BarrieToday asked members of city council five questions and all of them responded to each one.
This is the fourth in a five-part series of stories on their answers, which are published verbatim — except for spelling, grammar and style corrections.
In Part 1, we asked council members whether they planned to run for re-election. To read that story, click here. In Part 2, we asked council members about the most pressing issue that has faced council this term. Yesterday, we asked about the most significant challenge facing council in its final year.
Today’s question is: Of the other significant issues council has dealt with during this term of office, which one was council unable to solve and why?
Coun. Keenan Aylwin (Ward 2)
“We know that the impacts of climate change are already being felt around the world and here at home. I’m proud that Barrie city council declared a climate emergency and endorsed the creation of a climate action plan to reduce emissions across the city. This plan is still in development, and we have a lot more work to do to ensure that the actions laid out in the plan have adequate and ongoing funding. We haven’t done nearly enough, but we will finally have a plan for climate action where none existed previously. It’s the work of young climate activists who have worked to build support for climate action through the largest rally in Barrie’s history up until that point in September 2019, and weekly Fridays For Future events that have pushed the city to start taking action, but we need to do much more to reduce emissions and create a livable future.
We have also fallen short in our goal to shift government spending to address the root causes of the issues we see in our community. After endorsing the Barrie health accord in 2020 with the purpose of allocating spending to proactive instead of reactive service delivery, we have not seen a single dollar in funding reallocated.
In fact, Barrie city council has repeatedly voted against merely studying the impact of shifting funding from reactive policing to proactive services and community well-being. It’s high time we put our money where our mouths are and listen to the 63 per cent of people who wanted a five per cent decrease in police spending in our 2021 budget survey — the only area of spending where a majority of respondents supported a funding decrease — and a reinvestment of that funding in prevention and addressing root causes.”
Coun. Natalie Harris (Ward 6)
“I have been advocating for speed cameras since the beginning of my election. I am disappointed that this has been delayed several times, primarily due to COVID-19. The City of Toronto runs this program, and was not taking any new city applicants.”
Coun. Jim Harris (Ward 8)
“The most significant issues facing council are not solved in three years. They are solved incrementally over time. To this point, one of the unfortunate but necessary outcomes of the pandemic was the need to reduce the Dedicated Infrastructure Renewal Fund commitment in the 2021 budget.
Commonly referred to as the DIRF, this was added in 2015 to provide a transparent increased funding source to assist with helping the city keep more of our infrastructure well-maintained — roads, sewers, sidewalks, bridges, water treatment — and avoid costly repairs while substantially reducing the city’s debt.”
Coun. Gary Harvey (Ward 7)
“One of the other most significant issues that council dealt with was the supervised consumption site, or SCS. The SCS is a very divisive subject within our community and council is somewhat divided, as this matter has been in front of us on two occasions. Council worked with the Simcoe Muskoka Opioid Strategy applicants in an attempt to find a suitable location.
Unfortunately, that did not happen, as I do not see having a daycare across the street from an SCS a suitable situation for our youngest population.”
Coun. Ann-Marie Kungl (Ward 3)
“If I had to choose one of several we are working through, it is affordable housing. Council hasn’t been able to solve issues related to housing access or homelessness, and affordability, as we do not manage housing. We might all agree that Barrie is experiencing a housing crisis, but the ability to solve it is beyond us alone. Council is taking this issue seriously and addressed affordable housing as a priority.
I think promising opportunities will soon be presented back to council by the affordable housing task force Mayor Jeff Lehman and I are members of with key housing partners. If council continues to stay united in their focus on this issue, and continues to foster strong partner relationships, I think we can make important changes.”
Mayor Jeff Lehman
“The opioid crisis. Council has done good things, such as supporting new treatment through Cornerstone and supporting, ultimately, the supervised consumption site. The opioid crisis worsened considerably during COVID and will need stronger action by the feds and province if we are going to make real progress.
Locally, we also need to redirect our efforts from reacting to the problem to addressing the root causes, which will take time, but is the goal of new initiatives such as the Barrie Health Accord.”
Coun. Mike McCann (Ward 10)
“Housing affordability is a huge concern in Barrie, as well as nationally, and there is not enough money to solve this problem quickly enough. All levels of government need to work together. This council has not been able to work as a team and come up with creative solutions.
During this year's budget talks, I will be introducing over $1 million in subsidies as incentives for developers to build affordable housing in our city. These investments will help those who are in need and be a great future investment for the city of Barrie in many ways.”
Coun. Sergio Morales (Ward 9)
“We’ve been unable to address the issues of high rents in Barrie as a whole, and the issue of Georgian College students and east-end residents being at odds with property standards, while rents in the same area go up for families. The market isn’t building enough rental units for families, and the market, and the college isn’t building enough purpose-built student housing for the increase in students, which has resulted in soaring rents since families and students are now competing for that same house to rent.”
Coun. Clare Riepma (Ward 1)
“We have had a series of discussions on affordable housing, but generally housing is now less affordable than it was three years ago. Most of this is outside of the city’s control, but the programs that we currently have need to be revisited to make them more effective.”
Coun. Robert Thomson (Ward 5)
“I believe that this council has dealt with our core functions in a responsible and reasonable manner, as a municipal government. Yes, there are some serious issues that affect our community that land at our feet which makes them very challenging for our community. With the responsibility we have to our residents we have to be very mindful of how we spend our tax money, relying on other levels of government to assist us with these challenging issues. It is very difficult for a municipal council to solve these troubling issues alone.
Of particular note is that the responsibility for delivery of social services, as this is a County of Simcoe function, so we are limited in our ability to make significant changes.”
Deputy Mayor Barry Ward (Ward 4)
“Affordable housing is a council goal that continues to be elusive. There are a lot of complicating factors: the county, not the city, is responsible for social services, there is still a considerable amount of NIMBYism and social housing is expensive. We have made some progress. There is a lot of work getting underway on new subdivisions in the south end of the city, which should help in cooling off increases in house prices. We have quite a few purpose-built apartments either under construction or about to get underway and hundreds of units are classed as ‘affordable.’
There is still a huge need for subsidized and transitional housing although the motel program, brought on by the pandemic, has shown us one solution and the county is moving forward with a large project on the former OPP site. Still, it often seems as if the finish line for solving the housing crisis keeps moving farther away.”
