THUNDER BAY – There’s no one on this year’s municipal mayoralty ballot with the political experience of Ken Boshcoff.
First elected to council in 1979, the now 73-year-old served on council until 1997, when he was elected for his first of two terms as Thunder Bay’s mayor.
He’d then go on to spend two terms and five years as the Liberal MP for Thunder Bay-Rainy River, serving one more term on council from 2010 to 2014 before losing the mayoral election to incumbent Keith Hobbs eight years ago.
Boshcoff says it’s that experience that makes him the top candidate in the 2022 mayor’s race, someone who knows how to work with both new and experienced councillors while also having the knowledge to navigate through senior levels of government.
“Without having training on council, or having done those kinds of things, people would be in a really rough spot. The learning curve is too steep,” said Boshcoff, who will take on sitting councillor Peng You, former Chronicle Journal publisher Clinton Harris, businessman Gary Mack and Robert Szczepanski.
“You have to have somebody who takes on this job at a run, understanding the rules, knowing who to contact and understanding the processes and operational mechanisms. I’m quite skilled in all that and I’m ready to do it, now.”
Repairing Thunder Bay’s image is Boshcoff’s No. 1 priority, should he be elected.
“I believe in our community. I think we’re a great place in which to live. We’ll tackle that as an overall theme and everything else falls into place, in terms of getting our finances in order, ensuring we can do some of these projects that are important to our people and our youth,” he said.
He also wants to address crime in a big way, but also many of the issues that lead to crime.
It’s broader than just crime, Boshcoff said.
“It’s the poverty, it’s the homelessness and the fact that Thunder Bay is a collecting point for a region larger than Germany and France,” he said.
“This is a regional issue and I’m going to get all the mayors together from all the communities, and the chiefs from the First Nations and assemble them and say, ‘This is not just one city’s issue, it’s all of ours.’ And the burden of us handling it all is problematic. We need everybody on the same page, to go to the provincial and federal governments to solve this.”
The veteran politician is also keenly aware that increased taxation of city residents isn’t sustainable, given all the other financial pressures people are facing.
He called tax increases a mindset of council.
“I’m hoping that as leader, they will understand I’m kind of a frugal guy. I like to keep things modest, where necessary, so I’m hoping to enlist a lot of people who will really want to slow down on the spending and keep the tax rate as low as possible, for two reasons. One, for the people who live here already and are having a struggling time, but two, to make sure we have an attractive tax rate for businesses and people to move here.”
