North Bay Mayor Vic Fedeli told his supporters today that he is seeking re-election to finish the job he started and that he is ready for a good campaign.
North Bay Mayor Vic Fedeli told his supporters today that he is seeking re-election to finish the job he started and that he is ready for a good campaign.
Fedeli made the statement Thursday during the official opening of his campaign office on Oak Street.
“There would have been nothing more anticlimactic than having the clerk come to my office last Friday and say, ‘oh well, nobody is running, so you're the new mayor for four years,” he told BayToday.
“So this way we've got a race. It gives me a great chance to get out and remind people of the fabulous changes that we've had, and everywhere you look around, you can see them. So I just look forward to the chance to be able to get out and campaign. I love campaigning.”
Fedeli told the 250 plus supporters in attendance that he is campaigning on his record, and the fact that the present council under his leadership has restored hope and solvency to the city.
He told the crowd that they (council) adopted a plan and stuck to it, and since taking office three years ago taxes are on the decline, construction starts are at an all time high and there is money in the reserves.
“Under my leadership since the day I took office, today, the city's debt and commitments are lower today than when I took office.”
“Regardless of who my opponent may be, I intend to campaign on my record on the record of this council, because I think we've had a huge turnaround in the city of North Bay and that's what I'm going to campaign on.”
Looking to the future Fedeli highlighted the primary focus of ‘Version 2.0’ of his ‘20-20 vision’.
“At the moment we are dealing with IBM like companies to look at doing data centre facility in the city of North Bay, if and when we take over the underground facility,” he explains.
“I want North Bay, to become the high-tech centre of the North. We are in the right spot, others can't look for that because they don't have the data pipe, both (Canada’s) data pipes intersect in North Bay, not anywhere else that is our advantage.”
“The largest data pipe that Bell Canada runs in Ontario, comes into the city of North Bay, and because of that, We saw the Tele-robotic surgery. The world's first Tele-robotic surgery done in North Bay, because we have that huge data pipe, and all those other things that spun off of it.”
Fedeli also defended council’s decision to sell off surplus land and says there is plenty of green space still in the area.
“The sale of surplus lots is almost over. What we have left now is the scar that went through North Bay, which is the CN rail.”
“That's really what we have left to sell off, all of the former CN lots, we need to have controled disbursement of those,” he states.
When asked about the talk on the street indicating that the Bay would be further ahead if the mayor and the MPP got along better, Fedeli fired back stating that the relationship with the province is a strong one.
“That sounds like pure politics, can you imagine the city of North Bay having anything to do with the four-lane highway that's being done down in South River, Sundridge and Burks Falls … that's just sheer nonsense for anybody to speculate.”
“I've got a good relationship with the people who we really need to have a good relationship with North Bay. The ministers that there are so important to us with me, they take my phone calls whenever I have an issue they’re right on the phone back to me, or we're sitting down at the breakfast table. So we have got, what I consider to be, a wonderful relationship with the ministers that we need to be comfortable with.”
Fedeli says his relationship with Smith is strong as well, but that the two fail to see eye to eye when it comes to the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF).
“Monique and I have always gotten along well,” he states.
“We differ on our approaches, but you know, when we look at the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund that’s really our only stumbling block. I've always said first of all to our MPP and to anybody that will listen, when the province does something that is good, I am the first person to stand on the soapbox and say ‘my God’ that is great for the city of North Bay.”
“But when they do something that is harmful to us. I need to have the right as a mayor of North Bay who represents the people to say ouch, that is not in our best interest, and here is why, I need that right. You can't have somebody be denied the right to be able to speak on behalf of the citizens of North Bay.”
The incumbent says OMPF the biggest difference and issue he has with the MPP pointing out that the northern cities of Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury receive 15-million-dollars in OMPF funding a year and the city of North Bay receives 580-thousand-dollars a year.
“Something is wrong and I have to have the right as mayor, to ask that question,” he says.
“ I can't be accused of not getting along because I'm fighting on behalf of the taxpayers for the single greatest inequity that we've ever seen. 15 million versus 588,000 that’s not one time, that's every single year after year, so come on I've got to have that right to bring that up.”
Fedeli acknowledged that he has a good opponent and isn’t taking anything for granted, he says he plans to roll up his sleeves and dig in as he does with any project.
“I want to earn each and every vote that I intend to receive, and I intend to be your mayor again for four more years.”
