With the city’s homelessness crisis in his crosshairs, Bob Johnston officially launched his mayoral campaign on Monday by filing nomination paperwork with the City of Greater Sudbury.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Sudbury.com at Memorial Park that afternoon, he touched on a number of issues, but the heart of his platform targets homelessness.
As a longstanding homelessness advocate who has worked at the Blue Door Soup Kitchen, the head of a shelter at Grace Family Church and a key figure in similar other projects, his central platform pillar is in keeping with past efforts.
The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were eye-opening, he said, adding that the majority of city council members were “hidden, working from home.”
Meanwhile, the city’s homelessness crisis grew without the necessary resources to handle it.
“The way that the city treated these people with no warmth, no bathrooms, no clean clothes, no showers …” he said, later adding that there was no sense in waiting for the city to do something.
In mid-2020, Johnston set up the Homeless of Champions shop at the Sudbury Community Arena, where he said several truckloads of clothes were shared with those in need.
Although the city has taken several steps toward resolving the situation since that time and the Memorial Park encampment has been cleared out, Johnston maintains that more needs to be done.
As mayor, he would push for the city to take over two old schools, which are already fitted with amenities such as gymnasiums, kitchens and bathrooms, to house three- to six-month programs for the homeless.
Here, he said, they would “be schooled, being taught life skills, building up their self-esteem, making them feel like they’re somebody. … These are very intelligent people, they just need to be guided in the right way.”
Johnston also wants to see the city create an opiate school, which would be another three- to six-month program where people learn more about opiates in hopes of kicking the drug.
Similar to the supervised consumption site and transitional housing complex the city is moving forward with despite lacking provincial funding, Johnston said they can’t wait on senior levels of government to take action and need to move on these projects as quickly as possible.
“Me being a double-leg amputee, I know how it is to get around,” he said. “I also know the hassles and hurdles these people have to jump through to get anywhere, and it’s too bad.”
The little things most people take for granted are big deals to some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens, he said, and the city needs to target its funding toward lifting them up.
On this front, Johnston’s campaign platform also encompasses city finances, which he’s critical of and describes the city’s recent added debt load of more than $300 million as being targeted toward “fantasy island projects.”
“Where is this money going?” he asked.
The debt in question has been earmarked for specific projects:
- 2020 Roads and Bridges Program - $33 million
- 2021 Roads and Bridges Program – $10 million
- Pioneer Manor Bed Redevelopment - $59.9 million
- Arena/Events Centre (Kingsway Entertainment District) $90 million
- The Junction $68 million
- Municipal Road 35 $30.8 million
- Bridge and Culverts $6.9 million
- Place des Arts $5 million
- Playground Revitalization $2.3 million
- McNaughton Terrace Treatment Facility $2.2 million
Johnston’s main point of contention is the Kingsway Entertainment District.
“When we have the KED with no blueprints for this and no blueprints for that, and nothing signed, come on,” he said. “How much more stuff corrupt behind the scenes do we know about? It comes back to the truth and facts, and we don’t have the truth and facts on it.”
It’s currently anticipated that the full cost of the KED will be determined and approved by city council alongside a project completion agreement and design/build request for proposal before the Oct. 24 municipal election.
“We need housekeeping at Tom Davies Square,” Johnston said. “It’s time to switch around some staff, and I’m not worried about saying that. … Sharpen the pencil, make sure the lead’s sharp and have it worn out by the end of the day.”
Although Johnston has been adamant that his campaign will centre on “truth and facts,” his own ability to remain factual has been called into question in recent months.
In a video posted to YouTube in January, Johnston joined Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini and a homeless man who went by Roger in making several claims about the city’s homeless community.
“There was a stabbing – a double stabbing at another shelter in the City of Greater Sudbury, I won’t mention the location, but there was nothing on the news or nothing about that neither,” Johnston said in the video. “My second family, here, is being forgotten about.”
In the video, Johnston also says that two frozen bodies were pulled out of tents a few days previous.
Members of city administration refuted all of these claims alongside others made in the video, and its alleged factual inaccuracies contributed to Vagnini being voted off of the police board.
Johnston said he stands by the video and encouraged Sudbury.com to “do some homework” to verify the video’s claims.
“I believe (city administration’s) takes on things, but it’s very flexible,” he said. “Rules should never be broken, they can be bent. … That is all 100-per-cent true, I really believe that and I will stand on that.”
Sudbury.com also published a story earlier this year outlining the fact that Johnston had already incurred election expenses prior to the timeframe in which the Municipal Elections Act allows expenditures. In the event someone applies for an election compliance audit, this potential breach of election rules could result in a review by the Election Compliance Audit Committee, which has the power to take action such as removing Johnston from public office.
“I’ve got no concerns whatsoever,” he said. “I did not nothing wrong.”
This is Johnston’s second venture into municipal politics after an unsuccessful bid for Ward 1 in the 2018 election, at which time his 1,075 votes trailed behind Mark Signoretti’s 2,291.
“I might not win the election, but our community and our beautiful people have to understand and know the truth about what is actually happening in this city,” he said. “I’m running this campaign on truth and fact.”
Similar to his 2018 run, Johnston said this year’s election season will again find him engaging in a great deal of door-knocking.
Although he had his second leg amputated since the last election, he said with a chuckle, “You don’t need legs to run.”
Running against Johnston is Mayor Brian Bigger, who is seeking to retain his seat; former Sudbury Liberal MP Paul Lefebvre, who announced his candidacy last week and will be filing his nomination papers after the provincial election on June 2; and former Ward 4 Coun. Evelyn Dutrisac, who filed her nomination paperwork with the city on Monday. Miranda Rocca-Circelli has also announced her candidacy for mayor, and on her Facebook page cites her platform pillars as economic vitality, environmental sustainability, social and civic engagement and mental health and well-being. Sudbury.com has reached out to Rocca-Circelli for an interview and plans on publishing an introductory story on her soon.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
