The incumbent's past has been dragged into what seems to be a win-at-all-costs battle in Barrie's Ward 7, but some are questioning whether the methods are tasteful.
On Friday afternoon, residents opened their doors to find a pamphlet from Ward 7 candidate Gary Harvey asking voters to make an informed decision and to search the internet for information on the candidates who are running, including incumbent Andrew Prince.
The door-hanger reads:
Google: Gary Harvey Barrie
Google: Andrew Prince Arrest Barrie
What voters will find when they search Prince's name is information he has never hid from anyone and that many voters in Barrie have known for years.
In 2009, Prince was charged with assault, but a year and a half later the charge that Prince called “completely false” was withdrawn. He was given an absolute discharge.
Prince did plead guilty to uttering threats and a peace bond was ordered by the judge. Prince admits the threat was when he was at his lowest almost a decade ago.
Prince, who was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, has never been dismissive of his past and faced it head-on when he won the Ward 7 byelection in 2016 after the resignation of former city councillor John Brassard, who is now MP for Barrie-Innisfil.
“Gary’s tactics are very low and this type of mud-slinging is very similar to U.S. politics and not the type of thing we see here,” Prince told BarrieToday. “Anyone who knows me knows I am in this for the people because I love this city.
"Gary was involved in law enforcement before and my brother is a police officer and I could never imagine him behaving the way that Gary is," Prince added.
In an effort to get Harvey's side of the story, BarrieToday called the candidate Friday evening and also left a Facebook message, without receiving a response to either. Another call was placed Saturday as well as a follow-up email, but neither produced a response.
BarrieToday was eventually able to catch up to Harvey while out campaigning and door-knocking on the streets of Ward 7, which is located in the city's south end.
After finding Harvey and his volunteers distributing campaign literature on Waddington Crescent, BarrieToday asked Harvey about Prince's response to his pamphlets.
“I’ve been avoiding your calls for a reason,” Harvey said. “I’m not willing to talk to you. I’m not turning this into a media frenzy. Please leave me alone."
Further attempts to reach Harvey on Sunday also went unanswered.
Kim O’Hara, a longtime Ward 7 resident, follows Barrie politics closely. The mother of three said she was not happy that the literature ended up on her doorstep Friday.
“It is very disappointing to see a candidate willingly mislead voters in his ward to try to gain a vote,” O’Hara said. “What Mr. Harvey did on his door-hangers is dirty politics and has no place in Ward 7, nor in Barrie or municipal politics.”
Ward 7 resident Aurele Lacroix also said he wasn't happy with the Harvey pamphlet, but also said he wasn't surprised. Lacroix said he found the literature distasteful, but added that’s what politics has become.
“That is dirty,” Lacroix told BarrieToday. “Bringing up something from someone’s past, whether they did it or not and it has no connection to the election, is just dirty politics. But the truth is, I think we’re all used to it by now.”
Ward 7 candidate Bonnie North told BarrieToday that she wished the focus was on the issues.
“Frankly, we’ve all already heard these things, but it is not my place to get involved,” North said. “I have been doing my best to keep a positive campaign going.
"It does concern me that this type of thing is happening and that the pamphlets contain questionable material, but I’m more concerned with convincing people to get out and vote," she added.
The "questionable material" North brought up was the statement in the pamphlet that the city had a "surplus of just over $122 million with a net surplus of just over $1.7 billion."
Dawn McAlpine, the City of Barrie's general manager of community and corporate services, says the numbers on the pamphlet do not reflect what the city has in an account.
"The city has assets that would reach into a billion dollars, but that is when you consider everything from roads, pipes and pretty much everything else," McAlpine said. "It is stuff that we wouldn't or couldn't sell off."
Monday is the final day for voting, beginning at 10 a.m. and with polls closing at 8 p.m.
