No debate, this one was on the mild side.
Wednesday night’s meet the Barrie mayoral candidates event offered each of them eight minutes to talk before a packed hall at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 147 on St. Vincent Street.
While there was no debate on the issues, or even questions from an audience of more than 100 people, five of the seven candidates for mayor in the Oct. 24 election did get to say their piece.
Weldon Hachey, Gerry Marshall, Mike McCann, Alex Nuttall, and Barry Ward combined to speak for approximately 40 minutes. Andrew Gordon and Rob Haverson, who are also running for mayor, did not attend.
Nuttall, a former Barrie city councillor and local MP, said he would address growth if elected mayor.
“While the city of Barrie has been growing, there’s no doubt been growing pains,” he said. “My platform is built to address those pains and unleash Barrie’s potential for the future.”
Nuttall said that while hundreds of kilometres of new roads have been built in Barrie, for example, there’s also been neglect of current road, sewer and water assets.
“I will work with council to prioritize spending on these basic items that have been left behind,” he said.
Nuttall also addressed property tax increases.
“Another pain that Barrie’s growth has caused is the severe increase in taxation,” he said. “As mayor, I will maintain the capital surcharge to invest in infrastructure, but I will seek to balance our operating budget each of the four years.
“There aren’t many places where the City of Barrie can have an immediate impact on affordability, but holding the line on operating taxes is one of them,” Nuttall added. “With rising inflation and interest rates, now is not the time to dig further into the pockets of Barrie residents. Affordability is a huge issue.”
Ward, who has been a Barrie councillor for 22 years and also served as deputy mayor for the last four, has a different take on city services and property taxes.
“We are proactively repaving the roads before they reach a state of disrepair… that will save future councils millions of dollars,” he said.
“Our two biggest lines in the budget are policing and roads. If we want to cut spending, we need to look to spending in those areas and I don’t think that’s an area where people want to cut spending,” Ward said. “Or, we can look at smaller cuts across the board. That doesn’t work, either. Staff is always telling us ways to save money, and council is always saying we’re not sure if our residents would go for that.
“I’m not saying I want to see taxes go up,” Ward added. “During these inflationary times that household dollars have been stretched we should try to avoid yet another burden on struggling families — but at the same time, let’s not make their lives more difficult by cutting services that they need and use.”
McCann, who is finishing his second term as Ward 10 councillor, spoke mostly about what he’s done the last eight years. He mentioned helping get a high school built in southeast Barrie, the new emergency campus, increased parking fees near beaches for non-Barrie residents during the pandemic, fighting for businesses to reopen during the pandemic, the Love Barrie school competition, as well as Heritage Park’s landmark sign and fund-raising its $200,000 cost.
“I’ve got a strong business sense, but I’ve also got a lot of political know-how,” McCann said. “I think I’ve done a lot of good for this city.”
He also spoke about keeping taxes low, giving Barrie police proper resources, cleaning up the downtown, and his passion for the city.
“Every morning when I wake up, I ask myself a question: How can I make Barrie better?” McCann said.
Marshall spoke of his relevant experience, which includes eight years as mayor of Penetanguishene and four years as Simcoe County warden, responsible for an annual budget of $500-million at the latter post.
“I recall when I first got elected, one long-serving mayor said, ‘Gerry, you really have two options — do nothing and get yourself re-elected or do something and take your chances’. I was always the do-something mayor," he said.
“I’m not running for something to do. I have plenty to keep me busy. I’m running to do something," Marshall added.
Marshall said he has the experience, insight and passion to make Barrie better for all residents.
“I’m committed to not just talking about the challenges our city faces, but addressing them in practical, co-operative and constructive ways,” he said. “Our city is growing and will change. What those changes look like and the future we create depends on who’s leading the way.”
Hachey, known for wearing colourful thongs at Barrie protests against public-health measures during lockdown, has no formal experience in politics.
“You might not recognize me with clothing on,” he said. “It started out as a farce and I’m not that type of person.”
Hachey said he does have life experience — raising a child, going through school, working two jobs, etc.
“I’ve turned my back on the government. I’ve never enjoyed politics… I was never interested,” he said. “But I blame myself and people like myself who have not paid attention as to why we are in the turmoil that we’re in, the conditions that we’re in, and I’ve turned it up and I will not stop.
“After what Barrie’s done for me, I want to give back and I will never turn my back on politics again,” Hachey added. “After this, I’m going to go for prime minister, and I’m going to take our country and our world back.”
Nuttall also said he would work to get a variety of housing stock to market, to address Barrie’s supply and demand imbalance.
“Red tape can’t be the determinant on when and if people can find housing, especially vulnerable people,” he said. “Because of this we’ll institute a 90-day turnaround time for applications in the city of Barrie."
Nuttall also said that because city councils have approved residential growth plans that outpace the city’s job supply, businesses need help to create more well-paying jobs. He said the former Innisfil lands have been over-zoned for residential purposes and will worsen the imbalance between population and jobs in Barrie.
“I will work to get servicing of employment lands as a priority in the annexation (former Innisfil) area,” Nuttall said. “I will also approach our neighbouring municipalities… alongside the County of Simcoe and offer servicing of their employment lands around the city of Barrie."
Ward said he would focus on finding ways to help existing businesses survive, keep industrial taxes low, ensure an adequate supply of serviced industrial and commercial land, encourage a wide range of housing types, including affordable housing.
He said more studies are not the answer of Barrie’s housing prices, that the new council should follow the recommendations of the affordable housing task force, such as building on institutional land.
“Homelessness… we need to act with compassion,” Ward said. “The homeless are Barrie residents.”
Ward also said Barrie’s going to see much growth during the next 20 years and that its population could almost double in that time.
“I’m the leader who will guide the city through these next four years to prepare us for that growth,” he said. “I’m running for mayor to protect the things that make our city a great place to live — our waterfront, our parks, our neighbourhoods, our diverse economy.
“I’m running to preserve the services our residents value, our recreation centres, our emergency services, our snow plowing, our transit and dozens of other areas that protect our daily lives,” Ward added. “I’m running to enhance those areas where we can do better, our downtown, affordable and supportive housing, our infrastructure and city hall services.”
Nuttall said he also wants to be mayor so his family has the same chances he did growing up in Barrie.
“I’m running so my children have a safe, clean city to grow up in, so that they can get an education here,” he said.
Last night's meet-the-candidates evening was sponsored by the Barrie Chamber of Commerce and the Simcoe County Home Builders’ Association, and featured an opportunity to meet these running for mayor following their speeches.
The next in-person Barrie election event is a mayoral candidates forum on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army Citadel on Lillian Crescent.
Living Green Barrie will host a Zoom-based mayoral debate on the environment on Thursday, Oct. 6 beginning at 7 p.m. The public can register at LivingGreenBarrie.com.
