Campaign conversation
St. John’s council candidates take part in municipal election forum
Seventeen of the 32 candidates for St. John’s city council attended a municipal election forum Tuesday at the Comfort Inn Airport hosted by the St. John’s Board of Trade, The Telegram and the provincial chapter of the Canadian Home Builders Association.
What can be accomplished in two minutes?
One can brush their teeth, microwave popcorn, reply to one email or do any number of menial chores or tasks.
But can one effectively and concisely convey the elements of their platform for public office in the context of a single, broad question in 120 seconds?
That was the challenge for 17 of the 32 candidates for St. John’s city council at a municipal election forum Tuesday morning at the Comfort Inn Airport hosted by the St. John’s Board of Trade, The Telegram and the provincial chapter of the Canadian Home Builders Association.
The candidates for the five wards and those seeking one of four councilor-at-large positions were posed the same question as mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates at a similar forum last Friday: what would you do to make St. John’s a world-class city?
Generally, the candidates, while taking a different tack, all sang from the same songbook of election issues.
The subjects of the arts, culture and built heritage, and how to improve on them and showcase them as strengths of a world-class city, emerged early and often.
Infrastructure needs wanting for more attention, the need for a better public transit system and making St. John’s a cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly city were also common themes.
Some candidates focused on the need for more engagement between citizens at the community-by-community level and city hall, while others stressed the importance of focusing on making life easier for the city’s growing senior demographic.
Given that the event was hosted in part by the St. John’s Board of Trade, many candidates made business and economic development a key talking point, stressing the need to make St. John’s a place where business should want to come and where entrepreneurs can succeed by reducing the barriers that exist in some policies and regulations.
Along the same vein, the subject of a taxation system that works for the citizens, residents and business owners alike was prevalent in almost every pitch.
“Tax is a big thing, permit prices and development fees, and all that certainly would help the construction industry,” says Ward 5 voter Terry Walsh, who owns his own contracting business, “so they’ve got to start thinking along those lines.”
A subject that received little attention was accessibility and inclusion.
“That’s a little disappointing when you consider the number of candidates who are running in this city council election,” says Joan Macdonald, a Ward 1 voter who uses a wheelchair.
“There’s a fair bit of work to be done and we have a lot of small businesses in the downtown core area that are not accessible.
“We have a city, as far as I’m concerned, that hasn’t been encouraging or supporting small businesses to become accessible and I think, in some cases, discouraging them.”
“We have a city, as far as I’m concerned, that hasn’t been encouraging or supporting small businesses to become accessible and I think, in some cases, discouraging them.” Joan Macdonald, Ward 1 voter
(Tuesday’s event was originally scheduled for the Rocket Room, but it was moved at the behest of Macdonald, who wrote to The Telegram and the St. John’s Board of Trade to express her concerns about the lack of accessibility at the downtown venue.)
Macdonald and Walsh also expressed concern about the turnout of candidates at an event just one week from election day — 15 of the 32 candidates seeking election, including five incumbents, did not attend.
“I was disappointed that so many of the candidates didn’t show up,” says Macdonald. “That was really surprising.”
Video from Tuesday’s event is available on The Telegram’s Facebook page.