Mayoral candidates in three Essex County municipalities matched wits Thursday on various topics on the minds of potential voters.
The Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce (WERCC) hosted a virtual debate for people running for mayor in the Town of Essex, the Town of Kingsville, and the Municipality of Lakeshore. The discussions were live-streamed on YouTube and Facebook, and moderated by Windsor radio personality Mike Kakuk.
First up was the Essex debate between incumbent Richard Meloche and Ward 4 Councillor Sherry Bondy. Topics ranged from regional transit to integrating some services with the City of Windsor, but health care was at the forefront. Meloche said if elected, he will push to move the new acute-care hospital forward.
"We need to have this hospital for the value that it brings in jobs to this area, and, in particular, for the Town of Essex. We're only about 15 minutes in proximity to the new location," said Meloche. "It will raise the level of care for residents of the Town of Essex."
Bondy is also in favour of the hospital location, but she said a more pressing concern is the number of so-called "code blacks", where patients must be diverted elsewhere due to staffing problems or capacity issues.
"We need incentives for hospitals to meet the 30-minute offload targets," said Bondy. "That could be paying our nurses more, treating our nurses better. How can we do this better so that we stop with this hallway medicine?"
Meloche is running for a four-year term in his own right after being appointed upon the resignation of Larry Snively. Bondy has served on Essex council for 12 years.
The Kingsville race was next, with former deputy mayor Tamara Stomp, current councillor Laura Lucier, and businessman Dennis Rogers. One unique topic for Thursday's series of debates was controlling light pollution at greenhouses. Lucier said she was proud of her time on the council dealing with this issue.
"The Town of Kingsville, over the last four years, has led the way to pass an enforceable bylaw and to get compliance with the greenhouses in Kingsville to ensure that lighting has been controlled," said Lucier.
Stomp agreed the current council handled the issue, and greenhouse owners are aware of the implications of not following bylaws.
"I think that the greenhouse operators are conscious of complying with it," said Stomp. "They also are happy to be complying with it because they know it's in effect. The lights that you see there are not from Kingsville proper, they're probably more from Leamington, whose bylaw is not total."
Rogers is also pleased with the progress though the road has not always been easy.
"We've had some tough conversations," said Rogers. "I've been shown the lights. I've been shown the curtains. They've told me what they've had to do to get to this point. Kingsville is 100 per cent compliant. They don't want people to not be compliant because it looks bad on them."
Stomp previously served as a town councillor and one term as deputy mayor. Lucier is nearing the end of her first council term. Rogers is a business owner whose activities include serving as the president of the Kingsville Music Society.
The final debate involved Lakeshore, with incumbent Tom Bain and incumbent Deputy Mayor Tracey Bailey. On the subject of planned electric vehicle battery development, Bailey said she has seen many residents wanting to take advantage.
"Residents are beginning to reach out themselves, in fact, to say 'Where can my car go? Where can I plug in? What's that going to look like in Lakeshore?'" said Bailey. "It is something that's really growing, we need to make sure that our landscape is ready to accommodate it."
Bain said the municipality is ready to welcome companies wanting to take advantage of the future EV battery facility in Windsor, but if they're going to do it, they need to do it right.
"We've already been approached by companies that want to come out with battery storage to do it," said Bain. "That's job creation for sure, but we need to make sure we're not putting those types of buildings anywhere near our residential areas."
Bain has been mayor since 2006 and has hinted that if elected to a fifth term, it may be his last. Bailey is in her first term as deputy mayor and served one term before that as the Ward 4 councillor.
The Essex, Kingsville, and Lakeshore debates can be watched in their entirety on YouTube.
The municipal election is on Monday, October 24.
