THUNDER BAY – Matthew Villella calls himself a Thunder Bay champion.
In 2022, he says he’s finally decided to take that self-described designation to the next logical level, running for an at-large seat on city council.
The 40-year-old, an educator at Confederation College, where he teaches electives after teaching in the tourism program, Villella had long held a keen eye on council, serving as chair of the Sister Cities Advisory Committee and president of Leadership Thunder Bay.
He’s also a member of the city’s Official Recognition Committee and a past member of the crime prevention council, who proudly volunteers for Easter Seals Ontario and the Port Arthur Rotary Club.
“I thought it was my time,” said Villella, asked why he decided to run for council.
“I’ve been watching and sitting and learning for the last 10 to 15 years. I’ve always wanted to run for council and I thought wouldn’t it be nice to do it this year. Lots of people are leaving, there’s lots of change and change is good.”
With plenty of issues to tackle over the next four years, Villella’s No. 1 is infrastructure, something he believes has been neglected for far too long in Thunder Bay.
“Residents want to know where the money’s been going and how we’re spending it,” Villella said.
“We drive the roads and we hit the pot holes and cars are getting destroyed. We need to increase our tax base. We can’t tap our residents (any more). So we need to bring in businesses to our community increase our tax base.”
He also plans to focus on fixing the city’s growing crime and gangs problem, but acknowledged Thunder Bay can’t do it alone.
“We need to lobby our federally and provincially elected individuals a little bit more,” Villella said.
“They get off a little too easy. We need more money for programs for addiction and mental health and I think that will go a long way to (solving) the crime that we have.”
Villella says he decided to run at-large because he wants to represent the city as a whole.
“I’ve always been a cheerleader for the city of Thunder Bay, and I believe I can bring a lot of good to the at-large position.”
He sees so much potential and said he’s eager to start finding ways to unlock it moving forward.
“I was born and raised here. It’s beautiful. There’s 100,000 people, we have beautiful nature. We have so much untapped potential that I think we can do better, and I’m excited for what the future might hold.”
Villella also wants to bring teamwork back to the council table, something he believes was lacking the past four years and beyond.
“Everyone has their own agenda and nothing really got done the last four years. Yes, we had COVID, but I think we need to work better as a team for the betterment of the community.”
