Neebing and Westfort candidates meet voters at library event in Thunder Bay ahead of municipal election

Election day is just weeks away and candidates from Thunder Bay's Neebing and Westfort wards got a chance to lay out their plans on Monday night as the public library hosted its first candidates night.

The event at the Mary J.L. Black Library included all registered candidates from both wards.

From Neebing, Brad DesRochers, Debra Halvorsen, Greg Johnsen, Shaun Kennedy, Basil Lychowyd, and Yuk-Sem Won took part.

John Collins, Alan D. Corbett, incumbent Kristen Oliver, and David Tommasini participated for Westfort.

"I think it's very important," Westfort resident Janet Stewardson said about Monday's event.

"It's an opportunity to meet the candidates. It's an opportunity to find out where they stand on certain things, and find out what the issues are, mainly, in each area."

Stewardson said the main issues for her are revitalization of neighbourhoods and addressing drug use in the city.

Ian Robb of Neebing said he wants "to see some action" from the next Neebing councillor.

"The important issue, at least in Neebing, is increasing the taxes," he said. "As well, they eliminated our community centre. There's no place for kids to go."

Robb also noted he'd like to see cycling infrastructure along Rosslyn Road, similar to what's in place on Broadway Avenue.

Monday's event was split into two parts.

Candidates first took part in what was essentially a meet and greet, where voters from both wards had the opportunity to speak directly to them.

Then, both the Neebing and Westfort candidates participated in a question-and=answer session.

It wasn't a debate, but rather candidates were each asked three questions — they had been developed in consultation with the community and covered a wide range of topics, including crime, homelessness, racism and discrimination, and supports for seniors.

Policing and homelessness 

For example, with regards to crime, some candidates suggested police take a more proactive approach.

"With that approach, I think we can do more monitoring of high=traffic areas," said DesRochers. "I think we can install deterrence in these areas, including illumination and even utilize some advanced technology surveillance to really deter people from visiting these problematic areas. And I think that will really help with the limited resources."

Oliver, former chair of the city's police services board, noted that while police are making arrests, "we're seeing catch and release" via the court process.

"I think that that's where a lot of time and dedication on the advocacy and lobbying front would certainly help from city council, because there needs to be some accountability," she said. "Our police officers are working tirelessly.

"The violent crime index that we're seeing in this community, the calls for service that we're seeing in this community, they will outpace even a community of 500,000, and we're seeing a lack of resources and support to assist police in doing the job that they need to do," said Oliver.

Tomassini called for more police on Thunder Bay streets.

"Put more police out on the streets and ... if the criminals are doing something they're not supposed to be doing, they'll get a little bit perturbed by seeing the the the police officers traveling around the community," he said. "We need to put more police on the ground, more feet on the ground, more, more cars out there."

On homelessness, Kennedy said more supports need to be put in place.

"You have people who are temporarily homeless in in-between homes, and you have people who are newly without homes. You have people who have been continuously homeless, and each of them have a different set of needs.

"So you need a group of people available to care for them to make sure that they get the care, the attention, the compassion that they deserve and need without having to rely on Thunder Bay Police Service or EMS teams to bring them to Thunder Bay regional hospital, when a lot of the times, they don't necessarily need that level of care."

Active transportation and child care

Corbett said he'd support active transportation initiatives if he gets elected.

"We absolutely need the active lifestyle," he said. "Let's face it, we could all use a boost to our health, especially after being locked in our houses for two years. So I really think that we need to put some attention toward the active transportation initiatives that are happening and better, better trail structures in terms of being able to get from one neighbourhood to the next and throughout the entire city."

When it comes to growing the city's population and economy, Won said offering more child care would go a long way to attracting young families to the city.

"We need to work with the federal government that are giving supposedly some subsidies for child care, but those spaces need to be available," she said. "When I came here, I was lucky enough to be able to get into one of the city-run childcare centres and it was fantastic programming, good people."

"I think we need more of those," Won said. "If we want to attract the young families to Thunder Bay, one of the major barriers that they have is where are they going to put their kids when they're working?"

Monday's question-and-answer sessions will be posted on the library's YouTube channel in their entirety.

Upcoming candidate sessions

Candidate sessions will be running through the week:

• Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Mary J.L. Black Library: Northwood & McKellar candidates.
• Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 6:30 p.m. at  Waverley Library: Current River, McIntyre & Red River candidates.
• Thursday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m. at Brodie Library - At-large candidates.
• Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at Waverley Library - Mayoral candidates' debate.

The municipal election is Oct. 24. Online voting opens on Oct. 5.

For more information on the city's candidates, visit TBay Votes for full profiles.