Leadership is one of my key reasons for running. A mayor needs to be a people person who has several meetings with each member of council to know their position and see how any comprise can be had.

Municipal red tape MUST STOP. As a city we need to work with citizens and business to help and expedite permits zoning etc. If we do not then business will continue to go elsewhere.

Attraction of labour and retaining it will require several things. First having a good job to come to. Second being able to get affordable housing. We need to start thinking outside the box on many items. Several of the younger generation can’t afford to buy a home, but are interested in Tiny Homes. Let’s give this serious consideration. The city is so vast that we can easily house several but even start off with a pilot project for one.

With the homeless/ opioid crisis I believe we also need to have a long term plan to help prevent the situation.

I would like to see us work with the province, The School of medicine and all other post secondary institutions to put a focus on mental health professionals. Everything from phycologists and phychiatrist to social workers. This will reduce wait times for assistance for those suffering a mental health incident and hopefully prevent self medicating

Greater Sudbury has several organizations assisting these people in need. I would invite all to a meeting where we can collaborate. Ultimately to avoid some duplication of work and permit all of us to work together for the common good of helping people in need who are struggling with circumstances often beyond their control.

The new Mayor and Cousil will need to look at the city as a whole in order to see how we can be more efficient. Raising taxes or cutting services should not be the only 2 ways to raise funds   We need to look at efficiency and to maintain our infrastructure routinely. This is far more cost effective than waiting till something breaks down.  The city needs to stop wasting tax payers hard earned money on unnecessary consultants especially since several times they disregarded the report

Ultimately we need a Mayor who can bring Counsil together, stop the red tape and work with community leader and business to move the city forward.

Full audit. Clean up the core of management in Tom Davies square and yes we our open for business. We must build a team solid, all being team players. Not I, but we can do this. we our in serious trouble.

Leadership

Small businesses face many struggles and, as a local entrepreneur, I understand. I have acquired keen insight into both these challenges and the opportunities that I would be able to share when advocating on behalf of our citizens seeking a business-friendly municipality.

I have over 15 years of proven expertise as a facilitator. These skills will help create the structure for any Council activities such as weekly meetings in Chambers or for various committees. This will ensure that governance and respect are upheld and that all the relevant topics are covered thoroughly and resolved through joint decision making and clear understanding of the impacts of those decisions.

Leadership starts with accountability, and I have proposed a capital spending freeze while departments have an external audit conducted, and applied a zero-based budget to ensure we can best identify the challenges and create opportunities. There should be no assumptions that a municipal tax increase is inevitable.

I also believe that a space for people to feel a sense of connection is needed, and I have committed identifying services and programs that can be re-allocated to the amalgamated towns who feel a lack of belonging in their communities. The amalgamated towns deserve to have a level of autonomy that engages its citizens where they live.. I plan on exploring the possibilities and creating an actual blended model that is fiscally responsible and meets the needs of all of our communities.

My experience and development as a leader.

I had three post-secondary degrees in hand, speaking three languages, I was challenged to find a job here in Sudbury. I decided to embark on an entrepreneurial journey. When no relevant opportunity presented itself, I knew I had to create my own. I struggled many times, I had moments of despair and challenges that seemed insurmountable. I wanted to give up. Often. I grew my business locally, independently. Parenting and entering the corporate world as a woman and a mother had its own unique challenges, which I overcame. We lived through labour strikes throughout the process, almost losing much of what we had worked hard to create for our family.

I continued to work diligently to achieve my goals. I worked hard to create relationships with potential stakeholders, one by one, I fostered connections with people. It took time and effort, and perseverance. If I had kept track of all the rejection and denial, I would have had an endless list of “no’s”. What kept me going is knowing that if I were to give up, I would never know if success was just around the corner. I had to learn how to lead myself, and I quickly realized that leadership is a skill set that is learned and taught. I had to be willing to show up when times were tough, and still show up when they got harder. i had to be my biggest support system, and I had to be willing to make mistakes in order to learn and grow. I was humbled by my failures, because they are just as rich as my successes. I learned that a true leader takes the time to do the work on themselves so that they can best lead others.

I would like to bring back that sense of community, meaning and purpose for our citizens,  because I understand how integral it is to feel you belong to something and where you can contribute. I worked hard the past 20 years to build that sense for myself and my family, and I understand the work involved in building connections and creating a safe space for people to have a voice and for businesses to be successful. I know what it takes to continue along a path and feel resistance, and how to navigate that resistance with respect and humility. I am committed to creating a space where our community can start to engage and connect again. I will bring the leadership skills I have worked hard to acquire and refine, and I will apply them with compassion and integrity to ensure that our community can start to thrive again.

