A newly elected city council is slated to be sworn in at Tom Davies Square this evening, ushering in a fresh four-year mandate.
Although nine of the 13 members of city council are incumbents, it’s not necessarily indicative of a status-quo body of elected officials. In addition to four new members and fresh ideas drawn from the campaign trail, platform points from the 37 candidates not elected might also come into play.
While some people consider elections akin to referendums on any manner of subject, few voters are driven by a single issue, and there’s no sense letting potentially viable ideas wither on the vine.
As mayoral candidate Don Gravelle said during a Chamber of Commerce debate in October, “I’m willing to steal ideas from everybody.”
Last week, Sudbury.com reached out the Greater Sudbury candidates not elected during the Oct. 24 civic election to find out what campaign points they’d like to see carry forward. Their responses have been compiled alongside ideas promoted during their campaigns.
Perhaps the most common refrain during this year’s election cycle was the call for there to be an audit of city finances.
Mayoral candidates Miranda Rocca-Circelli and Bob Johnston were among the strongest advocates for an audit, which Rocca-Circelli clarified later in her campaign as needing to be a “fair value audit,” which digs into the nuances of efficiencies.
The city already undertakes an annual third-party compliance audit, as required by the province, and the city’s auditor general heads several audits of specific areas of city operations each year, but city council is capable of increasing the effort if they see fit to do so.
Also on the efficiency front, zero-based budgeting was bandied about by several candidates as a potential means of freeing up funds, which has proven successful in other municipalities. This means of budgeting starts each budget cycle at zero, with costs and revenues assessed to determine if each item is still required for delivering the business plan.
Last year, city CAO Ed Archer suggested an incremental approach might bear fruit, with the city gradually going through its 58 service lines with three to five reviews per year. This approach, he estimated, might save the city $3 to $5 for every dollar invested.
The following are some of the other key ideas to come out of this year’s election cycle.
Greater Sudbury shadow junior council
Mayoral candidate Evelyn Dutrisac proposed a Greater Sudbury shadow junior council, and told Sudbury.com this week that she’d like to see the newly elected city council move forward with the idea.
“As a former high school teacher, I have the greatest respect and confidence in the youth of Greater Sudbury,” she said.
“When we connect, listen, engage and empower the youth, they get involved and give 100 per cent in the causes they champion. They demonstrate great ideas, creativity and compassion in the projects and causes they believe in.”
The shadow junior shadow council would allow high school students to become engaged in municipal government, and to express their own ideas and perspectives and “propose courses of action and methods of creating positive changes in their communities in relation to a civic issue, identifying volunteer opportunities where they can develop a sense of service and leadership skills.”
Working with the boards of education and schools, students would be elected to sit on the shadow board and spend time discussing relevant issues that council deals with. Prior to council meetings, they’d meet in council chambers to make their recommendations.
“I encourage our city council to support and set up a committee to develop and implement this idea,” she said. “I am interested in working with the city in creating a Greater Sudbury shadow junior council.”
Youth and young adult advisory panels
Ward 6 candidate Michel Lalonde proposed a youth advisory panel for those aged 12-18 and a young adult advisory panel for those aged 19-25.
“In short, these panels would be consulted to promote, maintain and enhance youths’ quality of life in Greater Sudbury through consultation, education, advice and advocacy,” he told Sudbury.com. “They would also advise and respond to requests by the mayor and council on youth issues, and to promote the development of a continuum of services for youths in the area.”
Shifting the tax burden to mining companies
A few candidates raised the topic of shifting the tax burden to mining companies.
The city’s industrial tax rates already exceed the province’s threshold of 2.63 (compared to 1 for residential), which means the city is actively lowering their tax burden to meet the limit.
Ward 4 candidate (and then-councillor) Geoff McCausland argued that the city needs to lobby the province to allow them to jack up taxes for mining companies so they pay a greater share for municipal resources – namely, the roads their heavy machinery beat up.
“We need to hold industry and government accountable to get a fair cut of mining revenues,” he told Sudbury.com. “Mining trucks destroy local roads, and yet they pay very little in local taxes compared to what they paid historically and what they pay internationally.”
With nine active mine sites and a geography greater than 29 countries, he said there’s far too much infrastructure for the local population to deal with.
“A lot of that infrastructure is only there because of the mines,” he said. “In the past I've highlighted reports that show we need $45+ million (15 per cent tax increase) more per year to maintain our roads, $100+ million (33 per cent tax increase) to maintain all our infrastructure, and that we are only replacing our water pipes at a rate of once every 215 years.”
Ward 8 candidate Vital Rainville told Sudbury.com a solution might be a road toll.
“The companies that use our roads to haul the minerals on the infrastructure in our city have had a free ride giving the shareholders a net gain at the taxpayers’ expense,” he said. “Also, we have to start finding a royalty system of tax imposed on the companies for the metals being extracted from our city.”
Various other campaign points were broader in scope, such as Ward 1 candidate Jordan Derro’s push for the city to do more to support the arts.
“Artists create work that all of us get to enjoy on a daily basis, which raises the value of civic property by replacing graffiti with recognizable works, which attract money to our community in the form of tourism dollars associated with concerts, festivals and shows,” he said.
His argument is that the common refrain, there’s “no money for that luxury,” needs to be more readily rejected, in that there’s value in the arts.
“Most large cities have arts organizations that are municipally funded. We should be seeing that at home as well.”
Today’s swearing-in ceremony at Tom Davies Square is invitation-only due to space limitations, and those in attendance have been encouraged to wear masks due to the current medical landscape.
Members to be sworn in include:
- Mayor Paul Lefebvre
- Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti
- Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini
- Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier
- Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin
- Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent
- Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre
- Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée
- Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer
- Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh
- Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier
- Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc
- Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann
The ceremony begins at 6 p.m., and a livestream of the event can be found by clicking here. Alongside declarations of the oath administered by Justice Karen Lische, Mayor Paul Lefebvre is scheduled to deliver his inaugural address.
Click here for a story highlighting what the city’s latest incarnation of city council pledged during their campaigns to do.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
