Image: Screenshot
Two of the four Saint John candidates for mayor discussed issues related to business and economic growth for the city on Tuesday.
Candidates Donna Reardon and Mel Vincent joined Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce CEO David Duplissea for the chamber’s Mayoral Forum.
The other two candidates, Darrell Bastarache and Howard Yeomans did not attend.
Questions were provided to the candidates beforehand and covered topics such as property taxes, affordable housing, wages, AIM, regionalization and more.
Here are some of the highlights:
Continuing Saint John’s momentum
The candidates were asked how what they would do as mayor to continue the momentum the city and council have made over the last five years and beyond.
Screen grab from the Human Development Council on Facebook.
Saint John’s four mayoral candidates met Monday for the first forum of the 2021 campaign to discuss issues facing the five priority neighbourhoods.
Darrell Bastarache, Donna Reardon, Mel Vincent Jr., and Howard Yeomans responded to questions about topics including affordable housing and how to rejuvenate the city’s old north end.
Hosted by the Human Development Council and moderated by Julia Wright, the questions were crafted by the five priority neighbourhood committees.
Affordable Housing
Candidates were first asked how they would improve the city’s stock of affordable housing options.
Reardon began by suggesting the next council could take cues on dealing with affordable housing from other municipalities.
Yeomans Running For Mayor In S J thewave.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thewave.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Photo submitted by Howard Yeomans.
Howard Yeomans wants to be the next mayor of Saint John.
The lifelong Saint Johner is a retiree who previously worked in accounting and as a small business-owner.
Yeomans joined the race in 2016 and finished fifth out of five candidates. But this time he says he’s more prepared and understands what the job is all about.
“I’ve done a lot of things that are needed by a person who’s going to be mayor. I’ve done budgets for major companies, small companies. I’ve done accounting, I’ve been through the whole thing pretty well – including eventually owning my own small company,” Yeomans said.
Photo submitted by Darrell Bastarache.
One of Saint John’s four mayoral candidates says he fired his campaign manager after he was found guilty of assaulting a woman in court this week.
Darrell Bastarache’s former campaign manager, Ed Hoyt, is currently awaiting sentencing.
According to media reports, Hoyt was also convicted of assaulting a former girlfriend in 2017.
Bastarache said he was unaware of Hoyt’s past when he hired him to manage his campaign.
“First one [conviction] caught me a little bit by surprise, but where it was four years ago… I was like ‘well, maybe we can let this one slide,’” Bastarache said. “But then once the second one came out I was like ‘whoa, we can’t let this slide anymore.’”