THUNDER BAY – Iqbal Khan has called Thunder Bay home for 26 years.
A business owner in the city for a quarter of a century, he says the Thunder Bay of today isn't the same city as it was when he first arrived.
He wants to help bring it back to prosperity, building a safer and stronger community while focusing on bringing new and better jobs to Thunder Bay so those who live here have a chance at a good quality of life and a prosperous future.
Khan, who also ran for city council in 2010, says he’s got plenty of ideas ready to roll out should he be elected on Oct. 24, including advocating for the construction of micro homes to address homelessness, better response and more funding for mental health issues and a larger addictions treatment centre to help address the growing problems of guns and gangs centred around the city’s lucrative drug trade.
“I’ve lived in Thunder Bay for [26] years and I’ve seen nothing has changed,” said Khan, one of 24 candidates on the at-large ballot in 2022.
“A lot of my family lives in the GTA and surrounding area, and I see how they benefit from the city. They have money for housing and business, and I never see anything here. My kids, they always say, ‘Daddy, this city is really falling apart.’ I have five kids and I see they have no hope, so I said I want to see what I can do.”
First and foremost, he thinks council should do what it can to reduce property taxes.
“My house property taxes are almost $8,000 in Thunder Bay.”
Looking toward the future, he said council should really work to bring a plant to the city centred around the electric vehicle movement.
Countries like Great Britain and a state like California have already set timelines to end the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles within their jurisdictions, and Thunder Bay is ideally situated in an area full of natural resources needed to build electric vehicles.
“I want to work also for a train line to connect Thunder Bay, Nipigon, Marathon, Schreiber, Terrace Bay, Longlac and Geraldton so our young generation in Thunder Bay can work in mining and make good money.”
He’s in favour of an indoor turf facility, but only if the costs are covered outside of municipal tax dollars.
“We have to lobby the federal government and the provincial government. They’ll give us the finances, not the City of Thunder Bay,” Khan said.
“Our government is giving millions of dollars is not helping us.”
Khan said the city also needs a stronger police force, but one that doesn’t necessarily have to attend every single call.
“We don’t need to send armed police for drunk problems on the street to take them off.”
Khan said he believes in Thunder Bay, but there has to be a willingness to change for it to thrive once more.
“If we bring a lot of industry, then industry can give us [tax] money for the university, co-op programs … and that way we can see prosperity,” Khan said, adding the city needs to take advantage of its central location within the country.
