Monday night’s mayoral debate between incumbent Jeff Lehman and candidate Ram Faerber was relatively tame at times, but had some interesting moments as the two push toward the Election Day finish line on Oct. 22.
The Lion’s Gate Banquet Hall, located at 386 Blake St., was the venue for the Barrie Chamber of Commerce-hosted event that touched on the major issues facing the City of Barrie and how either candidate will handle those issues.
On the topic of priorities, both candidates reassured the room that they would tackle their list head-on.
Lehman said that his top three priorities will be the local economy while saving tax dollars by being smart how council handles it and tackling homelessness and poverty are key to his platform of re-election and he plans on attacking the problems directly.
“I am very passionate about how we do business at city hall, shifting from just reacting to problems to being proactive and addressing the root causes of issues,” said Lehman.
Faerber told the crowd of constituents and candidates of other wards that his three priorities are going to be “property taxes, housing and homelessness, mental health and the addiction problems.”
BarrieToday was tasked with the topic of Homelessness and Affordable Housing and pointed out that the election falls at a time when the weather is cold and many organizations are helping the less fortunate. Both candidates were asked how they plan on being vigilante to fight homelessness in the warmer months when the issue seems to get less attention.
Lehman spoke first and said that much more is definitely needed to assist those in crisis.
“Our emergency services are going to need additional assistance, there’s no question that homelessness has become a bigger pressure,” said Lehman. “If we just keep saying that we are going to find somewhere for you to sleep, we are not going to solve the problem. We need to talk to people like human beings and find out what their fears are about coming inside and why they are unable to.”
Faerber assured everyone that he has a plan to help the homeless in the community and particularly the youth should he be elected on Oct. 22.
“It will cost the city zero dollars and I have a plan for youths on the street and young adults who want to get off the street but are there because they might not be getting along with their parents or they can’t live in the rooming houses,” said Faerber. “My plan will be a foster care type of approach where I will have people who are interested in taking people off the streets and keeping them in their houses and will be paid for by the province, similar to a foster care program.”
During the debate portion of BarrieToday’s question period, the candidates were asked how they would work with what will certainly be a different looking council after next Monday’s election day to further the many big projects that have been happening over the last four years.
Lehman pointed out that projects that have been started such as the Fisher Auditorium, economic development or the Harvie-Big Bay Point overpass need to stay the course and are best for the growth of the city, while Faerber interjected and said he was concerned with the debt and would look seriously at putting some of the projects on hold.
Lehman countered that the city had actually reduced the debt by $20 million to the delight of the crowd.
Faerber questioned Lehman on how much council has really been paying attention to the city and said “we have to listen to the people and Jeff said he has been listening to the people all along but so far he is not.”
Lehman interjected to inform Faerber that he was indeed listening to the residents and said looking at his opponent, “Ram, we spent $43 million fixing roads this year, do you know how much money that was just four years ago? It was $6 million and we did that by shifting priorities and we did that by listening to residents.”
For those looking for the shots and quick wit that sometimes occurs in a debate it happened when Faerber responded to Lehman by saying, “it's not how much you spend, it's where you’re spending it and are you spending it appropriately? Are you making the residents of Barrie happier here or more depressed?”
Lehman responded that 93% of people said they were happy living in Barrie, in a reference to past election results.
On the topic of marijuana legalization, Faerber said that since it will become legal in Canada as of tomorrow he would “permit the sale of marijuana in Barrie because it will generate revenue to help the people of Barrie with my 0% increase in property taxes but will also like to see any shops set up be away from residential areas.”
Lehman pointed out he doesn’t feel the city should opt out because “that would just preserve the black market and the whole point of regulating cannabis is to try to keep it out the hands of kids.”
Lehman also made clear that the city would get no revenue from cannabis.
A big moment occurred when the issue of tourism came up and Lehman made clear that “we’ve actually seen our hotel occupancy increase and the number of hotel rooms increase.”
Faerber stunned the crowd with the idea that “the hotel room increase does not mean it is tourism, it is from the hookers or homelessness, this is fact this is true.”
The last big moment of noise from the crowd was when Faerber
“The art industry in Barrie is a failure and has been a failure for many many years,” said Faerber. “Is costing this city over $600,000 a year to carry those places and if they can self-fund that’s fine with me but I’m not going to spend anymore taxpayer’s dollars on the arts industry in Barrie.”
A scatter of boos occurred at the comment from Faerber while Lehman believes in the Stratford model of support and hopes to continue to grow the arts program in the city, which in turn will continue the tourism upswing.
