O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Henry V
The
municipal election process in Thunder Bay culminating this October is starting to pick up
steam and there are now two candidates in the running for mayor:
Iain Angus and Larry
Hebert. Both are long time stalwarts
of Thunder Bay City Council and have contributed years of valued service to the
community in assorted capacities. Both
also topped the polls last election for the position of Councillor at Large
with Angus at 15,861 votes and Hebert at 14,664. Given that the two top contenders for the
Mayor’s Chair last election came in at 14,463 (Keith Hobbs) and 12,051 (Ken Boshcoff)
votes, they are certainly credible contenders for the position of Mayor.
Of course,
when one looks at the current composition of City Council, there is indeed an embarrassment
of riches when it comes to potential candidates for Mayor. It is always time for a
female Mayor in Thunder Bay and given Rebecca Johnson’s sterling career of
community service, one would expect that she would also consider a run for
Mayor. It would be credible given she garnered 14,620 votes last election in
the At Large race. Frank Pullia has carved out a strong role both
as an advocate for community causes as well as a strong showing in the finance
portfolio at City Hall. At 14,112
votes last election, he is a key contender.
And of
course, who can forget the ubiquitous Aldo Ruberto whose passion
for quality of life issues in Thunder Bay plus 14,311 votes in the last At
Large Race also puts him within reach of the Mayor’s Chair. There are also some strong candidates in the
ward Councillor category – the names that particularly come to mind are Joe
Viridiramo and Andrew Foulds. They are
both high profile candidates committed to their city and with exposure across
the community.
Of course,
they cannot all be mayor but being the Mayor in Thunder Bay is important given the
need for a sustainable economic future that embraces all the people of Thunder
Bay and the leadership role that Thunder Bay plays in the region. It is important to have as strong a slate of
visionary candidates as possible to generate the ideas we need to move forward. This election is an opportunity for defining
debates and visions in the areas of economic development, First Nations
relations and social and urban affairs and what better way than a strong Mayor’s
race with many quality candidates.
It should
be noted that the race for Mayor need not be relegated to current City Council
incumbents. There are many individuals
in Thunder Bay who also have strong community leadership credentials and it
would be a shame if Ken Boshcoff or Shane Judge did not put their names forward
again. Indeed, Shane Judge apparently will
be running. It is also a shame that
Lisa Laco has stated she
is not running. And then there is
the business community. Having someone prominent from our local
business community step up would also bring a vital perspective to the municipal
election especially with respect to issues of business development and
taxation.
This is a
crucial time for picking Thunder Bay’s next Mayor and council given the many
challenges that have faced our community over the last four years and that will
continue in the future. We are also
picking a Mayor who will be the public face of our community at an important
milestone – the 50th anniversary of Thunder Bay’s creation that will
occur in 2020. Having a strong mayor’s
race full of vigorous visions would be the ultimate community contribution our
community leaders could make. Having a
strong slate of candidates for Mayor would be a vote of confidence in the
importance of municipal politics in Thunder Bay and the importance of civic
leadership in shaping our future. It is
time for our accomplished community leaders to step up to the leadership
challenge and run for mayor.