If you were unable to catch yesterday’s televised Oshawa mayoral debate, no worries – you can watch the video replay here below. We’ve also included the questions so you can review them ahead of hearing the candidates’ answers.
Every election is an important election, and we encourage every eligible voter to ensure that they either take advantage of advanced polling or be sure to vote at your local polling station on Monday October 24th, 2022.
The Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, while a private member-funded, non-government, apolitical not-for-profit, is very pleased to make public election debates available for as many interested citizens as possible. In service of helping more people to make informed choices in each election, we will always endeavour to provide the greatest access to the content that we can possibly offer.
Mayoral Debate Questions 2022:
- With respect to the downtown business core, which is not as vibrant and prosperous as it could be – what would you like to see different about downtown in 10 years, and if elected, what will you do during your term to drive that vision forward?
- Oshawa has transitioned from being a strictly industrial town. What initiatives do you propose to accelerate the change to a low carbon economy? How will you, as Mayor, attract investment for this transition?
- Should we have different growth strategies with respect to our waterfront, midtown and surrounding areas? What should they be?
- Cities compete with each other and also work cooperatively. How can we balance competition for business and resources with fruitful collaboration between municipalities?
- There is a significant worker shortage in Oshawa – local businesses are struggling to find qualified people to fill jobs locally. If elected, what initiatives would you put in place to attract and train new citizens to our community?
- It’s been widely reported that Ontario needs 1.5 million new homes in the next 10 years to balance supply with demand. As one of the fastest growing regions in the province, Durham Region will be playing a large part of the solution. As a mayor, what will you do to improve the development approval processes, timelines and current staffing constraints to be able to stay on pace with the necessary growth and how will you address NIMBYism when it comes to new developments, especially those that will address the missing middle?
- The Go-Train extension would seem to create a terrific opportunity for Clarington/Oshawa to encourage intensified housing within walking distance of Transit. As Mayor, how would you support planned communities with higher density in proximity to this new transit infrastructure, and how would you facilitate the building of these communities?
- Firehouse Station 1 on Arena Street services the downtown area of Oshawa. It has been suggested that this station does not have enough life saving equipment, including enough fire trucks, to adequately service and protect the downtown business core. The livelihoods, and lives of downtown business owners and staff are at stake when equipment from stations farther away than Station 1 are called to a downtown fire emergency. As mayor, how will you ensure that all fire stations in Oshawa, in every neighborhood, are properly equipped to handle fire emergencies, independent of one another?
- Numerous cities develop active transportation programs and promote them. As mayor, how will you incorporate health and wellness into city functions? How will you encourage active transportation in the city?
- We have one business in particular who says – “I received my building permits from the city, zoned as industrial. The Region permits were delayed as they said our use was commercial rather than industrial. We could not get our bank loan until our permits were in place. We had to get our legal team involved (which incurred cost) and once the permits had been approved at the regional level, interest rates had risen, adding one million dollars to our cost.” How will you not only streamline operations at the city, but facilitate Regional red tape reduction for businesses operating in Oshawa?
