Editor's note: BarrieToday is running profile stories on candidates for city council in each of the city's 10 wards in the coming weeks. For more election coverage, visit our 2022 municipal election page by clicking here, where you can also find mayoral profiles and other election news.
*************************
It’s unlikely Andrew Gordon is running for Barrie mayor because he needs the money.
“By 34, I became a self-made millionaire by working hard blue-collar jobs, value investing, conservative spending and being a small business owner in Barrie,” he says on his website.
Gordon, who filed his nomination papers Tuesday afternoon, declined to be interviewed by BarrieToday this week.
He joins Rob Haverson, Gerry Marshall, Mike McCann, Alex Nuttall, and Barry Ward, who are also running for mayor in the Oct. 24 city election.
“Barrie needs a leader who has one single goal: to do it different and do it better,” Gordon says on his website. “I believe in a greater change for our city.”
On his website, Gordon says he wants to make Barrie a more affordable place for families to grow, a safe place to live, work and create.
“I am committed to building a team of capable people to tackle our most significant challenges we face as a community,” his website reads.
Barrie’s future doesn’t require a career politician’s ambition, Gordon says, but integrity, leadership and the ability to get things done now.
“We are facing unprecedented challenges that define the quality of life in our community for generations to come,” Gordon says.
His priorities include helping seniors remain in their homes, lower property taxes, changing how the city spends tax dollars, affordable, accessible and sustainable housing for anyone who calls Barrie home, job creation for Barrie citizens, making transit affordable, supporting local business and cleaning up the waterfront to make Barrie a true destination, keeping Barrie active with reasonably priced recreation programs and increasing support for mental health and rehabilitative care, including resources for the homeless.
Gordon says he’s a Georgian College alumni, with a background in finance, entrepreneurship and hospitality, and has a bachelor’s degree and two diplomas.
He has lived in Barrie since 2002 and has been a homeowner who, for almost two decades, says he has provided a safe living environment for local and international students at Georgian College.
Gordon also says he enjoys Barrie’s green spaces, frequents the downtown businesses and restaurants and makes meaningful connections with his neighbours.
Jeff Lehman, Barrie’s mayor for almost 12 years, has said he’s not running for re-election, or even a seat on city council. Lehman announced earlier this year he was running for Liberal MPP in the Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte riding, but lost to incumbent Progressive Conservative MPP Doug Downey in the June 2 provincial election.
The Oct. 24 city election will determine the next Barrie mayor, 10 ward councillors and school board trustees.
The nomination period for candidates closes Aug. 19 at 2 p.m.
For more information, visit barrie.ca.
