THUNDER BAY – Mike Maher is a lawyer and he says it’s long past the time to revamp many of the city’s bylaws.
He’s also a teacher at Lakehead University’s law school, molding young minds and helping them learn to think critically, while also helping the city’s vulnerable know their rights.
He wants to inspire city council to think harder and smarter over the next four years.
Maher, who ran a successful law practice for seven years before switching to the classroom, said he wanted to run in Northwood Ward because he’s got the time and wants to use it to serve his neighbours and friends.
“I wanted to be able to commit to them to help them with their issues around the city and I’m looking at pinhole leaks as the biggest one of those things,” Maher said.
The city is currently facing a $350-million class-action lawsuit filed by residents accusing the city of causing leaks in copper pipes through the use of sodium hydroxide in the water supply, a chemical used to offset the effect of lead pipes.
“When you think about what the city said, or the lack of what the city said about pinhole leaks, it’s atrocious. The idea that my mom, at 4 o’clock in the morning, needs to deal with water coming in her walls, and when you Google what the city has to say about it, it literally is nothing,” Maher said.
"Pinhole leaks are a huge priority and what really made me get into this to begin with.”
There’s not necessarily a silver bullet solution, but what Maher is really looking for is information. Something as simple as informing the public how to shut off their water supply could have gone a long way to preventing damage, he said.
Maher is also concerned about 27,000 people living in the City of Thunder Bay who are uncounted. That needs to be properly addressed, in order for the municipality to be properly funded and adequately supply the services needed.
“The census isn’t capturing them … That means the taxpayers of Thunder Bay are paying for 27,000 people worth of services, 27,000 people worth of infrastructure, and we’re not getting paid for it. We’re being funded like a city that’s 80 per cent as large as we are,” Maher said. “I’m here to find the dollars for Thunder Bay instead of fighting over the pennies.”
It would also go a long way to helping solve some of the social issues in the city, with the proper funding in place to provide a variety of supports.
What he doesn’t want is to add to the city’s bureaucracy.
He said the indoor turf facility proposal is a perfect example of when that happens.
“You go from what was going to be a steel building that the community needed and the soccer community wanted, to a white elephant that’s a restaurant and a 900-seat stadium. I think it’s just far too much for us to take on right now and I think the priorities are completely out of whack,” said Maher, noting he’s not opposed to something a little more reasonable.
