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Where Do They Stand? Does the city have an urban-rural divide problem?

Start casting your votes on Oct. 15
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Voters want to know where the candidates stand on the issues and so does Sudbury.com.

To that end, we’ve created a new election feature: Where Do They Stand? We picked nine issues that mattered to us, and reached out to the mayoral candidates and invited them to give us their answers.

Each candidate has 250 words or less to stake out their position on each of these issues: the Kingsway Entertainment District (KED); expanded casino gambling; large project spending; downtown Sudbury and the urban-rural divide; taxation (everyone’s favourite); roads (always top of mind in Sudbury); the health of our lakes; the state of firefighting in the city, and; transparency, openness and leadership.

We’ll be rolling a new story every weekday, an election issue per day leading up to Election Day.

Greater Sudbury is an unusual city in many ways do to its massive size. There are distinctly urban and distinctly rural areas, with separate needs, separate wants and separate priorities. But are those needs being met? 

Many residents of the rural parts of the city feel the urban areas — particularly downtown — gets more than its fair share of attention, spending and resources. 

Read on and find out exactly what the candidates think. Now, every candidate was invited to participate, but not all of them chose to do so. Here are the answers from those who did.

Rodney NewtonTroy Crowder, and David Popescu did not supply answers.

You can click on each candidate’s name to visit their page on the Sudbury.com election website.

This is the question we asked: The prevailing wisdom is that a healthy downtown equals a healthy city. Great downtowns attract new residents and new businesses (to the community, but not necessarily to the downtown core), and are a measure of a community’s economic health. But in our amalgamated city, municipal spending downtown is unpopular in rural parts of the community, which feel the urban areas receive more spending and more services. Are rural concerns legitimate? Are we doing enough for downtown? What should we do? Explain your position.

Brian Bigger (incumbent)

We’re a city with multiple downtowns. But I do believe the urban-rural divide is not really that contentious of an issue. People from all parts of Sudbury have a distinct pride in our city as a whole. We need to spend our money in areas that will not only bolster business but also bolster an encourage development. People want to live where they can shop and eat too. We need to consider this with each community within our amalgamation. Look at New Sudbury. It’s not downtown at all – but it flourishes as residents are close to the movies, to shopping to restaurants. We need to work hand in hand to develop and invest in these neighbourhoods properly.

Cody Cacciotti ​​​​​​

As someone who lives in the core and works in Capreol, I believe I have a better understanding than most about the differences between Sudbury’s downtown and our surrounding communities. It is the relationships I have been able to develop in places like Capreol, Hanmer, Onaping, and in downtown Sudbury that have taught me that we can only succeed together.  While the needs of New Sudbury may not be the same as those in Lively, we must make sure that every community has what it needs to succeeds. Every community needs investment and every community needs a voice, so that our next mayor is accessible and engaged with everyone. 

Bill Crumplin ​​​​​​

We have a very unique city in terms of our communities being physically separated. It’s understandable that many people identify with their former community. I have experienced this sense of community when visiting the Lively and Valley East fairs and Capreol Days.

There will always be a perception that one area is benefitting from the other. Evidence-based information supporting these perceptions will greatly assist in addressing them. However, many residents of the outlying areas work and socialize in the central city. Therefore, improvements in the urban core benefit everyone.

The City of Greater Sudbury has many downtowns or main streets. We need to develop a way forward that allows each to develop and reflect its unique local social and cultural characteristics.  Council must distribute scarce resources in a way that is open and fair. Sometimes one area will receive a service before another one.

Having said that, we must not abandon our urban core downtown. The Elgin Greenway is part of the solution. As outlined in my platform, I will advocate for a pedestrian-only entertainment, retail and meeting area similar to that of Ottawa’s Byward Market. We need to create an environment that allows downtown businesses to expand making use of our streets by creating more inviting shops, cafes, patios and the new concept of pop-up retail. An area that is well lit and is made secure by designated police presence where people of all ages feel safe. This is what modern cities do. 

Jeff Huska​

Having a great downtown is the focal point of any major city and Greater Sudbury should be no different. Unfortunately, the city needs to put more effort into promoting and enhancing our downtown core. First, build the new arena downtown and solidify your commitment to the university, local businesses and Greater Sudburians. 

Remove the downtown development charges and re-establish a parking system that welcomes residents like the BIA’s introduction of pay by plate technology. Also, the city must look at new areas for parking and introduce overnight parking opportunities. 

Retooling the transit system to enhance travel in and out of the downtown core is essential. I also want to see these same opportunities offered in the downtown areas in all the surrounding town centers such as but not limited to Capreol, Chelmsford, Valley East etc. 

Ron Leclair

Currently our downtown core is far from healthy. I do see people going elsewhere to shop, eat, and enjoy entertainment. Before we start pouring millions of dollars in one area, we should try to diversify funds to improve the downtown core, so people will feel safe and want to visit or shop there. We need to attract business, not scare it away. A total clean-up is required here.

Dan Melanson

Rural concerns are legitimate with respect to the delivery of services. The centralization of services has not produced the quality or cost savings originally promised at amalgamation. It’s time to take a look at what we can do to realize improvements to the current delivery model. Perhaps it is time to entertain a decentralized service delivery model that would focus on a more localized service model.

I think the downtown needs to stop looking for a magic bullet, that one big project that will solve all the problems, and embark on a more organic approach to downtown growth. Smaller more focused initiatives will produce a more vibrant and diversified downtown that would have greater appeal to tourists and residents alike.

Patricia Mills

There’s more than one downtown in Greater Sudbury. Whether you live in Capreol, Coniston or Copper Cliff, each of our town centres should have their own master plans for future growth and development. 

All of our communities need to know that we appreciate their unique characteristics and value their contributions to the whole city. I call it building the 10-minute neighbourhood. At the same time, the central core of the city is downtown Sudbury, which receives less than it should for growth and development. 

We need investments in many of our areas and we need to work with businesses, community groups and innovators to make that happen. Downtown Sudbury has a master plan. What happened to the years of visionary input that created the plan? We need to revisit and commit to growing all of these vital cores of our region.

Bill Sanders

I lived in Lively because I wanted the country life. People live in the urban areas because they want to live a quiet country life. Does this mean we ignore them? Of course not. But the city has to work extra hard to provide the services that they were used to before amalgamation. In a way it’s a perfect situation. You can live the quiet country life and yet still enjoy all the amenities a city has to offer by coming downtown.

To learn more about the city’s mayoral candidates, visit the mayoral election page on Sudbury.com. Learn more about council candidates and trustee candidates as well by visiting those pages on Sudbury.com.  


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