THUNDER BAY - Shane Judge, the latest mayoral candidate to enter this year’s municipal election race, says he is concerned with the direction city council is moving in and he believes voters want to see a change in the council chambers.
Long-rumored to be running for mayor, Judge declared his candidacy outside Thunder Bay city hall on Sunday. Judge ran in the 2014 election, coming in third with 9,531 votes behind Ken Boshcoff and Keith Hobbs.
During his first run for mayor, the former CBC reporter focused on the proposed event centre and his concerns that a plebiscite was not held to allow the public to decide on the multi-million dollar facility.
“This time, I knew there were problems, of course being a reporter, but over the course of the last four years, I’ve really been focusing on the economic side of things,” Judge said. “Things have just deteriorated.”
According to Judge, the city is struggling with fewer housing starts, a lack of new businesses, shuttered buildings, and deteriorating roads. In order to sell the city of Thunder Bay to outside investments, Judge believes there needs to be less focus and spending on projects that are not essential.
“I hold the view that if you want to sell your company to outside investors, it’s got to look good,” he said. “Just having some nice facilities on the water front where most of us only go 20 days a year just doesn’t cut it. We have to make where we actually live and work much more attractive if we hope to get investors here.”
In order to make the city more appealing to not only outside investments, but the people who live here, Judge said he wants to invest in more trees and gardens, which will not only beautify the city, but assist with storm water management.
When it comes to big-ticket projects, Judge expressed concern regarding the new $30 million Thunder Bay art gallery on the waterfront.
“I grew concerned that we were heading down a path where we were building these unaffordable and fancy projects that require unbelievable maintenance while our roads and basic infrastructure continue to deteriorate,” he said.
Judge also believes the city of Thunder Bay is over-politicized and he wants to see city council reduced from 13 councilors to nine, which would mean doing away with the ward system.
“We need councilors who are elected by everybody,” he said. “Everybody should get to say who sits on that council. Now we have some councilors with fewer than 2,000 votes and getting on council and committing the city to multi-million dollar projects.”
Leading up to the election next October, Judge said he hopes to see many new people putting their name on the ballot. He is also hoping that the people of Thunder Bay will give him a strong mandate, which will show that he is not the only one concerned with the direction the city is heading.
“I want the public to send the signal to the incumbents and anybody running for council that if I win, I would like to win strongly,” he said. “Send a strong message to council that this is where we want to go.”
Judge joins three other mayoral candidates who have filed their nomination papers, including Coun. Iain Angus, Kevin Cernjul and Mariann Sawicki.
