(Photo: Facebook)
A number of issues were covered as Moncton’s Mayoral candidates went head to head in a debate hosted by the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton.
Those issues included affordable housing, crime, and city council transparency.
Incumbent Dawn Arnold says the city has already stepped up in its efforts to eliminate homelessness, “To invest $6 million dollars into Rising Tide to create an affordable housing initiative. My commitment is over the next four years to get to functional zero homelessness and this is attainable.”
Candidate Erik Gingles says this is a massive undertaking and to say that someone can solve that is a bit of a stretch, but it is manageable, “That is why I am saying I want to pause the RCMP station. That is $46 million now and growing, it is a lot of money that is making us rather house poor. and that money could be better spent perhaps on doing services that would help keep people off the street and help people on the ground”
A question about Council transparency was also posed to Moncton’s candidates.
Incumbent Dawn Arnold says she has been very dedicated on this, “In fact for nine years, I have written on every single meeting that I have attended from a public perspective. I have advocated long and hard for things like attendance, expenses, code of conduct, activity reports. This you will be able to find online, every single activity report that I have written for every month for the last five years. This has been one of my goals over the last nine years, was to let people know what is happening with council, why we make the decisions we make. Can we do better? Absolutely, we can do better. I do believe, on a personal level, I have certainly gone above and beyond what has ever happened at the City of Moncton before.”
Candidate Erik Gingles disagreed. He doesn’t believe council has been overly transparent, “It is very nice that a person can post what they said or happened at council, but they are not posting everything. What is missing is the nuance. There is a very clear divide currently with this council and it is a numbers game as to who can win or what gets passed. That is something that I would like to make sure with the next council is that the whole story gets told.”
In Arnold’s opening statements, she said she believes in the community and the incredible opportunities, “We are the economic engine in this province and we need strong experienced leadership to keep this going. My experience along with council making wise, long term strategic sustainable decisions is why Moncton is experiencing record breaking growth. We need to be intentional about keeping this momentum going.”
Gingles says, “Sometimes Moncton feels like a tale of two cities. There are statements about record breaking permits and projects being on time and on budget, but many claims are actually the results of a global pandemic, so to take full credit for the positive trends or blame the growing challenges like crime, homelessness and childhood poverty, seems just a bit in genuous. As Mayor, I would be more open, and responsible with taxpayers money. I will work to increase support for frontline agencies with other levels of government to make our city safe and enjoyable for everyone. I will work to keep schools in the centre of their communities and I will increase funding for youth activities including mental and physical health.”
On the issue of local government reform, Gingles said, “The green paper is very interesting, but it is a wee bit nebulous. They aren’t being exact on anything and there is a lot of room for discussion. It seems that we’ll have to take on more responsibility and that’s okay with me. I think we need to be a lot more self-sufficient and this is a great opportunity to be able to do this.”
Arnold expressed that this is a complex issue, “I don’t think anyone knows where it is going to land. The biggest thing from my perspective is tax reform. We need to remove the double taxation and implement tax fairness for all New Brunswickers. We need the, ‘pay for what you get’ to be in place.”
Riverview’s Mayoral candidates also had a chance to debate. More details to come.
In Dieppe, Incumbent Mayor Yvon Lapierre is acclaimed, because there were no other candidates.
Greater Moncton residents will go to the polls on May 10th.
