McCann sees shift in election issues over last term

Incumbent takes Ward 10 with 69.18% of the vote

Mike McCann, centre, celebrates his Ward 10 win on Monday night with Glenn Coulson and Arif Khan, who did not seek re-election in Ward 8. Jessica Owen/BarrieToday

The energy coming from Mike McCann after the election results were released was almost infectious on Monday night.

“I’m feeling good!” he said with a laugh. “It was a tough battle and I’m happy that the results were so in favour of myself. I was also happy to see some of the new councillors get voted in.

“It’s going to be a new council, a new culture, a new dynamic,” McCann added.

In terms of items at the top of his agenda, McCann wants to continue work he started last term on the recreation centre and traffic-calming measures.

“(I’d like to) bring recreation and some fun back into the south-east end of Barrie. It’s super important to me,” he told BarrieToday. “I was one of the first councillors to get permanent speed bumps put into their ward. I want to keep a close eye on it to see how that manages the traffic flow because, to be quite honest with you, property taxes were the No. 1 issue four years ago, and I would say the speed on our streets in the south end was the No. 1 issue this year, surprisingly.”

Now that he’s been a councillor for a while, he also has some advice for the newbies that are fresh to the table.

“In my belief, it takes a good two years to fully understand the dynamics of dealing with city hall, dealing with residents and dealing with other councillors,” McCann said. “To speed that up, (I’d suggest they) meet with city staff members, meet with council members and try to build relationships as much as possible, because that will help you in the future.”

While McCann started his night celebrating with campaign volunteers at his home, his party migrated to PIE Restaurant along the lakeshore to spend some time with re-elected mayor Jeff Lehman, fellow councillors and friends.

“We have over 100,000 people coming into Barrie and we need to plan properly and we need to have a strong council,” McCann said.

“Council are the decision makers and leaders, and they need to take the role seriously.”