THUNDER BAY – Shane Judge knows a thing or two about how city council operates.
As a city council reporter for CBC Radio, the retired journalist spent thousands of hours in council chambers, scrutinizing the decisions being made, holding the feet of council and administration to the fire and trying to keep them honest.
Judge, who finished third running for mayor in 2014 and fourth in 2018, in 2022 decided to throw his hat into the at-large race, one of 24 candidates seeking one of five available spots on Oct. 24.
Judge said he made the switch when he realized the mayor spends more time being an apologist for administration, the public spokesperson for decisions being made.
“I found that being at-large is a lot more freedom to be able to express my opinion and make the changes I want to see, without feeling that I have to curb my tongue, if you will,” Judge said. “But the reason I’m running is I’m upset at the broad indifference of the last council to the toxic effect that having some of the highest property taxes in Canada has on, not only homeowners, but the entire community."
“These taxes, in my opinion, are real barriers to outside investors who want to come to Thunder Bay. They’re also stifling to local entrepreneurs who want to start a business or expand a business.”
Judge said the current council, especially given the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, should have been laser-focused on bringing spending under control.
Instead it spent weeks and months discussing the merits of two expensive legacy projects, he said.
“They went out on a hiring spree and then they did what I thought was egregiously outrageous, which was to spend an inordinate amount of time with a municipally-owned turf facility when there is an obvious private-sector solution that would cost the city much less money,” Judge said.
“The other one is a $60-million police campus that they want to build, without looking at a single alternative. I actually went to council and made my first deputation, saying there are ways of doing this that are a lot cheaper than you’re proceeding with. They ignored that and rubber stamped, and now we’re looking at a $2.4-million design effort that’s under way now when really we should be backing up and looking at policing in general.”
Given the dysfunction in policing in the city, a reset is required, he said, adding he’s a fan of community policing, with officers walking beat in neighbourhoods, particularly those with a high prevalence of crime.
Judge also wants to do a deep dive into the way the city delivers its services.
“I think it could be done a lot less expensively,” he said.
