Cathy Dobson/Local Journalism Initiative

The focus was on living wages and protecting public services as the Sarnia and District Labour Council hosted Sarnia candidates.

About 100 residents attended the all-candidates meet-and-greet at the Sarnia Legion Tuesday. The meet-and-greet provided two hours of one-on-one time for voters to talk to the large field of candidates.

There are 38 candidates who want to win one of eight seats on city council.  Seventeen are running for a city/county seat while 21 want to be city councillors. Four others want to be mayor.

Most people stayed afterward to watch three of the four mayoral candidates answer a variety of tough questions from Candace Young, president of the Sarnia & District Labour Council. The council represents about 6,200 public and private sector unionized workers. Incumbent Mike Bradley, local business owner Scott Molson, and Chamber of Commerce CEO Carrie McEachran fielded questions. Candidate Bill Dennis did not attend.

Q & A highlights:

Young to Bradley on affordability and a living wage –  Noting that the Ontario Living Wage Network pegs a living wage in this region at $21.50/hr, she asked: Will you commit to advocate for the City of Sarnia to become a certified Ontario Living Wage employer so that all full-time, part-time and contract staff earn at least a living wage.

Bradley: I can take that to the new council…There’s a bigger issue that I’ve been championing for 30 years and now that movement has grown…We need to have a guaranteed annual income (from the provincial government) so people can have a decent lifestyle no matter what their station in life.

Young to McEachran on local long-term care homes: Will you commit to maintaining our municipal long-term care homes in Sarnia-Lambton as public homes and oppose contracting out the operation of municipal long-term care homes to for-profit companies, and commit to the development of municipal and long-term care homes when possible?

McEachran: Yes, I will commit to maintain long-term care homes and certainly we need more.  My own personal situation is my father died at home because we couldn’t get him into a long-term care home and now I have a mother living at home that we can’t get into a long-term care home.  So I know exactly what the impact is on families and on the workers.

We have some really wonderful, amazing workers in these homes and we need to maintain them, and take care of our people so they can take care of our families.

Young to Molson on Sarnia’s water supply:  As mayor, how will you ensure our local water supply and systems remain a protected, publicly-owned resource if the creation of an arm’s length  (corporate body) is proposed?

Molson:  Wow, you gave me the tough one, didn’t you?  So honestly…I don’t think we need the Ontario government telling us what we can and cannot do.  Us as a municipality, we’re smart enough to figure out our own water system without having outside controllers telling us what we can put in it or what we shouldn’t do, or privatizing it. 

This needs to stay in the control of the people of Sarnia and…that’s it, there’s not even any thinking about it…we don’t need someone else being in control of our water system.

Young to Molson on replacing unionized Blue Water Bridge employees with  a private contractor: At a time when families are facing rising costs and economic uncertainty, secure employment has never been more important. How can our municipal government play a role in reducing precarious work? What are some areas you would prioritize?

Molson:  You gave me another hard one, darn it.  For starters, I’m a blue collar worker with 16 people who work for me, so I understand the basic income…but is it good for Sarnia if we start privatizing some of our stuff?  It’s not…I do believe that privatizing so (employers) can escape unions and set pricing, I don’t think that’s right. I’m not for privatization or anti-privatization. I’m for what’s best for Sarnians.

Young to Bradley on social services and affordable housing: How have you advocated for more social services funding and what would you do differently if elected?

Bradley: Well, I wouldn’t do anything differently if re-elected. I was the one who brought the motion to county council years ago asking them to make housing the number one priority of the county.  And to their credit, they did…in a few weeks, 50 new units (open) on Kathleen Avenue. There are several hundred other units in motion…That’s what I do…we have to give people some shelter from the storm, some chance at a decent life, and that’s why I’ve lead the charge on affordable housing and supporting every project that came in front of council.

Young to McEachran on controlling local education: If the provincial government attempts to take over or severely limits the decision-making power of our school board, including removing trustees, will you commit to leading the pushback to protect local governance?

McEachran:  Yes, I will help lead the pushback. I worked in the school system as an EA years ago…and things have changed.  I see EAs and teachers leaving good careers because of the stress and pressure. So certainly as mayor of Sarnia, I will meet with unions, meet with school board, and rattle the chains of the provincial government to ensure that governance stays local.

On that point, Bradley said to McEachran that the school board’s role is to defend itself and a mayor has no authority in that area.

“That’s a great point,” McEachran answered. “But I am a true believer that if it impacts the children, youth or anyone in our community, then it is my problem as the mayor, and it may be out of the mayor’s control…but we can advocate, make some noise and make sure the workers’ voice is heard.”

In an interesting twist to the standard debate format, Young asked each candidate if they wanted to ask one of their opponents a question. 

Bradley was first up and made light of the opportunity by asking Scott Molson how he felt about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ chances this year.  Then he said he’s talked to Molson at length already and didn’t need to ask him any questions.

But when it came to Carrie McEachran’s turn to ask Bradley a question keeping within the themes of the labour council event, she didn’t hesitate.

“Do you believe there is any city department or public service that should be privatized? If yes, which one?  If no, will you clearly commit to keeping city departments public?” McEachran asked.

The city has never investigated the possibility of privatization, Bradley answered.

“I will warn you though, on the issue of the water supply…there is a big push to move forward to a private water system. There’s a lot of support out in the county to explore that option,” he said. “The main reason is they can get grants they can’t get otherwise. 

“The position of the city, officially, is that we do not support that.  And I’ll just give you one word why:  It’s called Walkerton,” Bradley said to a round of applause.

The labour council’s event was one of about a dozen all-candidates forums in an election season that is offering ample opportunity to meet the candidates in person. 

Not only is the field of candidates large, events are being well-attended, suggesting high voter interest that could translate into high voter turnout on Oct. 26.  In 2022, only 40.4% of eligible voters cast their ballots in Sarnia.

The next all-candidates events are at the Imperial Theatre Oct. 19 and 20 starting at 7 p.m.