The line forms here.
With Jeff Lehman announcing Thursday he won’t be seeking a fourth term as Barrie’s mayor, the competition for the big chair at Barrie City Hall is set to grow.
“It means it’s wide open and very interesting,” Deputy Mayor Barry Ward told BarrieToday. “I suspect we’ll have the best race since he (Lehman) was first elected (2010). I would expect there to be several candidates, several serious candidates.”
Ward said he won’t make plans about his own political future known until after the June 2 Ontario election. Lehman hopes to be the Liberal candidate in the Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte riding for that vote.
“Then I’ll make my intentions known” Ward said. “I wouldn’t do anything until after the provincial election. I don’t think it would be fair.”
But Alex Nuttall isn’t playing his cards as close to the vest.
“Yeah, I will be seeking the office of mayor, but the rest of that conversation I think is one that can happen over a longer period of time,” said Nuttall, who was a Barrie city councillor from 2006 until 2014 and also Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MP from 2015 to 2019.
“Today’s about Jeff, right,” Nuttall said Thursday. “It’s a day where he has made a big life decision, not to run for mayor, and then obviously he’s looking at running provincially.”
BarrieToday also asked councillors Mike McCann, Sergio Morales and Natalie Harris, who has already declared her intention to run for mayor, about what Lehman’s announcement means to them and the race to become Barrie’s next mayor.
McCann, who’s in his second term as Ward 10 councillor, said he’s made a decision about running for mayor.
“I have decided, yes,” he said Thursday.
But McCann isn’t saying yet, or when he will say.
“You got it,” he said.
What McCann did say Thursday was he thinks this is a pivotal moment in Barrie's history.
“You could have a whole bunch of outstanding candidates,” he said. “It’s not necessarily the people that are running that makes it the most important election in Barrie’s history, it’s because of where Barrie is right now in its growth. I believe Barrie is in a fork in the road. I’ve said that many times.”
Morales, who was elected Ward 9 councillor in 2014, would not make his intentions known today, either.
“I will be deciding and when I’m ready will make an announcement at a different time than today. It’s Jeff’s day,” he said. “Jeff has worked for 16 years, at the municipal level, for this day and you know what, today is his day, so I’ll leave it at just congratulating him for the 16 years of municipal public service and obviously letting him enjoy his day.”
But Morales also said this year’s city election is an important one.
“I think we’re at a watershed moment, where Barrie has a choice of is it going to try to reject growth, density,” he said. “Or is it going to embrace growth so it can grow responsibly, sustainably and with vision. It’s at a pivotal point in its leadership where it needs to make that kind of choice. I think it’s going to be quite the self-reflection moment for voters in October.”
Natalie Harris, a first-term councillor representing Ward 6, has already announced she is running for mayor.
She responded in her capacity as a candidate for Barrie mayor, not as a city councillor.
“Mayor Lehman’s announcement that he will not be seeking the mayor’s seat for next term provides some competitive balance without the incumbent as a voting option,” Harris said. “It will be interesting to see who else comes forward to add their names to the candidate list.”
Lehman, 46, was first elected to city council in 2006 and served four years as the Ward 2 councillor. He ran for mayor in 2010, outdistancing former Barrie MPP Joe Tascona, former mayor Rob Hamilton and incumbent mayor Dave Aspden. Lehman easily won re-election in 2014 and 2018, taking more than 90 per cent of the vote both times.
Nominations for the Oct. 24 city election open Monday, May 2.
