Last week, when parts of Greater Sudbury were pulverized by a downburst that blew a roof off an apartment building, left 4,000 homes and businesses without power and ripped trees out the ground like they were matchsticks, Greater Sudbury’s mayor was nowhere to be found.
He was absent during a community crisis when citizens needed to know that the city was doing everything within its power to help those affected by the wild storm.
I live in New Sudbury, which had most of the devastation.
My neighbour had her car smashed by a fallen tree and many others on our street still have huge trees sprawled out on their backyards, some resting on damaged roofs. I walked the area and talked to fellow citizens about the devastation. They were upset. Many were shaken but thankful there were no injuries.
Where was the Mayor?
He should have been at the forefront, touring the affected areas and reassuring people the city was doing everything it could to help them. He should have been a leading presence when neighbouring cities sent crews to help Sudbury Hydro with its efforts to get the power back on for residents.
Why didn’t the mayor meet with the crews working to restore power and remove fallen trees and debris? Why didn’t he personally thank the first responders, police, Sudbury Hydro workers and workers from out of town who were on the scene and working hard? I’m sure they would have appreciated being acknowledged by the head of our city.
Why didn’t he offer up a respite area to residents who needed a cool place to rest and maybe a shower? He could have opened a school or done something to help alleviate the situation.
It appears this is a habit of the mayor – missed opportunities.
He did not lead the charge to engage the people of Coniston on the site selection for the ferrochrome smelter. And he did not involve strategic partners who could have helped Sudbury get the contract from Noront Resources.
Instead, he took a group of staff to Finland so they could be convinced a ferrochrome smelter could work here.
The $1-billion project would have created 350 well-paying jobs directly and another 150 indirectly.
This would have helped with the loss of high-paying jobs we’ve seen happen at Health Sciences North, with more cuts coming to help balance the hospital’s budget.
And when the city did not get the Noront contract, the mayor did not address this community. He left it to media to ask the questions and find the answers. Those protesting the smelter are not to blame. This proposal was protested in other communities that are still in the running.
This proposal failed because of a lack of vital strategic thinking of who to involve and when, along with an understanding of what Noront wanted from the city.
When the Conservative leader was in Sudbury three times campaigning during the provincial election, the mayor did not think it important to sit down with him or the other leaders and discuss Greater Sudbury’s priorities.
That, I believe, was a huge mistake, and as I’ve said before, a missed opportunity.
We can’t afford these types of costly mistakes. We need a leader who gets out in front of important matters, not out of sight of them. With me as mayor of Greater Sudbury, we can be a place that seizes on opportunities to renew our city.
Patricia Mills
Candidate for mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury