THUNDER BAY -- As the city heads to the polls Monday, one issue has cast a big shadow over the entire campaign.
For many city voters, their personal stance on the event centre will play a significant role when they decide on the makeup of the next city council.
“It’s probably going to be the event centre,” Art Vandenbroeke said. “It’s going to play a big part.”
Nick Kozak said the event centre is at the top of his list of election issues.
He acknowledged he intends to vote for candidates who reflect his personal stance on whether or not to go ahead with the $114 million project.
The pre-election debates seemed to support that notion.
The mayoral debate held on Oct. 15 at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium seemed to keep coming back to the proposed event and convention centre, with most of the answers to all of the questions posed to the six candidates seeming to come back to the project.
However, there are members of the electorate, such as Mike Duncan, who are disappointed with the stature the event centre issue has commanded.
He doesn’t think the entire election should be turned into a plebiscite on a single issue.
Instead, Duncan believes ideally the campaign should be decided by the candidates’ platforms on economic development and crime prevention.
That’s an area where many in the various races have come up short in his eyes.
“I find most candidates suggest they’re going to address these issues but do not provide an explanation of how they will do it,” he said.
Community safety and crime prevention appears to be the second-biggest election issue in a year with 10 murder cases thus far.
Even so, many others have their own personal areas of focus which will influence their decision making.
For example, Chantal Brochu is going to consider how each candidate intends to work with the portion of the population who speak the country’s other official language.
“Because I’m French speaking I want to vote for individuals who understand the Francophone community of Thunder Bay,” Brochu said.
“I also want candidates who have the Francophone community at heart and will assist and help with the issues.”
Polls open at 10 a.m. Monday morning and remain open until 8 p.m.
