It has been a long year of politics for Simcoe County and it may be starting to show as we get closer to municipal election day.
Advance polling stations are up now and with the final day for voting on Oct. 22 only three days away, many candidates in the region are stepping up their campaign with some resorting to tactics other than asking for the vote from constituents.
Ward 6 has four candidates as Natalie Harris, Colin Nelthorpe, Micheline Robichaud and Steve Trotter are looking to head the ward for the next four years.
On Oct. 14, Robichaud posted on her Facebook account a picture of one her signs that had been spray-painted over and said that her campaign literature had been removed from homes she had just gone to.
“Recently, a team of my volunteers and I were out campaigning a few local streets,” Robichaud told BarrieToday. “One of my volunteers noticed as we were returning back our way, that all of my literature had been removed from the doors and replaced with another candidates. Not one house, not one street, but a few hundred pieces of literature.
“Through a resident’s home camera, we were able to see a volunteer for another team removing my literature. The next day I woke up to a message that I should check out some of my signs,” she added. “One had been spray-painted, and seven more had been damaged or removed. When we care deeply about a subject, or a person, it is easy to get personal. It is harder to step back and take the higher road; to let platforms, results, and actions speak for themselves.”
While there have been and always will be reports of candidates speaking ill of each other while going door to door, one of the more talked about incidences on social media has been in Ward 3 where it is a three-person race between incumbent Doug Shipley and candidates Lynn-Anne Hill and Tanya Saari.
Saari spoke to BarrieToday and said she knew going in the uphill battle it would be to defeat the popular Shipley.
“I absolutely heard it was impossible to win but I went in confident just that as long as I gave it everything I had during my campaigning I would be able to be confident that if I win I win, if I don’t I don’t,” Saari told BarrieToday. “I put my name in to run for councillor just because I love the city of Barrie and figured the biggest way to give back is to be a voice for the rest of the residents in my ward, so I stepped up to the plate for that.”
Recently, literature wound up in resident’s mailboxes from Saari that was aimed at what she feels are Shipley’s faults. Saari wants to make clear what she says is an incorrect rumour circulating about the literature regarding Shipley.
“I want it to be clear that it wasn’t the first piece of information to go out and the rumour is it was my first piece of campaigning literature to go out, but it’s not, in fact its my third,” said Saari. “This piece on Doug is just fact-checking, I honestly didn’t view it as such a negative as its being received because it was just three fact-checking pieces on an incumbent councillor.”
Saari had distributed pamphlets with a picture of Ward 3 incumbent Doug Shipley and three points criticizing his performance in the position. The literature mentioned that Shipley prioritized construction of streets that didn’t need it, neglecting other roads in dire need of improvement, that he questioned hiring more staff during the city’s population growth and that he was the only member to skip the unanimous vote to invest $5 million in local education at Georgian College.
Shipley spoke to BarrieToday and said he was shocked at not only the tactic, but its inaccuracies to mislead the public.
“I was really disappointed to see this type of negative campaigning come to local politics in Barrie,” Shipley told BarrieToday. “Tanya’s claims are very misleading if not false. For example, councillors don’t prioritize street construction, staff who are experts in this field prioritize street construction and proudly many roads in Ward 3 have been fixed over the past eight years. “Secondly, yes, I questioned hiring more staff, I always question hiring additional staff and will continue to do so because keeping taxes low is very important to me.
“Finally, her third claim is very misleading in that I voted yes and spoke in favour for the Georgian College funding at general committee. To be fair I don’t recall if I was or wasn’t at the vote for that at council but was very clear at general committee that I was indeed in favour for the funding. To that extent I will also put my attendance up against anyone else’s as I feel I have a terrific council attendance record.”
Shipley was absent for the May 9, 2016 city council vote on the funding for Georgian College issue, but had voted in favour for it at the general committee meeting a week prior on May 2, 2016.
Shipley has promised that his campaign for a third straight Ward 3 win will remain the same despite the climate of the race.
“My approach has not changed and I will continue to campaign in a positive manner,” said Shipley. “I refuse to go negative against any candidate; the view is much nicer from the high road. I’ll be honest, my faith in residents has been confirmed as the feedback from the community about the negative literature piece put out about me has all been positive towards me and many residents have voiced their displeasure with this negative tactic very clearly.”
Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman is in his own race against Ram Faerber but took time to talk about negative campaigning, especially at the municipal level.
“Negative campaigning especially at the municipal level rarely works, so I think as a political tactic I think it’s not a very smart choice,” said Lehman. “It’s also disappointing because I think it often reflects worse on the people who are putting something out in the sense that if you run for office it should be about what are you going to do, not putting down the others for running. I think especially at the municipal level one of the things that sets us a part is there isn’t that degree of negative campaigning that occurs at the provincial and federal level, and its made so many people cynical about politics.”
Election day is Monday, Oct. 22 with polling stations located throughout the city. For more information on where to vote and how, check out this link https://www.barrie.ca/City%20Hall/election/Pages/Information-for-Voters.aspx
