North Bay mayoral, council candidates talk homelessness, municipal spending at meet-and-greet

On one side of the room, there was a buffet of sandwiches and other finger foods.

On the other side, was a buffet of pamphlets — a table covered in campaign literature from the dozens of candidates running in North Bay in this municipal election.

"It's definitely overwhelming. There's a lot of names," said 19-year-old Nya Mackfall, looking over the pamphlets at a candidate meet-and-greet at the Nipissing University Student Union Centre, Tuesday night.

"But I'm excited to learn about them so I can make an informed decision."

Mackfall is voting in her first municipal election and has to pick ten names from a list of 29 for North Bay city council, plus one of the three mayoral candidates.

"Just being open-minded to the opinions and attitudes of the younger generation, my generation is really important," Mackfall said, adding she was impressed after a chat with mayoral hopeful Johanne Brousseau, a current city councillor.

Jane Labbé is from an entirely different voting generation.

The 95-year-old moved to North Bay from Sturgeon Falls just two months ago. She listened to the candidates on Tuesday night while sipping a glass of white wine.

"Well, some of them talk pie in the sky, like somebody's saying they'll take care of all the potholes promptly. Well, that sounds good, but we know it's not something that they can do," she said. 

"I like to talk to people about things that are doable."

Labbé said the top issue for her is seeing more affordable housing built to help those struggling with poverty and addiction.

"I do feel that you can't keep overspending. It's hard's now. But to me the important thing is help the people that need help," said the retired teacher. 

The increase of homelessness in North Bay is what inspired Leslie McVeety to run for mayor.

"My house is broken into and I did some research into that and I'm not alone. So, then I started talking to homeless people and realizing that they're people too," she said, planning to take the city's cut of casino revenue to build tiny houses for those living on the street.