Municipal Red Tape

I have proposed an audit of all departments along with a zero-based budget to be implemented. “Municipal Red Tape” can only be identified when a full audit is performed. Once we can best identify the fiscal gaps, we can start to further investigate the barriers that our citizens are experiencing. We can then start to reallocate funds that are identified in the audits to create new programs and services that address citizen’s needs.

Business Development/Attracting New Businesses

I believe the current process for attracting businesses to our city should be reviewed and assessed to identify where we can do things differently to attract new businesses and to encourage existing business expansion. As a local entrepreneur, there are areas that can be improved to help support a thriving community for business owners and attract a younger demographic to invest their resources here in Greater Sudbury.

Cities like Halifax have been very creative and prosperous in their efforts to diversify and attract investments. We need to look at what other cities across the country are doing and pick the best ideas to implement here. Why re-invent the wheel when we can modify existing models that are proven successful?

Attraction of Labour/Talent

The best thing we can do to attract talented individuals and general labour is to offer a safe, prosperous and affordable city in which to live. My proposal to have a provincial audit if elected is the first step to getting spending under control so that we can maximize the value of every dollar the city spends. A more efficient corporation is the basis of a prosperous and affordable city that is attractive to effective recruitment. We need to support our local employers by improving our track record of appealing to new citizens.

Homelessness/Opioid Crisis

Thunder bay has a great model of care that is focused on a Drug Strategy Structure made up of working groups that act on priority issues in the community. The focus is on Prevention, Treatment, Harm Reduction, Enforcement and Housing. Some committees appoint subcommittees to work on action items. The committees include: Implementation Panel, Community Education and Prevention, Harm Reduction, Housing, Mental Health and Addictions, through the lived experiences of adults, youth and children.

This model of care can be adopted to help create solutions and resources to support our vulnerable citizens and I am committed to further exploring working with local and provincial experts in these fields to create an array of resources and support.

Housing Affordability

With respect to housing affordability, the municipal government has a few options that are within its powers. These options focus on costs associated with new construction such as permit fees and development charges. I would like to see a cost-benefit analysis done of reducing or waiving development charges for first time new home builders/buyers with similar conditions as the federal first-time new home buyers tax breaks.

Value for Services/Taxes

I have proposed an audit of our city departments, and implementing a zero-based budget, while we freeze any capital spending, and only spend on essential services and programs. Since the amalgamation, the city has not been fiscally responsible, and if we are going to move ahead, we need to better understand where the gaps are. Until we better understand where the gaps are, we cannot steer our city into becoming fiscally responsible. And this is where capital spending should also halt. Once we understand where our costs are being mis-allocated, we can then better plan where our funding can be allocated to serve the needs of our community.

A consideration I would like to offer, is why not enter into discussions with the province to acquire Pioneer Manor and place the financial burden where it belongs, with the provincial coffers instead of the city taking significant losses to operate the facility. The standard of care would remain the same, and the process of getting admitted would remain the same, the one change would be that instead of 165,000 Sudbury taxpayers paying millions to cover the annual deficits, it would be spread over all of the 13 million Ontario taxpayers as a result.

The way to decrease the tax rate is to increase the tax base. Bringing people to our city can help to encourage more people to settle down here. With an increase in population, we start to increase the tax base, with the taxes spread out over more citizens.

Other ways to increase the tax base is to create small enterprises within the city, and invest in smaller capital projects that provide immediate return on investments.

Laurentian University

I believe that the process Laurentian University is undergoing offers the city a valuable lesson in how we should and should not manage our organizations at large. I have proposed an opportunity to partner with Laurentian University and help support their dept repayment. The Laurentian Athletic department is a multisport facility, none of the like exists north of Barrie, Ontario. Having a multisport facility that can house ongoing tournaments for indoor sports would create opportunities for many of our citizens. It creates a safe local space for youth to develop and play sports, it offers an opportunity to attract people to our city, with local tournaments. The local economy thrives, and it also creates a sense of stewardship by protecting our greenspace from any development.

We are a community, and we will all be impacted if Laurentian University does not succeed, and if we can assist them in a mutual partnership of sorts, I believe it is worth exploring, because if they succeed as an organization, we succeed as a community.

In Conclusion

There are opportunities that exist in our community and I am committed to actively working with our citizens and our Council. I want to work toward creating the changes we need in Greater Sudbury not only to become fiscally sustainable, but to become a thriving, healthy and attractive community in which to live.

