Doug MacKay is no stranger to running for public office.
The marijuana advocate has run provincially in the past, and in 2006 took a run at the mayor’s chair, finishing a distant third to Lynn Peterson with 6.4 per cent of the popular vote.
Eight years later he’s taking another stab at municipal politics, once again seeking the city’s highest elected position in what promises to be a heated six-way race.
MacKay, 61, said he loves his adopted home, but sees plenty of problems in the way it’s being run, which is why he decided to file his nomination papers and run for mayor.
“I’ve been all over North America working and to Thunder Bay is the most amazing place in the world for beauty and for the cultures here,” MacKay said.
Among his top priorities is helping bridge the gap with First Nations and create a more harmonious community where all feel welcome.
“There’s a lot of contention there these days,” he said.
“I’d also like to see Thunder Bay become a Mecca for tourism and for retirees. We have reasonable real estate and it’s such a beautiful area for that, but we have free up the streets because people are afraid to walk the streets anymore. And I’m one of them.”
MacKay, not surprisingly, sees drugs as the single biggest issue facing Thunder Bay residents. It’s the root of most of the crime, violent and otherwise, affecting those who live here.
He’s got his own unique solution.
“It’s tearing this city apart. We’re known as the murder capital. Most gang shootings and murders are drug-related, whether it be alcohol or the other drugs. It really has to be addressed. I have other ideas, but I think that’s the root cause of a lot of things in this town. If we don’t address it head on and do it in a compassionate way, it’s going to get worse.”
MacKay is calling for the legalization of most drugs, citing how well it’s worked in other jurisdictions, including Portugal.
It’s how he’d stretch the public purse, by freeing up costly police resources.
“There are 10 world leaders that have a war on drugs and they’re all saying it was a miserable failure. It could be legalized and regulated, as we have with alcohol and tobacco, and that would free up countless dollars, especially with the police force … and that would be pared down even more if we were to have drugs as a social issue and not as a crime.”
Of course MacKay understands the proposed $114-million event centre is the predominant issue candidates are wrestling with during the current campaign.
He recognizes it’s a divided issue and he’s got friends on both sides of the fence, but for MacKay, it’s a non-starter.
“At this point, I don’t support it,” he said.
