Paul Pugh has unfinished business on council.
The incumbent McKellar councillor will be seeking his second term at city hall when the Thunder Bay heads to the polls on Oct. 27 and is looking to earn the opportunity to implement the work done by the Poverty Reduction Strategy, a body he was responsible for chairing.
“It’s one thing to have a strategy but it’s another to put some meat on the bones,” Pugh said.
He identified ensuring there is a supply of well-paying jobs as a major way to keep residents above the poverty line.
Many of those jobs can be found at the local Bombardier plant, where Pugh, a past local union president, represented a number of workers. He said the city has to lobby for provincial public transit dollars translating into contracts for the plant.
“I want to do everything I can to make sure we continue to get a major portion of the $29 billion for this city,” Pugh said.
Pugh, 67, supports the proposed event centre if matching funds can be obtained from senior levels of government and said there is an opportunity now to build for the future.
“My view hasn’t changed that much. I’ve said I would support it as long as it went into one of the downtown cores, it didn’t matter to me if it was north or south,” he said.
“It seems to me if we can get an event centre costing roughly $100 million, a little bit more, by the time you factor in the province and federal governments if we can get that event centre for approximately $30 million that’s a pretty good deal.”
The McKellar ward is one of the most expansive in the city, encompassing both downtown cores and a number of distinct neighbourhoods. Over his four years Pugh has become familiar with the entire ward and serves on two business improvement area committees.
“We have a lot of work to do but I’m interested in doing some of it,” he said. “I do my best to look after the requirements of residents.”
