Letter: Candidates not discussing provincial downloading

We attended the mayoralty candidates’ town hall discussion Oct. 16, which was sponsored by Downtown Sudbury. Many questions were asked of the mayoral candidates, and something clicked as we listened to their answers.

There was no real analysis about why the city is so short of money and why costs are rising. There was no discussion of how the federal and provincial governments have downloaded costs of many social programmes onto municipalities.

This is the underlying, real issue as to why the city is so cash-strapped. It is simplistic to blame previous city councils, as some candidates did, for financial mismanagement and uncontrolled spending as the reason for rising costs of running the city.

A few of the candidates did seem to have real plans to lobby the federal and provincial governments for a fair share of the gas tax and mining revenues. These candidates are a little more far-sighted than the rest.

These revenues are needed for social infrastructure, e.g., non-profit child care and affordable housing, as well as for bricks and mortar, to make our city even more beautiful and livable for everyone.

Most mayoral candidates lacked passion and hope and would have us believe the only answer is to cut spending at city hall. They was a lack of creative or innovative thought.

They were not prepared to consider broader societal issues that are impacting spending at city hall and the citizens of Sudbury. We urge the new mayor and council to not roll over and accept the status quo and to examine the real reasons the city has its deficits, and act accordingly.

If readers want to learn more about the candidates, go to their websites and ask them questions that are important to you.

Penny Earley and Ronald Tough
Greater Sudbury