Cambridge must choose between honey and vinegar

Which leader do we want, Cambridge?

Cranky Dad, who doesn’t sleep at night until he hears you sneaking into the house way past curfew?

Or clever Mom, who talks you into doing the right thing, while making you think it was your idea all along?

After attending a mayoral debate hosted by the Rotary Club of Cambridge Sunshine on Friday morning, I think that’s what it comes down to.

There’s incumbent Doug Craig, who started in Cambridge municipal politics back in 1976, and has been mayor for 18 years.

He has developed an ornery “Cambridge first” style that fits his plain-spoken persona perfectly.

Whether we’re talking amalgamation with Kitchener and Waterloo, or asking why Kitchener gets GO trains and Cambridge doesn’t, you can rest assured: Your mayor is getting fired up on your behalf.

“I stand up for this city,” he said, in a no-nonsense tone.

“I’ve been criticized for not getting along. That’s called standing up for people.”

Craig would normally have this election in the bag. The incumbent usually has the advantage, and Cambridge is loyal to its mayors. There have been only three mayors in the city’s 45-year history: Claudette Millar, Jane Brewer and Craig.

But he is facing a formidable opponent in Kathryn McGarry, former Liberal MPP for the riding, and a cabinet minister in the Kathleen Wynne government which was defeated this past June.

She’s the honey to Craig’s vinegar. She talks about bringing “a different leadership style that builds consensus.”

After the meeting she told me it was a relief to be out of divisive party politics. She shared the story of how she won over a suspicious group of Northern Ontario fur trappers when she was Natural Resources minister, by telling them she owned two fur coats and that she viewed trapping as a “heritage” activity.

Craig and McGarry actually seem to agree on a lot of things. They’ve both said the Cambridge Memorial Hospital on Coronation Boulevard would be a better site for a supervised drug-consumption site than any place in Galt’s vulnerable downtown.

They both agree that more supportive housing is key to fighting back against the wave of opioid addiction the city is experiencing.

But they talk about it differently. “I’m going to find money for supportive transitional housing,” Craig said. “If we don’t do that immediately, and I mean immediately, we’re going to have tents in all of our parks.”

McGarry agreed housing was important, but used her time to suggest tools to make it happen, like inclusionary zoning and building relationships with all levels of government.

There are three other candidates for mayor:

• Ben Tucci, a former councillor who wants to take a look at the city’s assets and sell some of them off to rebuild infrastructure;

• Randy Carter, a roofer who rightly said “it took a lot of courage” for him to speak before the audience;

• Colin Tucker, who did not attend.

In the end, Craig and McGarry offer two interpretations of the same city.

If you want to keep Cambridge far away from amalgamation in case it is robbed and pillaged by Kitchener-Waterloo, Craig is your voice.

But if you think amalgamation is coming anyway, and you want a skilful negotiator in your corner, look for McGarry. (She’ll be the one in the dirndl.)