Candidates for Barrie city council have been asked to weigh in on their level of support for the environment as Simcoe County heads into its next phase of what's expected to be significant growth in the coming years.
The Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition recently reached out to municipal candidates heading into Monday’s election around the area to gauge their support for the environment.
“Municipalities have a lot of impact on how communities function,” the coalition's executive director, Margaret Prophet, told BarrieToday on Saturday, noting areas such as roads and infrastructure. “They are the front line of how communities flourish or don’t flourish, so they have a lot of responsibility.”
The candidate pledge includes designing complete communities and the elimination of urban sprawl; affordable housing and long-term financial benefit for existing residents such as transit improvements; prioritizing the right to clean, accessible water for Indigenous communities; the protection of water sources from development; the preservation of forests, wetlands, natural heritage and urban green spaces; protection of farmland and local food systems; as well as taking “strong climate action at the community level.”
According to the coalition, more than 60 candidates and community leaders have signed on to support environmental, financial and social sustainability of Simcoe County first, if elected to their respective councils.
Twelve candidates in Barrie’s municipal election responded to the pledge, including Shaughna Ainsworth, Keenan Aylwin, Dan Boucher, Natalie Harris, Lynn-Anne Hill, Ann-Marie Kungl, Bonnie North, John Olthuis, Micheline Robichaud, Tanya Saari, Shelly Skinner and Barry Ward.
Prophet said she was pleased with the response from candidates in Barrie, noting the coalition was able to get signatories in almost each of the city’s 10 wards with approximately one-third of council hopefuls taking part.
“I think it provides a good balance,” she said, particularly since there was a quick turnaround time.
Candidates were approached with the pledge on Sept. 29 and the deadline was reply was Oct. 10.
There are 41 certified candidates in Barrie, including one acclamation (Sergio Morales in Ward 9) and one withdrawal (Peter Culyer in Ward 10, whose name will still appear on the ballot, however).
“We wanted the pledge to help people recognize our shared goals and foster a spirit of working together, regardless of community of political affiliation,” Prophet said. “In order to have a strong, prosperous Simcoe County, we must put aside differences and think about the long term as well as the greater good.”
The coalition says a candidate’s pledge “unites them as a Community Leader for a Sustainable Simcoe,” or CLASS for short, which is a collaboration between the coalition and the area’s community leaders.
The next steps for the coalition will be to follow up with those who accepted the pledge after the election and create collaborations between municipalities. They will also follow up with educational opportunities to formulate a plan across communities, Prophet said.
The Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition is a group of 35 organizations from around the county and across the province “calling on … leaders to make more sustainable choices regarding growth, infrastructure, protection of our water, natural heritage and to expand Ontario’s Greenbelt.”
For more information on what responding candidates had to say, visit simcoecommunityleaders.ca.
