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.
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Craig Nixon, who is running for city council in Ward 2, says he has seen many changes in Barrie over the years and hopes to help with the changes coming.
Nixon says Ward 2 has many issues issues similar to other wards, but it's “unique in the fact that it contains both the downtown and the waterfront, both of which have separate issues and opportunities.”
Having moved to Barrie in 1980, when the city’s population was less than 40,000 people, Nixon says it hardly resembles the same city seen today.
“It reached a little north of Highway 400, a little south of Essa Road and a few blocks east of Duckworth Street. It was essentially Ward 2, but a lot has changed since then,” Nixon told BarrieToday.
After living in Springwater Township for a while, Nixon and his family moved back into Barrie, where the 65-year-old resident decided to take a chance after some people close to him nudged him into running for council.
“Our first home was in Ward 2 and was also the home of our businesses for 35 years. When we moved back to Barrie from Springwater a few years ago, I decided that I would run for city council,” Nixon said. “Barrie has been good to us and it is time to pay it back.”
Nixon says there are many major issues the next term of council will need to deal with.
“It should go without saying that city hall’s priorities should be to manage the growth, attract better-paying jobs, fix and maintain our roads, and, of course, do everything it can to assist our less fortunate,” he said. “In addition, we must also find ways to continually improve our downtown core, which is critical to the health, vitality and character of any city. Stricter enforcement of municipal bylaws and road safety rules should also be high on the to-do list of our next council.”
Nixon says he has served on many boards over the years and has learned that it’s “important to have your voice heard, but more important to hear the voices of others and be open to their opinions and ideas.”
“In order to do this, we need a strong, undivided council working on behalf of all its citizens. We do not have to agree on everything, but we must share a common vision of where we are going and the best way to get there,” he said. “Our city is experiencing the biggest growth phase in its history. It will continue whether we like it or not. We need to look at this growth as an opportunity that can result in a better city for all of us.”
The City of Barrie municipal election happens on Oct. 24, and candidates have until Aug. 19 to file their nomination papers at city hall.
