Municipal voters in Sault Ste. Marie got the chance to grill prospective members of the next city council Wednesday night, including some mayoral candidates at an event put on by the Sault Ste. Marie and District Labour Council. Dozens packed the room to hear from those soon to be on their municipal ballots. The evening included candidates from Ward 1 and Ward 2, as well as three of the five mayoral candidates. It began with each of them giving an introduction and talking about why they want to run for public office. “What I’m aiming to do is put more focus on fixing some of the fundamentals that we have, like roads, patching potholes,” said mayoral candidate Matthew Toffelmire. “I want to improve and optimize transit, among a few other things. And I think top list as well is just public safety.” Next was a question-and-answer session, where the crowd could ask a range of questions, including safety, road maintenance and priorities they want addressed by city hall. Questioning priorities “It is very important to be able to present that as a question to the candidates,” one person at the event said. “It doesn’t come up as often as I think it should.” “The questions themselves were very important in (determining) how I’m going to vote,” said another. Incumbent mayor Matthew Shoemaker said those in the crowd pressed him on his record at the council table. “Ninety per cent of it has been completed through consensus with council,” Shoemaker said. “We have people who come at the issues from the left. We’ve got people that come at the issues from the right, and we managed to get consensus on some very difficult issues, ensuring funding went to the YMCA and on a core municipal function, ensuring funding went to the hardest. Although it was not a corporate function.” First-time challenger Joel Rowswell, son of former Mayor John Rowswell, was asked about his platform, which includes fiscal responsibility. “I’m a numbers guy and believe me, I’m going to go through everything,” Rowswell said. “But I want to talk about accountability and transparency. People don’t want the downtown plaza. That’s what I’ve heard across the community.” A full list of candidates, as well as key information such as advanced polling information, can be found on the city’s website.