My Vision: To create a new Greater Sudbury that is accountable, equitable and accessible.

My Mission: Is to transition and transform Greater Sudbury into a “SMART CITY GOVERNMENT”, Federal, Provincial and Ontario cities are embarking on this direction, we should be heading there as end goal. Cities embarking on this have partnered with Rogers or Bell or Esri. In 2017-18, federal govt launched Impact Canada to encourage cities to go in this direction, Ontario government have started Smart Ontario initiatives and have grants available, I reviewed the org chart for the City, so complicated, as on doing business with the City, it becomes a struggle with bureaucracy, no incentives for economic development. Only true wealth comes from businesses, all MUSH monies are just recycled tax dollars.

What’s great about the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and cyber-firewalled customized Internet of Things (IoT) is that digital data and analysis are on real time, accessible by any stakeholder, example tracking progress on licenses, permits, etc, and are time bound, yes, By-laws need to be reviewed.  Imagine Public Health access to Sewage and Water Treatment data and analysis on levels of contaminants and contents such as Covid presence made possible by IoT in real time data. As a former Director with the Federation of Northern Municipalities (FONOM) I want to revive the royalties benefitting (fair share) from the mining surge that will occur within the next 5 years for the demand of lithium, cobalt, nickel related minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries, so much to do for enhancing quality of life. We need to diversify where our revenues are coming from, not just hitting the property taxpayers with increases; prioritizing of expenditures, my focus is maintenance of basic needs infrastructures, they affect our quality of life. Balance the budget, make SMART decisions using this model of government in planning and sustainability.

We have skilled and talented employees, I want to provide the leadership that will revive their passion for what they do and value what they do.

We should not fear this direction, we will not re-invent the wheel, we will seek best practices from those already engaged on this model. So much possibilities and opportunities to come and use that will benefit our citizens.

Provided a link to his campaign page on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084808800584

LEADERSHIP

Leadership encompasses a wide range of activities, including strategic planning, execution, assessment, and advocacy in any setting. A successful leader knows when to mediate, collaborate, or mentor. As a registered nurse for the last 20 years, I have developed these skills and had to find unique interventions to build trust within the agency I work for. I now know how to create a productive workplace and promote a positive environment. I agree we need excellent leadership within our city council.

MUNICIPAL RED TAPE

I will be honest; I have never had to require inspections or permits for construction projects. I’ve heard time and time again that Sudbury’s “red tape” and procedural delays significantly deter developers from investing in our city. We need these investments to grow as a city. To develop as a city, we require these investments. I can’t promise you that I have all the solutions, but I can say that this issue seems to affect many local businesses and residents, and as a city, we must enhance the services we offer, especially if they fall short of the public’s expectations.

ATTRACTION OF LABOUR / TALENT

This is particularly important to me because Sudbury and the rest of the province both suffer from a severe shortage of registered nurses. To attract more professionals, our city must be appealing. Having said that, I also think it’s important to develop and train locals to be experts in their field. In the end, we reason for people to want to be here and stay here. Our younger workers may want more entertainment, while our experienced workers may find the cost of living or access to services a priority. Nevertheless, we need good and trained laborers and talent. To accomplish this, we need to work on promoting internships and apprenticeships, as well as all other aspects such as cost of living, entertainment, and access to make retention effective.

HOMELESSNESS / OPIOID

The city council needs to address issues with mental health and addiction. I spent time last week learning about the services available in Sudbury and how we can offer greater assistance. I appreciate Roxane Zuck, CEO of Monarch Recovery Service, taking the time to talk with me about the services offered and the difficulties we encounter in Sudbury. Although we have excellent services, it is not enough. The biggest problem discovered was a lack of funds. More money would make more beds available.

I also talked to an individual who had gone through several of the addiction treatment centers in Sudbury, and I asked her what would have facilitated her recovery and whether any services were lacking. This person suggested, among other things, that the city needs a long-term program (for example a 2-year program). The programs are currently available in durations ranging from weeks to months. This person believed that she required additional time to fully recover.

I don’t have all the answers for how to resolve the issue of mental health and addiction we are facing in Sudbury, but I can assure you this should be a top priority. I have no doubt that as a city, we can develop successful strategies.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT / ATTRACTING NEW BUSINESSES

I understand that bureaucracy, red tape, and taxes are discouraging new business and development within our city. Business development is not my area of expertise. Having said this, I do believe as council we need to create a strategic plan to promote development.

