Brantford mayoral candidates discuss plans to address city’s top issues

Brantford is guaranteed to have a new mayor come Monday night, and candidates for the job say affordable housing, homelessness and infrastructure are top of mind as voters head to the polls.

The mayoral candidates spoke with CHCH News and shared their plans for the city.

Rose Sicoli has a background in healthcare and has been Brantford’s Ward 1 City Councillor for five years.

She says her biggest priorities are infrastructure and the homelessness crisis.

“I’ve been taking meetings with Minister Sylvia Jones at the province, to advocate, position and prepare Brantford to be the recipient of some funding to develop a HART Hub here in the city of Brantford,” said Sicoli. “HART Hub is a Homelessness Addiction Recovery Treatment center.”

Mandy Samwell has a background in both community work and public health, and is the city councillor for Ward 5.

Samwell says besides the city needing a new hospital, the biggest issue is the downtown.

“A new downtown master plan that is going to be a living document, so not just something that sits on a shelf of course, and that’ll include increased police visibility in the downtown, building on the by-law beat team we have walking around,” said Samwell. “It’ll also make sure we include support for the people that are experiencing homelessness.”

Dan McCreary has been a businessman in Brantford for over 30 years, and city councillor in Ward 3 since 2003.

He’s campaigning on making life more affordable.

“I can cap people’s property taxes at no more than a 3 per cent increase every year,” said McCreary. “Finding new sources of revenue, being responsible with the dollar, promoting and encouraging new good development here in the City of Brantford, which attracts investments in housing, attracts investments in jobs and contributes to an additional tax base, so the folks that live here don’t have to pay.”

Ricky Wildy describes himself as, “a bit of a character.”

He’s a high school teacher and professional wrestler, who says his focus is issues in Brantford’s downtown core.

“Homelessness, drug addiction, mental illness — again, similar problems that everyone is facing, but it’s becoming an issue in Brantford,” said Wildy.

There are seven candidates running for mayor in Brantford and we will see a new face since the current mayor Kevin Davis isn’t running again, because he’s transitioning to federal politics.

Davis was chosen as the federal Conservative candidate for Brantford-Brant south.

Other candidates that were unable to connect with CHCH News in time for Thursday’s broadcast include Richard Carpenter, who has been the Ward 4 councillor for more than 30 years, former real estate agent Richard Michael Misura, and Leslie Bory.

WATCH MORE: Newsmakers: Top election issues in Brantford and Brant County