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Photo:
GLENN OGILVIE The Observer
The four
candidates for Sarnia mayor squared off
at a Rotary Club all-candidates meeting, Monday at the Guildwood Inn.
From
left: Joe Murray, Dick Carpani, Carlos Murray and Mike Bradley.
Mayoral
race gets personal
It became
clear on Monday that Sarnia’s mayoral race is shaping up to be much
more about
personal style than debating the traditional issues.
The four
candidates made their first appearance together at an all-candidates
meeting hosted
by the Rotary Club of Sarnia.
“I’m one
who works with people,” said Dick Carpani, taking a direct hit at Mayor
Mike
Bradley, who is frequently criticized for not being a team player.
Carpani is
a former councillor who served with Bradley almost five years.
“I take
advantage of the knowledge and opinions of each councillor. I will not
reject a
proposal without a hearing. I will not turf any business person out of
my
office,” Carpani said.
“People
tell me I’m too much of a nice guy for the job. But I don’t think being
pleasant is a bad characteristic for mayor.”
With
Bradley leading council for the past 18 years, the speeches were as
much about
whether the city needs change as they were about taxation and
infrastructure.
“If we keep
doing what we have been doing, how do we expect a different outcome?”
Carpani
asked in a final shot at Bradley.
Coun. Joe
Murray also levelled criticism at the incumbent, alluding to the
mayor’s long
hours working at city hall.
To attract
new investors and create new jobs, Sarnia needs “a salesman who can
close the
deal,” Murray said.
Rather than
leave that up to the professionals who have been hired to bring in new
business
and industry, Murray said he would take on that job himself if elected
mayor.
“I believe
in the old-fashioned way of doing things,” he said. “As mayor, I’d go
out on
the road to meet the CEOs and the decision-makers and show them what we
have to
offer. I wouldn’t sit in my office 80 hours a week.
“If I have
to take them out for a beer or take them out salmon fishing or golfing,
I’ll do
it.
“We need to
bring them here and we all know that once they’re here, they will be
sold,”
Murray said.
Bradley
told about 65 Rotary club members over lunch at the Best Western
Guildwood that
his political experience is what makes him the most capable.
“What the
mayor is all about is being the person who understands the fabric of
the
community,” he said.
He took
credit for bringing labour and business together in Sarnia and for
advocating
for local residents with the premier and other influential
decision-makers.
All the
candidates touched on the same issues: jobs, controlling taxes, fixing
infrastructure, keeping youth here, attracting more doctors and
reigning in the
city’s debt.
Murray put
the current debtload at $74 million and said the city pays $11 million
every
year just to service it.
“We just
can’t go on like this,” he said. “The only way to get out of this mess
is
new-found money...”
As a
councillor the past three years, Murray said he’s been “squeezing and
scrimping
the budget” and growth is Sarnia’s only answer now.
Bradley
made no apologies for the debt.
“It’s your
sports complex, your sewage plant, your water plant and your roads,” he
said.
“We’re doing more this year than we’ve ever done.”
Bradley
said the city is on the right track because of council’s work with
Lambton
College and investment in the University of Western Ontario’s Research
and
Development park.
Carpani
said it’s council’s job to make decisions that encourage investment,
then let
the local Chamber of Commerce and Economic Partnership officials do
their jobs.
It would be
great to land another UBE but it’s more likely that job growth in
Sarnia will
result from the expansion of existing businesses, Carpani said.
Carlos
Murray, Sarnia’s fourth mayoral candidate, had equal time on the podium
and
much of it was spent endorsing Bradley.
“You people
tell me what it is you want done and in my first year as mayor, I’ll
give Mike
part of my pay so he’s there to help me out,” he said to much laughter.
Later he
defended the incumbent.
“I hear
people saying Mike Bradley has done a terrible job. Well, he’s had
(former
premier) Mike Harris and McGuinty to deal with.
“The debt
could be more like $100 million if it wasn’t for (Bradley). He’s done a
great
job.”
The first all-candidates
meeting open to the public is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at city
hall,
hosted by the Sarnia-Lambton Chamber of Commerce
By CATHY
DOBSON The Observer Tuesday,
October 17, 2006
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