TimminsToday asked all candidates questions ahead of the Oct. 24 municipal election. Below are the responses from Ward 5 (Timmins) candidate Steve Black.
Timmins' population is declining, with another drop reported in the most recent census. What can be done within the municipality's scope to attract and retain new residents?
There is not one magical solution to attracting and retaining new residents. It needs to be a focus of the entire scope of city services. Some of those services are not controlled by council such as health care (hospital service), education options available, and some of it is within council control. Council needs to work with community partners on areas outside their control to help lobby for funding and improvements and focus on what is in their control. Policies that promote construction development, attracting new business and diversifying the economy are an integral part.
One of the biggest successes during my previous term was the development of an industrial rail park which is now full. This was key to us attracting Calabrian to the city and the employment that came along with that. Another aspect is quality of life and that includes, arts and culture, tourism, recreation activities, and recreation facilities. It is one thing to have a person interested in a job in the community, but another is having them visit, often with their family, and having the entire family want to live in the community. This is why these quality-of-life aspects have always been a critical focus for myself.
Communication and transparency have been identified as a concern by the public and by The Chamber. What does municipal transparency mean to you?
It is not a surprise to me that communication and transparency is a top concern. Several changes occurred over the last four years that likely heightened this concern. The mayor’s office should always have an open-door setting where if a resident had a concern they could walk in and talk to the mayor and if he or she wasn’t available they could talk with the executive assistant to mayor and council and make an appointment.
To me the responsiveness and openness of mayor and council sets the tone for how the city is viewed. During my term, I put an emphasis on open communication with the public. I took part in an Eastlink monthly television show which allowed residents to send in any questions they had regarding city council and city decisions for the host to ask on air. I also took part in weekly radio shows, and had open communication with residents through email, phone, and social media. Perhaps too much on the last one. It is critical for a mayor and council members to be available and responsive to inquiries and concerns from residents.
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SEE: Advance voting opens Oct. 11
Everyone is feeling the financial impacts of inflation and the cost of living is rising faster than most residents' salary increases. How can the municipality help residents, especially those with a low income or seniors, through this period?
This is a key challenge for the next council. Similar to residents feeling the pressures of increasing heat and hydro costs, or fuel costs so does the city as these aspects make up key parts of the city budget. Cost of living increases also impact salaries which make up the majority of the city budget. Council needs to understand and appreciate that not everyone has the benefit of seeing annual salary increases, and in particular seniors and those on fixed incomes do not have the same ability to offset increases being seen.
Council needs to consider aspects to ensure our seniors and people who built the community can remain in their homes and in our city. They can accomplish this by enhancing the seniors' tax rebate, looking at further discounts for seniors for community facilities and programs, and reducing transit costs. We also need to grow our community and attract new residents as this is the best long-term solution to this problem for all taxpayers. The more taxpayers that enter a community the smaller everyone’s individual share of the costs of running that community is. Timmins has had stagnant or negative population growth for too long and we need to find ways to change this trend.
What do you want voters to know about you?
My campaign has focused on six key priorities:
- Building a safer community. Residents and business owners should not fear walking the streets or what may happen to their businesses overnight. We need to increase police presence in our city’s core and lobby for an effective justice system.
- Homeless and addictions – Solutions need to be aligned with the goals of the community. Facilities have to be in suitable locations for the services they provide, with shared community goals and we must lobby for a full-service treatment centre to get people the help they actually need.
- Affordability for Seniors – Discussed in the above questions but in summary, we need to make life more affordable for our seniors and those on fixed incomes who built our community.
- Roads – We were promised $74 million to fix our Connecting Link during the last provincial election by our current MPP and provincial government. Council must hold them accountable to this promise and ensure the province accepts its responsibility for Connecting Link repairs so local tax dollars can go towards other roads that desperately need repair as well.
- Quality of Life – Enhancements to recreation, arts and culture, tourism, and all the community activities that truly make Timmins an attractive place to live, work and play. In addition to this, we have some of the best snowmobile and ATV trails in the province and should continue to work with local clubs and organizations to promote and enhance this experience.
- Economic Growth – We need to find ways to attract new businesses and jobs to the community in order to stop the population declines we have seen. We need to come up with an economic/jobs attraction strategy that will see our community grow and flourish which will in turn grow the tax base and alleviate pressures throughout the community.
Read Black's candidate profile here.
The other Ward 5 candidates are Rick Dubeau, Veronica Farrell, Andrew Marks, Caroline Martel, James McMahon, Kristin Murray, Cory Robin, Neil Siblall and Ed Stecewicz.
The municipal election is Oct. 24. Advance voting is being done online and runs Oct. 11-24. In-person polls are open on election day.