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Housing affordability is affecting many of our community members. Habitat for Humanity Ontario Gateway North’s “cost-effective homes” initiative provides our community with some hope for future affordability. It’s unfortunate the Sparks Street development project is seeing a significant cost increase. These delays are not good for the population who requires these homes. We do need to work together to facilitate these types of projects.

LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY

Having a functional and dependable university is essential. Our workforce’s future depends on it. Also, I have two boys who will soon require post-secondary education, and I want them to have local options. Student planning for the future is already difficult enough; I shudder to think of the additional unpredictability brought on by Laurentian University’s troubles. We do need to look at how we can support them as a community.

VALUE FOR SERVICES / TAXES

Taxes and services have been discussed frequently during this phase of my campaign. We must, in my opinion, ensure that essential services are delivered in a timely manner and at a high standard. We are talking about our neighbors and friends, and they deserve great service. I also believe if the services provided are of great quality the more community support, we would have in council. Regarding taxes, we need to plan the city’s project according to current budgets so we don’t increase taxes to the point our own community can no longer afford to live here. We need to spend where it’s needed and plan for a sustainable future.

No response received yet.

To the businesses in Greater Sudbury I know the hardship that you’ve been facing with COVID-19. Municipal leaders were nowhere to be found; they’ve been sitting in office for too long. Legally, after two terms in office should be it. Re-electing the same people over and over will get the same results.

Fresh leaders can bring in fresh ideas. We need people to want to come into our city. Sudbury has so much to offer we just have to get the word out there. The attraction and opportunity require a larger view outside the box.

Yes, the next municipal government will have to face tough decisions and so will the taxpayers. They need to look at the past decade, how much the city has grown. Your candidates will tell you what you want to hear. But you have to remember they only get one vote. They have to be good at getting others to think their way.

In order to find vision, if we’re not all on the same page it’s not going to work. As we’ve seen, the people in office now have never been on the same page, just when they want to raise our taxes. It’s time to find people who want to see our city grow and prosper.

Our city isn’t just about making the rich richer. It’s about making our city the best it can be.

Municipal Red Tape – We need an overhaul on the red tape we need to go through but the safety factor needs to be updated.

With respect to the attraction of talent and labour, dealing with homelessness and the drug problem there are a list of things. This is like all things in life. We need to put the right people in the right jobs. Not the ones who have no experience or any idea of what they’re talking about. Until we do that, nothing will improve.

So, the voter must decide if they’re looking for growth and a new Sudbury, or if they’re happy with the way it’s been for over a decade and keep the same people in office.

Safety/Protection and Social Inclusion.

• Establish a Youth Advisory Council, with a mission to create young leaders who will address social inequities and develop workable ideas.
• Work closely with marginalized populations to build and maintain social connection. Inclusion offers opportunities to re-engage with the community and reduces stigma. Persons with lived experience (Peers) can then integrate into staff and leadership roles at service agencies.
• Partner with Greater Sudbury Police to focus on vandalism in the outlying areas.

Transportation Services and Roads

• Develop a comprehensive program using environmental materials for deicing winter roads.
• Focus on pedestrian and biking infrastructure. Better plans for road infrastructure with bike routes, and ample space for snowbanks.
• Reliable, consistent, and accessible public transit throughout our city with a focus on Ward 9
• Develop a comprehensive plan on asphalt recovery and revitalization.

Economic Development

• Encourage community revitalization and promote economic opportunity for all segments of the population to ensure a high quality of life in Ward 9.
• Promote Sudbury as a world class destination to attract and retain entrepreneurs in diverse disciplines like medical, film and television production, Information Technology and science and research.

Economic Payoffs

• Support infrastructure changes that make sense!
• Responsible and well thought out programs that make obvious infrastructure enhancements.
• Ensure that contractors understand their work must be completed according to the scope of the project using proper materials and City of Greater Sudbury’s safety protocols.

Landfill and Waste Management

• Continue to refuse, reuse, recycle, repurpose, and reduce our carbon footprint.
• Educate, maintain, and improve the waste management processes used by the City of Greater Sudbury.
• Develop strategies to sustain and improve our greenspace and to discourage reckless dumping.

