TimminsToday asked all candidates questions ahead of the Oct. 24 municipal election. Below are the responses from Ward 3 (Schumacher) candidate Carter Lucyk.
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?
Timmins will need to change several things to help retain or add new residents and or businesses. What needs to be done will not happen overnight or without a lot of help from citizens, municipal, provincial and federal governments.
Employers are willing to hire employees from anywhere in the country with all travel costs paid. The potential residents are looking at communities to move to, but who would look at cities that are ranked the highest in Canada for crime.
Our roads are listed as some of the worst roads in Canada. Our recreation is antiquated, very limited usage. Our education facilities are improving, but still limited compared to larger centres. Move-in homes are not available unless you want to wait a year or more to have one built. Rent is ridiculous, our taxes are ranked as some of the highest in Canada. Shopping has almost disappeared downtown or in shopping courts because of the criminal activity.
We need housing from low rentals to estate properties. We need a secure community to walk and shop in. We need to address literacy. We need to improve our medical facilities and add medical staffing. We need to clean our city to look appealing. We need to show that we are a community ready to grow and expand for the future. We need to act quickly to entice new residents and businesses to grow a tax base.
Communication and transparency have been identified as a concern by the public and by The Chamber. What does municipal transparency mean to you?
My perception of transparency and communication would be described as looking into a large window. A window into the past, present and the future.
We have an idea of what we want and need. It would be council's job to tell us how we are going to achieve these goals and objectives. We know that water, sewer and other services are necessities. Other items that are not a necessity, but more of a wish list, could be very costly to the tax base. Necessities need to be maintained or enhanced for current and future growth.
The residents and businesses need to know that they are going to be protected, services maintained or enhanced and what it will cost, where the costs are coming from, what future growth may encompass and where or when the funding will be spent. If growth incentives are offered, these should be made available upfront and publicly for everyone to take advantage of. City council is accountable to the businesses and residents, therefore the costs to run the city should be open to all. These are positions that speak and answer to the constituents within the City of Timmins.
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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?
The rising costs and inflation have impacted most everyone and you do not have to look far to realize that most of the world is enduring difficult times.
The world, not only Timmins has gone through the worst pandemic in almost a century. Not to mention that this has lasted for a couple of years, hurting employment and a huge rise in costs. The war in Ukraine has caused huge increases on essentials to everyone.
Our low-income residents and seniors are affected more than families with higher incomes. We as a city need help from all governments to offer incentives to families that are barely able to feed their children. Natural gas and hydro have risen to all-time highs with huge increases. Food banks are just starting to get restocked after a couple of low years because of the pandemic.
The city could offer a reduced transportation cost to seniors and low-income families to access their groceries, medical aid etc. The city could be petitioning the provincial and federal governments for additional funding for those that are in dire need. These individuals need help in the worst way. No one should be going hungry. The city could work with all levels of education to identify those with more needs and possibly offer counselling to access essentials. Offering literacy programs could help identify family planning and needs.
What do you want voters to know about you?
I believe the City of Timmins has to market itself for future growth. New large and small businesses need to be enticed. Our population needs to grow. We need manpower to supply expansion to potential investors. We need dedicated properties ready to market for residential and business purposes. We need a mayor and council ready to roll up their sleeves to improve what we have, and hopefully expand our potential for future growth. Without growth, we will lose more than we have. Our taxes will rise to unaffordable levels.
Geographically we are in the middle of huge industry booms. Mining, forestry industrial services and manufacturing. If we drop the ball now, other surrounding communities might score the win and we lose again. The fact that I am retired from a large business, I am prepared to work as a team player with all councillors for the needs of my ward, along with all other wards, to improve our services at the least cost possible. Enhancing services at lesser or equal costs will benefit everyone. It will attract development, residents and businesses. I am willing to dedicate whatever is required and more, to maintain and hopefully improve Ward 3. Our community is in need of services to raise our pride of being the community we should be.
Read Lucyk's candidate profile here.
The other Ward 3 candidates are Bill Gvozdanovic and Sylvin Lacroix.
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.
