EastLink Ontario business development manager Marc Serré, filed his papers for the position of Greater Sudbury mayor Aug. 16.
“This city needs new leadership,” Serré said. “We have a great city. Let's grow it.”
He will take on incumbent mayor John Rodriguez, Ward 8 Coun. Ted Callaghan, arts promoter Derek Young, retail businessman Zack Gauthier and citizen Ed Pokonzie in the Oct. 25 city election.
Serré said he will make extensive use of Facebook and Twitter during his campaign.
“My campaign will have the most intensive social media campaign for a mayor ever in Canada.”
Serré has managed business development at EastLink Ontario since 2007. He was a city councillor for the municipality of West Nipissing in 2006/2007 and was a school board trustee for Conseil Scolaire Catholique du Nouvel-Ontario for five years, between 1999 and 2004.
Serré has made a number of presentations at international disabilities conferences in the United States and Canada and was a regional director of the Canadian Hearing Society for eight years between 1996 and 2004.
He is active in physical endurance events, completing the Toronto full marathon in 2005 and 2006 and most recently the North Bay triathlon in 2007 and the Bala Falls triathlon in 2009.
Young and Gauthier have also said the city needs a new fresh face in the mayor’s position. Rodriguez said his performance has meant good economic news for the city. Callaghan has said Rodriguez has not consulted the current council enough in major decisions like the St. Joseph hospital sale.
