Nominations closed on Friday with a total of 25 candidates’ competing for a seat in one of the seven municipal ridings, 19 candidates seeking the five at-large seats and six candidates trying to take the mayor’s seat. Those candidates were made official Monday afternoon.
Nominees have begun campaigning around the city, which has some residents starting to talk about what issues they believe are most important for candidates to address.
Sinikka Palm wants to know how candidates will deal with crime. Palm, a Current River resident, said addressing crime is one of the most important issues during this election.
She said she often hears stories about her neighbours being broken into.
"It’s scary to even walk out in the evening," Palm said. "I think the previous council has done pretty good but something has to be done. The punishments are (too lenient). Throw them in jail for God’s sake."
David Fontaine, a resident of the Red River ward, agrees that crime should be on every candidate’s priority list.
Fontaine said he didn’t have many problems with how his ward was run and praised the previous council for their good work.
"For this ward, I think we’re doing pretty good," Fontaine said. "I guess there are some crime issues that need to be addressed. There is some drug activity, which I know the police are at their max but there is some activity around the high school area. "
Not every potential voter believes crime is the no. 1 issue. The planned $60-million multiplex facility is on top of Mark Laviolette list.
The Northwood resident said his issue was the way the city wanted the sports arena without first securing a professional hockey team as its anchor tenant.
"The sports arena is a joke," Laviolette said. "There is no way we can afford $60 million dollars for a team that will never come. Why build an arena if you don’t have a team? I’m not against building things but it seems we have unlimited money here."
Laviolette added a new hockey team would also hurt visitor attendance for the Lakehead Thunderwolves games.
While funding for the new sports facility may cause concerns for Laviolette, that issue isn’t something that’s at the forefront for Hillary McDowell.
McDowell, who lives in the city’s south end, owns a hotel and restaurant on Cumberland Street. What bothers her, she said, is the city continues to build up the Thunder Centre with large corporate stores instead of investing in smaller local shops.
"There is so much more development there at the Thunder Centre than in downtown Port Arthur," McDowell said. "There are so many little shops that are trying so hard and it isn’t easy for them to make a profit."
To help local shops, McDowell said the city should look into ways to assist small business owners such as providing more grants.
Residents will have a chance hear from their candidates soon. The public will get its first chance to interact with candidates for the upcoming municipal election at a series of open forums being staged by the Thunder Bay District Labour Council this week.
The first forum is scheduled to take place on Monday night at the Lakehead Labour Centre from 7 to 9 p.m. and will feature candidates running for school board trustee spots.
Tuesday it’s the ward councillor hopefuls’ turn, while Wednesday has been reserved for the at-large candidates and Thursday for the six people running for mayor.
The Lakehead Labour Centre is located at 929 Fort William Rd.
The candidates running include:
Mayor:
- Colin Burridge
- Keith Hobbs
- Jeff Irwin
- Brian Kwasny
- Lynn Peterson
- Frank Pullia
At Large:
- Iain Angus
- Ken Boshcoff
- Cindy Crowe
- Larry Hebert
- Gerald Graham
- Rebecca Johnson
- Iqbal Khan
- Marvin Robert McMenemy
- Beatrice Metzler
- House Richard Moorey
- Sharon Ostberg
- Sydney Pettit
- Darren Roberts
- Aldo Ruberto
- Norman Sponchia
- Norm Staal
- Lawrence Timko
- Dick Waddington
- Tyler Woods
Current River
- Andrew Foulds
- Andy Wolff
McIntyre
- Trevor Giertuga
- Michael Komar
- Trudy Tuchenhagen
- Christopher Watkins
- Terrance A. Yahn
McKellar
- David Nicholson
- Paul Pugh
- Robin Rickards
Neebing
- Linda Rydholm
- Bill Scollie
- Gary Shchepanik
- Don Sinclair
- Henry Wojak
Northwood
- Frank Armiento
- Mark Bentz
- David Polhill
Red River
- Laury Alexander
- Brian McKinnon
- Jay Stapleton
- Paul Wolfe
Westfort
- Jeffery John Polhill
- John Radl
- Joe Virdiramo
