Alex Nuttall seeking re-election

Alex Nuttall, the current Mayor of Barrie, announced he will be seeking a second term and running for mayor in October’s municipal elections.

Alex Nuttall says the job’s not finished. Surrounded by family, supporters and the media, he says there is more work to be done and is running once again for Mayor of Barrie.

He made the announcement at Mill Creek Community Centre in Barrie’s south end Tuesday afternoon.

“Mill Creek is very much my home. Mill Creek is a place of opportunity,” Nuttall said in his announcement.

He appeared to to tear up as he was talking about the place he grew up in.

“Mill Creek is very much my home,” Nuttall said. “It is the place that housed my family for over five years, my bedroom was merely a closet, it’s a place that I overcame the most difficult times of my childhood. Mill Creek is a place of opportunity.”

Nuttall gets visibly emotional. “I practiced this like 10 times - I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said, getting emotional.

“It’s a place that gives people the opportunity to stabilize and and find a brighter future.”

The announcement comes on the heels of a strong motion he set forward to council that got passed, addressing the “lawlessness” in downtown Barrie when it comes to illegal drug use.

Nuttall’s announcement included what he had done as mayor.

“We paid down 20 per cent of the city’s debt, we increased our reserves by 57 per cent in three years. For all this, we received three straight increases to our credit rating. Barrie now has the highest credit rating that we can receive; it’s triple A, unlike my hockey skills,” Nuttall said.

He discussed the City of Barrie’s budget.

“We restored the City of Barrie as a respected entity, the provincial and federal level, bringing in over $135 million not allocated at the beginning of this term,” he said.

Nuttall brought in the provincial and federal government into his announcement as well.

“We will win the favour of the province and the federal government just like we did on housing, the ice storm, infrastructure and transit funding. They know this council has been focused on driving down housing costs, increasing job opportunity in Barrie and they are aligned with that vision,” Nuttall said.

What does the future hold for Barrie?

“Four years from now, I see a Barrie that reduces its reliance on Toronto and builds out its own sustainable job market. Stronger industrial land capacity, for a brighter tomorrow,” Nuttall said.

“There are two sides to the affordability equation and the ability to earn a great living in Barrie needs to be addressed. We have too many folks working in Toronto, living on a highway rather than having the time to spend with their family, in this city. Our quality of life in this city is unmatched but only if you can live in this city and work in this city,” Nuttall said.

“We’ll be creating a bursary, with Georgian college for $10,000 for the young people in Mill Creek seeking post secondary education to the college level and finally we will be creating a bursary with Lakehead University for $10,000 for young people in Mill Creek seeing a university education,” Nuttall said.

“This is a place of opportunity, but only if our young people can see a path forward and they see that the possibility actually exist, we’re making strong decisions today for a brighter tomorrow.”

“There’s so much more work to do and, you know, I’m not the only person that’s going to see that there’s so much more work to do, so we’re going to work every single day to A) make Barrie better and B) to make sure that residents around the city have all the information and are able to provide all of their opinions and ideas into the next term of council.”

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“It’s really important that we have a robust process in this election where we get out in front of people and find out what their dreams and aspirations are for the next four years of council and that’s what I’m gonna be focused on,” Nuttall said.

Ontarians head to the polls on Mon., Oct. 26.

With files from CTV’s Moosa Imran