Mayoral candidates, along with candidates for council wards, in the municipal election campaign presented their visions for Sault Ste. Marie in a meet and greet event held by the Sault Ste. Marie and District Labour Council at the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) regional office on Great Northern Road Tuesday evening.
Those vying for the mayor's chair tried to emphasize what strengths made them stand out.
Candidate Matthew Shoemaker said he has a comprehensive plan to address municipal issues such as economic development, cutting down on crime, lowering taxes and improving quality of life.
Mayoral candidate Donna Hilsinger, who has deep business roots in Sault Ste. Marie, said she has the business smarts to create and maintain jobs for the community.
Ozzie Grandinetti, an outspoken critic of City Council’s record over the past eight years, told Tuesday’s audience that he is weary of what he called a “hands off and disconnected” municipal government.
Robert Peace said “I want you to know that you have a friend here. You have someone who is not part of the club.”
Candidate Tobin Kern - running for mayor on an environmentalist platform - called for improved public transit for those who don’t drive, constructing new buildings only when necessary and refurbishing where possible and for help for businesses to think green, but Kern says the green agenda is only part of his platform.
Grandinetti
“I hear every day the frustration and anger over the four per cent tax increase, over reckless, useless and out of control spending and the lack of focus on real problems in our community such as affordable housing, public safety, the drug problem downtown and the lack of maintenance for our infrastructure, especially our roads,” Grandinetti said.
“I want to be the mayor so that we can get back to basics, getting focused on working together and collectively solving these immediate and pressing issues.”
The candidate said he would - if elected mayor - would push for the reopening of the Pointe Des Chenes campground, the sale of surplus land to make space for the building of affordable housing and stop any further spending on the city’s downtown plaza project.
“I promise that I will not support any further cost overruns with the downtown plaza project or approve any other projects that the taxpayers are not supportive of,” Grandinetti said.
Hilsinger
“I have real experience in keeping costs down, managing finances and achieving efficiencies,” said Hilsinger, a Ward 3 city councillor.
In addressing housing costs and affordability, Hilsinger said “no city can solve the affordable housing shortage alone and I pledge to work with all levels of government to find ways to build more affordable and supportive housing to help those who need it.”
Hilsinger said she would, as mayor, be an advocate for the Sault in approaching the provincial government regarding its health care needs, better Ontario Works and ODSP rates and work with the community’s postsecondary schools to offer much needed skilled trades training.
Kern
Stating he works with people living in poverty in the Sault on a daily basis, Kern said he would, as mayor, push the province for more funding to address poverty and mental health addictions.
Kern said the COVID-19 support funding given by senior levels of government is proof that they can assist a municipality in need of affordable housing and other forms of social support.
“We will not build the more healthy, more just, more sustainable community we all want without making these crises our primary focus,” Kern said.
Peace
Acknowledging his unionized labour host for Tuesday’s event, Peace said “we need a labour friendly mayor who understands labour issues.”
“We must all join to fight against the billionaire big box store owners that continue to squeeze their employees with unrealistic minimum wages and part time hours, victimizing our immigrants and foreign student labour that practically run the service industry in this town by forcing skilled labourers into low paying jobs. That’s a federal issue that we have to deal with,” said Peace.
Apart from trying to help those in need of better wages, Peace said he would address homelessness and mental health and addiction needs.
“We need a healthy city to have a prosperous city.”
Shoemaker
“You will be able to evaluate how I’ve done in four years time,” Shoemaker told Tuesday’s audience.
Shoemaker said his efforts as a Ward 3 city councillor have saved taxpayers over $2 million since he was first elected to office in 2014.
Shoemaker said he wants to see a safe consumption site for drug users, more people moving freely downtown by having a permanent police presence in the downtown core and an expansion of the Hub Trail with spokes to James Street and Bayview.
He said he plans on aggressively lobbying for the Sault’s needs to the federal and provincial governments in the spirit of former Sault Mayor John Rowswell.
He also wants the establishment of a municipal fund for the acquisition and demolition of old run down houses to encourage in-fill and redevelopment, a doubling of municipal tree planting and electrification of the city’s small engine equipment such as lawn mowers and weed snappers - without raising taxes.
“We need growth and we need investment in our city but we also need to do that in a managed and prudent way…I’ll push for it with an eye always focused on the cost of getting us there.”
Tuesday’s event was also an opportunity for candidates running for seats in each of the Sault’s five municipal wards to present their platforms, the mayoral and ward candidates mingling with the public at the OPSEU office.
The Sault Ste. Marie municipal election will be held Monday, October 24, 2022.