Kim Coreau is tired of running into red tape and bureaucracy when trying to make a difference.
For example, the community advocate tried to help with a movement to have a food truck at Paterson Park to serve chilli to the homeless last winter. That never went ahead as Coreau said there were too many regulations in the way.
“I thought that if I ran and became a councillor at-large maybe I could help better and help give citizens a voice,” Coreau said. “That’s severely lacking, according to people I’ve spoken with.”
She was also convinced to run to try to eliminate racism and divisiveness in the city.
“I’m hoping that after this election with a new council that will no longer be the case and we can have a united community. I’d love to see us working together for the better of the communities of Thunder Bay and the Fort William First Nation,” she said.
Coreau acknowledges crime is an extremely complex issue in the city, which is why it’s necessary to look beyond the crime itself.
“We have zone watch and we have foot patrol but it’s time to get to the root issues,” she said.
Coreau has a seemingly unique stance on the proposed event centre as she professes herself to be neutral, though refers to it as the “11 letter dirty word” of the campaign.
“I can see both sides of the coin. I can see the financial spinoffs, economic growth and jobs coming from it,” she said.
“But I can see the rising taxes and other concerns citizens have with it. I can also see businesses suffering because of it.”
The next council needs to create concrete economic development instead of waiting for highly anticipated opportunities which may never bear the fruit they promised.
“I’d like to raise our tax base and bring in economic development. Real industry and real jobs,” she said.
“It’s not enough to count on the Ring of Fire and the event centre if those ever finally go through. We should be looking at other industries and other avenues.”
