TimminsToday asked all candidates questions ahead of the Oct. 24 municipal election. Below are the responses from Ward 5 (Timmins) candidate Veronica Farrell.
Timmins' population is declining, with another drop reported in the most recent census. What can be done within the municipality's scope to attract and retain new residents?
People are leaving and moving to towns and cities where there are more things for them to do. We need to come up with ways to entice the people to stay here. Fix up our pool. Add more activities for the kids to want to go there. Bring more concerts to Timmins. We need a facility with good acoustics to hold indoor concerts all year long. People pay good money to go out of town for a concert. Talk with the Timmins Square owners. Let’s come up with a way to entice businesses to open up a store there. Downtown needs to be cleaned up so more people will shop there and also open businesses
Communication and transparency have been identified as a concern by the public and by The Chamber. What does municipal transparency mean to you?
As a municipality we have to be able to work with people and business owners. We have to ask the businesses what is it that they want and need and how can we help them with it. We can’t turn a blind eye to what is happening downtown. Government needs to help our municipality with ways and money to help clean up our streets.
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SEE: Advance voting opens Oct. 11
Everyone is feeling the financial impacts of inflation and the cost of living is rising faster than most residents' salary increases. How can the municipality help residents, especially those with a low income or seniors, through this period?
We can help our residents by example. When budgets are being done by the different departments we as a council need to go over every line item and find out how much is really needed at this time. We have no control over utilities and insurance but we do have control over the budget. Lead by example.
What do you want voters to know about you?
I sit on three boards in the City of Timmins:
- Community Living, 25 years
- Timmins Public Library, 10 years
- Crime Stoppers, 3 years
I work part-time for the Ministry of Health by giving rights advice to patients at Timmins District Hospital. I have lived in Timmins all my life and I am married with two beautiful daughters. They are both married and live in Timmins also. I see that mental health and opioid addictions are two different things and need to be seen by everyone this way.
Why are people homeless and why and how did they come to be in Timmins? We need answers to these questions.
These are issues that I want to see come up at council. I would like to have a committee formed to just work with these issues through council. I believe in action being taken not just talked about for years with no action being taken. We need to stop enabling and start doing
Read Farrell's candidate profile here.
The other Ward 5 candidates are Steve Black, Rick Dubeau, Andrew Marks, Caroline Martel, James McMahon, Kristin Murray, Cory Robin, Neil Siblall and Ed Stecewicz.
The municipal election is Oct. 24. Advance voting is being done online and runs Oct. 11-24. In-person polls are open on election day.
