Mayoral candidates clockwise from top left, incumbent mayor Al McDonald, Harvey Villneff, Dan Seguin and Gregory Gray. Over the course of two hours, the four candidates fielded questions on a range of issues from the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce at St. Joseph-Scollard Hall on Wednesday night. PHOTOS BY LIAM BERTI
With the looming municipal election on the horizon, the mayoral rivals took to the verbal battlefield on Wednesday night in front of the very people who will be voting for them in a few weeks time.
All three new challengers Harvey Villneff, Dan Seguin and Gregory Gray joined incumbent mayor Al McDonald in the St. Joseph-Scollard Hall auditorium to field questions from the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce and the general public.
The overarching theme of the evening was economic development and key drivers in the community.
Over the course of two hours, the four candidates sparred on issues like growth opportunities, the biggest challenges facing the city, how to best structure the city’s finances and implement taxes, improving the downtown core and the sale of public green spaces, among many others.
Social issues such as second-hand smoking, promoting North Bay as an age-friendly community and encouraging biking, walking and an active community were also put forward.
“I thought it was a great debate and a great opportunity for us to discuss our issues and present our visions for the city,” said McDonald after the discussion. “I congratulate the other candidates for putting their name on the ballot because that takes a lot of courage; you subject yourself to a lot of ridicule and criticism.”
Despite each candidate being given equal opportunity to address each question, current mayor McDonald held the floor for the majority of the evening, at times fielding separate questions from the challengers themselves.
“He’s always been prepared for those questions; he knows what’s going on at City Hall so most of the questions were mostly directed towards him, which is understandable,” said Villneff after the debate. “But I’m happy with the way the evening went; there are just so many questions that need to be answered.”
McDonald did face the pressure of a verbal barrage from his opponents. The challenging candidates diligently brought up the overspending issues at any and every opportunity, whether it was the mishandled Memorial Gardens perplexity or the Pinewood Park Drive fiasco with MX Constructors and Sierra Construction.
On top of that, Villneff, Gray and Seguin continually took aim at McDonald with regards to accountability and transparency on a range of issues over the past four years.
“How, under his guidance, did Memorial Gardens, Lakeshore Drive and the other issues go so wrong?” Seguin said in his closing remarks. “For me, I think City Hall needs a real big tune-up and accountability and honesty needs to be upfront.
“We can’t grow as a city if we have people at City Hall not telling us the truth,” he concluded.
Having the option to address those separate questions from his counterparts, the current mayor welcomed the majority of them regarding the overrun arena and the construction projects.
From there, Villneff reiterated his focus on financial accountability throughout the evening and, in particular, called attention to changing the way the city deals with its contractors.
“I don’t want these contractors to get away with anything; they can come in and not finish he job, and they don’t get penalized,” said Villneff. “These things need to be addressed and the penalties need to be so high that if these contractors make a bid, they have to finish the job.”
Towards the end of the debate, Gray said he felt it was unfair that he, Villneff and Seguin were required to provide their platform during the application process, while the mayor has yet to formally do so.
Despite the criticism though, McDonald says his platform will be publically released in the second week of October and delivered to everyone’s mailbox. He said after having his platform copied during the last election, he and his team decided to withhold the campaign points until the late stages of the race.
“The platform is done and we’ve said right from the start that we’re going to release it on October 15,” said McDonald. “But you can really see, just from the debate alone, some of the things that I think are very important.”
Those points include the airport business park and its potential economic benefits, the ongoing issues at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, the impending hearings for the Energy East Pipeline Project and continuing to find ways to spur job creation and opportunities in town.
Prior to the formal debate, the near 200 people that attended the event were also given the chance to talk with each candidate during an hour-long meet and greet session.
Council candidates, many of whom were on hand for Wednesday night's debate, will be available for a meet and greet of their own next week on Tuesday, October 7 from 7-9 p.m. at the Clarion Resort Pinewood Park.
Advanced polling for the election is set to start on October 9, while actual voting day is on October 27. The inaugural meeting of the new council will be on December 1.
