Battle’s not against less fortunate: Bennett
Mayor Daryl Bennett said he’s “not picking on the less fortunate” with his campaign promise to crack down on small-time drug dealers downtown after Coun. Diane Therrien — who’s running against him for mayor — said the city needs further help for people with addiction.
Bennett and Therrien were invited to Full Tilt Cycle Studio on Hunter St. W. in downtown Peterborough on Friday to take questions from a group of women, moments after they finished a spin class.
Therrien, 32, has served four years as councillor in Town Ward.
Bennett, 70, has been mayor for eight years; he’s an owner of the Liftlock Group, a group of city companies that includes Capitol Taxi and several other businesses.
Still on their stationary bikes, the women asked questions of the two mayoral candidates.
When asked what they’d do about street-corner drug deals and syringes littering public parks, Therrien called for increased police foot patrol downtown and a drug rehabilitation centre for Peterborough.
But Bennett reiterated his campaign promise, made earlier this week, to have dealers arrested.
“We have a major problem right across North America with a drug infestation,” he said.
Bennett said he’s been “accused of picking on the less fortunate” and of “trying to arrest my way out of the problem” since making his policy announcement on Wednesday, but that’s not the way he sees it.
“It’s not fear-mongering — it’s stating the fact that we have a problem,” he said.
Bennett and Therrien agreed on one matter Friday: housing and job creation are the two biggest issues facing the city.
Therrien said there needs to be enough affordable houses available for people to settle in Peterborough and raise their families.
Regarding jobs, she said council must face the fact that “big industry” isn’t coming back to offer employment — it’s going to be up to startups to hire people.
“The entrepreneurial spirit in this community is unmatched — and it needs to be given some fuel,” she said.
Bennett said council has given approvals to developers to build nearly 4,000 new homes — which will offer plenty of new housing.
As a longtime businessman he has first-hand knowledge of jobcreation strategies, he said.
“I’ve created jobs — I know what it takes to make a business successful,” he said. “It’s hard work. It’s sweat and it’s equity.”
When asked why he thinks he’s the best candidate for the job of mayor, Bennett again mentioned his experience.
“I’m a father, a grandfather and a businessman,” he said. “I’ve been in politics for eight years and a businessman for 50 years.”
Therrien said that she’s had to hustle for employment and knows first-hand what it takes to make a living in “the new economy.”
She may not have eight years of experience as mayor, she said.
“But I have four years more experience that Daryl did when he first ran for mayor,” Therrien said, referring to the fact that Bennett ran for mayor in 2010 and won with no prior political experience.
The municipal election is Oct. 22.