Mayoral candidates discuss issues in front of business community
Article content
The issues of affordable housing, infrastructure and making Kingston a more affordable and livable city were some of the items discussed on Tuesday morning at the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce’s Mayoral Candidates Breakfast.
The four candidates for the city’s top political job — Eric Lee, incumbent Bryan Paterson, Vicki Schmolka and Rob Matheson — promoted their agenda in front of about 125 chamber members at the Ambassador Hotel.
The four candidates each had five minutes to present their platform, were all were given an opportunity to answer two questions — regarding ranked balloting and the Cataraqui River crossing — and were given two minutes for their closing statements.
There was no opportunity for debate in the format.
Lee, best known as being the elevator operator at the old S&R Department Store, started off the presentations. He said capitalism is the best thing invented and monopolies drive up the cost of everything.
On that subject, he said he’s concerned that landlords keep raising rents on tenants but are not doing necessary repairs because they have a monopoly on the rental market.
“I have been a victim of this, I have lived in buildings where the owners have refused to fix up their buildings,” he said. “I can’t believe how many times I have to explain to people that monopolies are bad because they eliminate competition.
“More and more people are falling into the problem of affordable housing.”
Back in the 1970s, Lee said, tenants paid about 25 per cent of their income in rent. Now the number is 50 to 60 per cent, he said.
Paterson said it has been a privilege and an honour to serve the community as mayor for the past four years.
He said the job of the mayor is to be a champion for the city, a team leader for the community, and someone who is willing to expand opportunities and create an environment where every single person can succeed and thrive.
“Now as a city we are working to improve the quality of life for everyone,” he said. “We’re investing in the north end, we’re building green spaces and walking trails like the K&P Trail, we’re building affordable housing, we are leading the country in growth of transit ridership, and we are ahead of our goals to both reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions.”
Paterson listed his accomplishments in the past four years, such as securing the Cataraqui River bridge, airport expansion, an improved Breakwater Park, bringing international companies such as Frulact and Feihe to Kingston, as well as working to open up Kingston Penitentiary to tourism.
He said he’s aware of the lack of social housing.
“We’re going to build housing all across our community so that everybody can find an affordable place to live,” he said.
Some of his goals, should he be elected mayor, will be a deepwater dock, a walking trail from downtown to Kingston Mills locks and helping at-risk youth.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last four years, but I’m even more excited about what lies ahead,” he said.
Vicki Schmolka, who served on council from 2006 to 2010 and is a community activist, thanked chamber members for running their businesses, taking the risk and employing members of the community.
Schmolka said city government should stay out of the way of business owners and entrepreneurs.
“You have a business to run; we have a city to run,” she said. “The city can support your business and your investment in the community by taking care of its business well.”
She said the city needs to keep its infrastructure in top shape.
“I hear that at the doors all the time,” she said. “We need to repair our roads and sidewalks. People need to be able to travel around the city easily.”
She said the transit system is working well and that project started while she was on council.
She also said affordable housing is a problem for employees who live far from their jobs because they can’t afford a place to live that’s closer to work.
“The housing situation in Kingston is moving in that direction,” she said.
With a one-bedroom apartment costing $1,000 a month, it means someone working full time at minimum wage pays more than half of their income in rent.
“The city needs to step up and make creating more low-cost housing their top priority,” she said.
The city needs to also work to become a more “climate resilient city,” she said.
“Planning for climate change used to be a kind of long-term thing — we’ll worry about it later — but now we know we need to take action now,” she said.
Matheson, also a former city councillor from 2006 to 2010 and finished second in the 2010 mayor’s race won by Mark Gerretsen.
Currently Matheson is a local a taxi driver where he can talk to constituents about the issues while driving the streets of Kingston.
Matheson said that if he’s elected mayor, he’ll include Kingstonians in the city’s decisions throughout his mandate.
His major issues are climate change, food and energy security and building toward the vision of Kingston becoming Canada’s most sustainable city.
“That means truly becoming a green economy, resolving poverty, providing a living wage and encouraging community partners to provide a living wage,” he said.
He called the city’s 0.7 per cent vacancy rate “appalling.”
“Single mothers have to choose between a roof over their head or having enough to eat,” he said. “The economy is not working for everyone.”
Matheson was also critical of the chamber’s stance against the minimum wage increase earlier this year.
“I’m disappointed the Chamber of Commerce failed to recognize the hardships that many are going through every day,” he said.
After Matheson was finished, Bill Stewart from the chamber responded to Matheson’s comments.
Stewart said that when the Liberal government was asking for input on the minimum wage issue, the chamber suggested a $12 an hour minimum wage with increases tied to the Consumer Price Index.
Stewart said the chamber had to change its stance after an ad hoc committee raised the minimum wage to $14 an hour last year without much consultation with impacted parties like the Chamber of Commerce.
“We still do support the rising of the minimum wage, we were just concerned with the timing and the large increase, especially for smaller businesses with one to five employees. They found that very difficult to budget and prepare for the coming years,” he said.
twitter.com/IanMacAlpine
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.