As Simcoe County’s largest city, there’s a lot of pressure on whoever wins the seat for mayor in the upcoming municipal election . A population boom, coupled with social and economic issues, the next few years are crucial for the city’s future. In all, four people have entered the race for mayor in the city. Alex Nuttall is seeking re-election. He says he welcomes the competition and says more options for the voter is a good thing for everyone. “It’s a major part of our lives that is determined at the municipal level. Democracy is a key part of everything that makes out country so beautiful and certainly an opportunity for us to be able to talk about different issues and opportunities that exist for the city of Barrie and our people going forward,” says Nuttall. Tanya Saari is in her first election campaign. She brings experience in finance, business, housing and community leadership. Saari says she thinks she has what it take to lead the city moving forward. “My priorities are transparency and responsible spending. I hear an awful lot talking to people in Barrie about property taxes and affordability and just how stretched they are in every day lives. I’m primarily hearing affordability and primarily we’re talking about homelessness,” says Saari. Kay Sayer is a new resident to the city. She tells CTV News in an email that she wants to see the province forced to revisit the strong mayor powers legislation. She also wants the province to go back over all funding formulas and all unfunded mandates. “Running for mayor isn’t about me. It’s about calling out Premier Doug Ford. This is about a massive problem in all of Canada for decades,” says Sayer. The fourth candidate is Russell J. Tighe. “The biggest concern I’m thinking right now and it goes hand-in-hand with the encampment emergency as number one. Number two, our biggest challenge is our low-income housing list and the third one is, I want to make sure that our food stability, our food banks are fed, fed, fed. Everybody in this world doesn’t have to choose between their shelter and their food,” says Tighe. So the race for mayor in Barrie involves four. As for the 10 city councillor positions available, there are 35 people registered on the ballot. Election day is Oct. 26.