My name is Mike Sanders, I’m running for ward 10. I own Aaron Group (which includes Aaron Taxi) and manage Aaron Transportation. You can check out my website (still a little bit more to add, but nearly complete) at https://link.edgepilot.com/s/fddf46f6/68NjyGeKJ0e1rlcPGpFxIw?u=http://www.10outof10.ca/

1. I am a small businessperson, so I understand the frustration everyone feels when the headlines are scandals and sensationalism instead of progress. It’s why I’m running. I’m not trying to win a popularity contest or a lifetime position, I’m here to do a job. Sudbury doesn’t have another 4 years to waste. And if I haven’t accomplished more than my predecessors in 4 years time, I’d consider that failure. I’ve expanded a business—one that’s tough in the best of times—in spite of a global pandemic. You can ask anyone that knows me, I’m collaborative, attentive, diligent and decisive. And sometimes, even modest.
2. I’ve been rezoning 2 of my properties now for 4 years. Engineering, permitting, development and site agreement charges seem endless. I was almost required to do a light pollution audit on an empty lot. We need sensible regulation. I had a neighbour once, an architect that had worked in the US; he told me that we rely far too much on government oversight. Engineers and architects go to school for years to gain their knowledge and carry professional insurance. Why don’t we let them do their jobs? I couldn’t agree more. I also think certain developments should be able to bypass some of the more onerous requirements in our development scheme. Supply chain issues, labour shortages, etc. cause enough delays—let’s get people through the paperwork part quicker.
3. I hire about 10 people a month. Many of them are new to our community. I have assisted with their IRCC applications (some of which were for the RNIP). I volunteer with the YMCA Immigration Services. I was tremendously disappointed with the RNIP rollout. I think many of the missteps were at the municipal level. I agree, it could be a gamechanger for our community (and the others involved). There should definitely be better co-ordination of this programme so our community and the registrants get the most out of it. If we knew it was here to stay we could market it better and by so doing, market Sudbury better. I’m also 35 so I may have some insight into how to attract younger people to our community.
4. Worked in a methadone dispensary. I operate a taxi company. I own property downtown. Used to run a business right downtown. One of my current tenant’s businesses (at my old location) is under threat of closing because of the incessant vandalism, harassment and theft. I have a pretty comprehensive view of the problem. Given that I’m running in ward 10, this is one of my top priorities. Housing fast, and better co-ordinated social services that don’t stop once the sun rises. We have to spend a bit of money on this issue. But avoiding it much longer will have a far greater cost.
5. I touched on some of the issues raised here a bit already. Leveraging the RNIP to market Sudbury, as well as streamlining and simplifying building services and permitting processes. We should go further, though, and co-ordinate marketing, application, education and retention. Many of the people who come to Sudbury start at one of our post-secondary institutions. We need to work on retaining as many of them as possible. On the bureaucracy side, I couldn’t agree more—the city needs to get out of its own way. Many of the entrepreneurs and business-owners I’ve spoken to feel that projects are made insurmountable once they begin looking for avenues at Tom Davies . That philosophy of “no, you cant” needs to be dismantled. We need more “here’s how”. It’s those changes I’ll be introducing and supporting.
6. There’s been some interesting research and bona-fide results through the use of community land trusts. Unused land can be “given” away, typically to a non-profit or other community organization, for them to finance, build and maintain. By removing the cost of land from the equation (and in perpetuity), all costs go down, including rent and/or purchase price. We need something drastic in this department. It’s unlikely we’ll be able to “reduce” taxes but we should aim to truly not raise them. That won’t be enough to affect the affordability crisis, though. Fast-tracking multi unit residential projects (as mentioned in response #2) and innovative concepts like land trusts are a more aggressive tactic. More stock will eventually help assuage and balance out the housing market.
7. LU grad here. Was working through an MA there as well when a pandemic struck and an insolvency forced the shuttering of my programme. I still haven’t received a response, let alone a resolution, from the institution. So I’d definitely like to see improvements at the school. Through a co-ordinated marketing, application and retention programme like the one mentioned in response #5 we can help bolster LUs enrollment and strengthen its cashflow. Councillors should be vocal with provincial representatives and Ministry staff at every opportunity. The north, and Sudbury, depend on LU.
8. I’m glad we ended on an easy one (at least for me). As I’ve said—I’m a business owner. Nobody gets it better than me. And, I’ve gotten to know the layout of the city pretty well driving a cab (and yes, I still do that from time to time). Currently, we subcontract for Gova Zone and Gova Plus, so I hear the passengers’ frustrations every day. All of that experience and insight I plan to put to use from Day 1.

I hope I’ve helped demonstrate that I’m the right choice to advocate for your businesses in council chambers. I invite anyone at all with questions to send me an email at [email protected].