Latest from the Campaign

And another thing about small business… What does Thunder Bay lose when a very small business closes? We lose jobs, certainly. We may also lose a gathering place, a local customer for other businesses, a first job for a young person, or one of the places that gives a neighbourhood its character. During COVID, I watched small businesses find ways to help one another survive. Restaurants created online grocery stores filled with products from their local suppliers. Businesses shared information, promoted one another, and created new ways to reach customers. They were trying to survive, but they were also trying to ensure that the businesses around them would still be there when things returned to normal. That is community wealth. It is not only profit or tax revenue. It is the wages, relationships, experience, and cooperation that remain in Thunder Bay and help make us more resilient when the next challenge arrives. The City cannot guarantee that every business will succeed. It can make better decisions about the conditions in which they operate. That means giving reasonable notice when construction will affect them, providing reliable transit and accessible sidewalks, helping bring vacant commercial spaces back into use, and encouraging mixed-use developments with smaller storefronts that new businesses can realistically afford. It also means examining City purchasing. Large contracts may appear efficient, but they can shut smaller businesses out. Where possible, we should structure purchasing so qualified local businesses have a fair opportunity to compete—and consider how much of the wider economic benefit remains in Thunder Bay. That is the small-business lens I would bring to Council: looking beyond the immediate price and considering the effect a decision will have on workers, neighbourhoods, local suppliers, and the wider community. What small business adds something irreplaceable to your neighbourhood? Tell me about it—or tag them so others can find them.

We have programs. Where are the results? People are frightened. They are frustrated. They are angry. In the latest Thunder Bay Police Service survey, only 51% of residents said they felt safe. People have every right to ask what is being done—and whether it is working. The loudest answer from many candidates has been ‘more police’. Yes, we need effective and properly resourced policing. But more police, by itself, is not a plan. We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness, addiction, mental-health crises, poverty, youth violence, and all the other issues feeding crime and disorder. Thunder Bay already has many programs working on these problems. Many may be doing excellent work. A collection of programs, however, is not the same as a coordinated plan. The public should be able to easily see how they connect, where the gaps are, and whether their combined effort is making people safer. A meeting is not a result. A program delivered is not necessarily a problem solved. A referral is not a success if the person never receives help or quickly falls back through the same gap or even a different gap. Thunder Bay already has a Community Safety and Well-Being structure that brings organizations together. We need to make it produce a clear, coordinated, and public plan: • Set shared community safety goals. • Share information and track outcomes across services. • Reduce duplicated work and direct resources where they are needed most. • Report what is working, what is not, and what needs to change. 
Council should not simply approve another program, pilot, or funding increase and move on. It should ask who is responsible, what result is expected, how it connects with everything else, and whether it actually worked. That is what I will bring to Council: direct questions, follow-through, and a focus on results people can see and feel. Thunder Bay may already have many of the right people and programs. It is time to get them pulling in the same direction. Better Decisions. Stronger City.