Like mothers’ milk or sunny days, there was little real disagreement on environmental matters among four of Barrie’s mayoral candidates during the Living Green Barrie debate Thursday night.
Barry Ward, Alex Nuttall, Mike McCann and Gerry Marshall generally agreed on topics such as improving public transit, clear-cutting trees, reducing carbon footprints, bike and walking trails to the downtown, protecting public spaces, 15-minute communities, high-speed rail to and from Toronto and municipal incentives for green initiatives.
Mayoral candidates Andrew Gordon, Rob Haverson and Weldon Hachey did not participate in the Zoom debate, as Barrie heads toward the Oct. 24 election that will not only determine the next mayor, but city councillors and school trustees.
The debate was moderated by Gord Miller, Ontario’s former environmental commissioner, who introduced questions from not only Living Green Barrie members, but co-sponsor Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition.
Ward, a 22-year council veteran, essentially kicked off the debate by defending the city’s record on environmental matters — noting the climate emergency council declared in 2019 and targeting an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent below 2018 levels by 2030, becoming zero in 2050.
A new Official Plan that encourages denser development, new bike lanes, opening up the streams which flow into Kempenfelt Bay to improve fish habitat, better stormwater management to reduce flooding, and updating the city's wastewater treatment plant to keep phosphorous levels low were also listed.
“We have a lot of work to do but at least we’re going in the right direction,” Ward said.
But Nuttall said he wants more information on climate change and improving Barrie’s carbon footprint.
“We need to make sure we have measurables in place. Everything we do needs to be measured,” he said. “We need to be able to determine, number one, where are we today, number two, we need to understand how we can limit it, number three we need to know how to action it and measure our results.
“If we’re not measuring it, we’ll never get anywhere,” said Nuttall, a former Barrie councillor and the former MP for Barre-Springwater-Oro-Medonte.
And Marshall, who's a former Penetanguishene mayor and Simcoe County warden, said the city needs more expertise.
“One of the things I always say is we need to think long before we can think short,” he said. “By that I mean we need to look out 20 or 25 years, where do we need to be and how are we going to get there. I think the city needs to invest in a climate change expert (city employee).”
On the topic of clear-cutting trees, the city has a relatively new bylaw to protect trees on private property, although McCann said good relationships with developers is also important.
“If we lose a tree, we need to replace one,” he said. “When was the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago. When is the second best time? Right now.
“I come across protecting the environment quite naturally,” said McCann, Barrie’s Ward 10 councillor for the last eight years. “I switched careers, switched industries and actually switched roles to open up my own renewable energy company. Solar is one of the cleanest forms of energy we have on the planet.”
Public transportation, and improving Barrie Transit, was another subject for the candidates and Marshall had a unique solution to getting buses around a city bisected by Kempenfelt Bay and struggling with Highway 400’s bridges, two under construction right now.
“Divide Barrie into four quadrants and have a rapid transit link from quadrant to quadrant so people can get where they need to be in a far better manner,” said Marshall.
For more information on Barrie’s election visit barrie.ca/election.
