The October Municipal election in Strathroy-Caradoc was featured on television this week as 4 shows were taped corresponding with the 4 seats being ran for next month. Wednesday the shows for Deputy Mayor and Ward 2 were taped for broadcast, and the Deputy Mayor’s show with candidates Mike McGuire and incumbent Brad Richards had moments of debate and great interaction all while keeping respect for each other in check. Topics ranged Wednesday night for both shows from affordable housing, transparency, the Mount Brydges arena, the servicing agreement with Adelaide Metcalfe, our voting and ward system, and the aspect of ward 2 residents feeling cut off from the Municipality. Moderator Chris Gareau of the Middlesex Banner says both nights all four shows ran very smoothly and some candidates even mentioned how having the tapings as a non-public event allowed for better content and professionalism throughout. Gareau says having a candidates event is very important during this process.
The Ward 2 show went very well with some debate in certain areas, all candidates were present except Tena Berdan who unfortunately had a family emergency.
The evening started with light hearted conversations and the rundown of how the evening would go. Loreena Dickson from CJBK and Chris Gareau from the Middlesex Banner moderated the event and started with opening remarks.
The first topic for debate, was affordable housing. Do we have a focus for it and how would you address the need for low income housing. McGuire got the start saying there needs to be more discussion with developers with council’s approval. He also made it aware that he was unhappy with council’s decision to deny the request for a 42-unit housing complex. Richards says it’s important to have developers in on the conversation of affordable housing.
On the same topic, the Caradoc Housing Corporation came up and they were asked what is the role of it and does it need more transparency. Richards says the corporation has an independent role from council, and council just over sees it. McGuire says it is difficult to find information and transparency when it comes to the CHC.
Candidates were asked on the role of staff and council, and is council independent enough. Richards says council is independent on its own. Staff make the reports and requests and council debates them. McGuire says he respects what Richards said but doesn’t agree. He thinks staff is making too many decisions on their own and sees an issue with that. Richards asked McGuire what issues was he seeing, and the Seniors Centre was brought up by McGuire. He thinks those decisions were made by the CAO and not council. Richards defended that argument saying council makes all the final decisions.
The Mount Brydges Arena was the next topic, and did the candidates know where the process currently sits. McGuire was honest and said he wasn’t quite sure, whereas Richards said there are 2 committee’s for the arena project working as we speak, a building committee and fundraising committee. He sits on both and is waiting for feedback on what to do next. He agrees that Tri-Township arena needs to be replaced.
A hot topic in the community has been if council is Strathroy focused over the ward 2 area. Richards says it’s been fair on where money has been spent, and McGuire said that he agreed with Richards and that Mount Brydges needs a re-look as the need for investment is great.
Interesting was that out of the few topics both candidates agreed on, was that they both agreed that Strathroy-Caradoc should amalgamate with Adelaide Metcalfe Township. The candidates were also asked if we should expand the municipality into more wards, remove wards or stay the same. Richards would like to see no wards down the road and to be one community, but for now he thinks 2 wards is the way to go. McGuire agreed, saying two wards is the way to go. He thinks that the boundaries do need to be discussed though.
Here is the list of the shows making their premiers, plus all shows will be available to watch as many times as you’d like on the Rogers TV You Tube channel.
Mayor Debate – Monday, September 26th at 5pm
Ward 1 Debate – Tuesday, September 27th at 8pm
Ward 2 Debate – Wednesday, September 28th at 10am
Deputy Mayor Debate – Wednesday, September 28th at 9pm
written by: K. Close
written by: K. Close