to battle it out.”

On Monday night, Bill Steele said he was very happy with the results, especially since he spent the second half of his campaign with a sprained ankle.

He told CTV News Toronto he looks forward to sitting down with his new council and discussing what they want to achieve over the next four years.

In the last municipal election, Bill Steele beat out three other competitors, earning 702 more votes than the runner up.

This time around, that margin was much higher. Unofficial city results show that Bill led the race with 1,200 more votes than his brother.

Voter turnout was significantly lower. Just over 4,860 votes were tabulated for the mayoral race, according to the unofficial data.

In 2018, that number was 6,636.

Charles Steele has said he likely will not try to run for public office again after this loss.

"I only ran because if I hadn't run, my brother would have been acclaimed," he said. "So I ran and I didn't and I got a lot of it attention."

"I just can't believe how little people voted."

As for the brothers, neither has contacted the other to offer congratulations or best wishes for the future.

"I don't speak to my brother," Bill said frankly on the phone. "I don't speak about my opponents and we'll leave it at that."

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