Need it or want it?—how multi-million dollar projects are shaping this municipal election

Timmins is one of several northern Ontario towns where building a swimming pool is top of mind for voters.

But incumbent Mayor Steve Black is quick to point that the $48 million complex includes much more than an "aquatic centre" which has become shorthand for the project.

There's also a gymnasium, indoor courts and it would be attached to an existing arena.

Black has been pushing the project for months, giving an impassioned speech back in January when some of the preliminary plans came before council.

"Am I prepared to lose an election doing what I believe is right for our community doing projects that support growth and opportunities? Yes I am," he told council at that meeting.

He says his challengers in this election, most notably former mining executive George Pirie, feel the pricetag for the project is too much for taxpayers, but he sees it as vital infrastructure.

"Always has some in the community that feel we're a mining town and things aren't right at this time to invest in the community, but we've been doing that for years and our infrastructure has fallen behind and if we want to be able to attract families to this region we're going to upgrade our recreational facilities to move the city forward," says Black. 

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It's a similar story in Kapuskasing, where town council recently shelved plans for a new $12 million pool.

"We had members on our team who actually broke down into tears," says fundraising committee chair Gilbert Peters.

Peters is now one of four candidates running to replace retiring Kapuskasing mayor Al Spacek and he is telling voters that while he feels a new pool would help attract people to town, the community of 8,200 can't afford it right now.

"We're not going to do nothing unless the money's there. You got to run the town like you run your own home, you got a budget and you got to stick to it," says Peters, a former councillor in the nearby town of Moonbeam.

In Kirkland Lake, they went ahead with a $15 million pool, which opened earlier this fall.

"So we're going to have to live with it. But look at other efficiencies in town," says councillor Pat Kiely, who was the lone vote against the project, which started out at $9.6 million.

Town still paying off big project from 15 years ago

"We'll be paying for the next 20 or 30 years."

Kiely, who is now running for mayor of Kirkland Lake against fellow councillor Todd Morgan, says it will make 2019 a tight financial year for the town, which is still making $338,000 annual payments for the Heritage North convention centre which opened as a hockey museum in 2006.

Even in Greater Sudbury, where the debate over the Kingsway Entertainment District has dominated the election campaign, some candidates are talking about a new pool.

Retiring Ward 4 city councillor Evelyn Dutrisac had championed a $4.7 million therapeutic and leisure pool for Azilda and now several of the candidates running to replace her are promising to pick up the torch.

"It seems to be sort of on the back burner, but I think it should come to the forefront. I think a therapeutic pool would be way better than an arena," says Ward 4 council candidate Jessica Bertrand. 

One of the top election issues in Elliot Lake isn't being talked about publicly by the candidates for mayor and council.

Earlier this year, the city gave the greenlight to a $41 million recreation complex known as the "community hub" to include a new arena, pool and curling rink.

Those plans call for it to be built on the site of the existing arena.

But many in Elliot Lake would like to see it built on the vacant lot left behind when the Algo Centre Mall collapsed and was then demolished in 2012. 

Incumbent Mayor Dan Marchisella says he can't officially talk about that site because it still belongs to the owners of the old mall, but he says most in Elliot Lake know what location he will push for if re-elected. 

"At the moment, yeah, it is pretty tricky. Most people in our area when they talk to me just blurt out what their opinion is and it is what it is," he says. 

Marchisella wanted the city to buy the property from the former owners of the mall last year for $600,000, but council voted against the idea.