The Ward 3 byelection is just three weeks away.
To help voters in the north-end ward prepare and get to know who's in the running, Engage Barrie will be hosting an all-candidates meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 11 beginning at 7 p.m. at Adams Funeral Home, located at 445 St. Vincent St.
Invitations have been sent to all eight candidates, says the group, including Devin Scully, Steve Ciesielski, Ram Faerber, Ann-Marie Kungl, Gerry Marshall, Kelly Patterson McGrath, Tanya Saari, and former Ward 5 councillor Peter Silveira.
The Ward 3 council seat became vacant when Doug Shipley was elected MP for Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte last October. The local businessman had served on city council from 2010 until 2019.
According to a release from Engage Barrie, the upcoming all-candidates meeting "will be led by a team of moderators, reflecting a range of generations and life experience, and questions will also be taken from the audience. The focus will be on the candidates’ platforms and ideas, and what each feels they have to offer the ward and the city."
Engage Barrie was recently formed to help build an engaged local democracy. Its aim with the all-candidates debate is to help educate voters on candidates’ platforms leading up to the byelection.
“Whoever is elected in this byelection is essentially going to be serving three-quarters of the term, as Shipley resigned from council in October after serving for only 10 months," said event organizer Alyssa Wright. "There is still a lot of opportunity to have a big influence in city council."
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/EngageBarrie/ or contact [email protected].
