Meet the Candidates: Lawrence Timko

Lawrence Timko says there’s no arguing the point. The proposed $109-million event centre is the single-biggest issue facing voters when they hit the polls on Oct. 27.

Timko is a supporter of the project, but definitely thinks a better location could have been chosen. He favours the former Pool 6 property, which could easily handle both the traffic and parking issues that have soured many on the downtown north core location chosen by consultants assisting the city.

He thinks he’s got plenty of support, pointing to the city’s first open house.

“So many people picked the Pool 6 site and then all of a sudden it disappeared from the conversation,” Timko said.
It’s part of a bigger problem at city hall, one he’d like to see fixed in a hurry.

“I think it’s too administration driven,” Timko said. “And I just have trouble with that.”

The former nine-term councillor, who spent 26 years at the council table and finished sixth in the past two at-large races in 2006 and 2010, said if elected he’ll demand more transparency at Donald Street.

He’s tired of council emerging from closed-door sessions and approving a matter decided in camera, failing to let the public know the subject at hand.

“They could at least say what the issue is,” Timko said.

A longtime member of the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition board, the Thunder Bay native says the city also needs to get a handle on its spending habits. Taking money out of reserve funds for a variety of issues, including snow removal, can’t sustain itself.

He points to the Renew Thunder Bay fund, which he says is dwindling rapidly.

How is the city expected to pay its share of the event centre, should it ultimately be approved? “That was supposed to be roughly one-third toward the event centre. Now it’s down to $20 million.”

Timko lists his biggest accomplishment on council as helping sway Toronto city council reverse a vote to award Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant a much-sought-after streetcar deal and says he brings plenty of experience to this year’s race.