Editor's note: BarrieToday is running profile stories on candidates for city council in each of the city's 10 wards. 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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Bob Ossowski has lived in Barrie for five years and says he's running for city council in the downtown neighbourhood because that's where he calls home.
“My family calls Ward 2 home. We plan to call Brock Park home and we intend to live here for a very long time,” the 63-year-old told BarrieToday. “Ward 2 is an ideal location for a family and it has a lot to offer. The downtown (has) a library, parks, restaurants, schools, shopping, easy access to transportation, the waterfront and places of worship.”
Ossowski spent over 30 years in the automotive industry with the same employer and says he would bring a lot of life experience to council, if elected on Oct. 24.
“I have experienced both sides of the coin — being a unionized worker and being management. I spent 11 years volunteering in charitable work visiting people living in poverty in their homes and providing them with things like food assistance, help with rent, and school supplies for their children just to name a few things,” he said.
“I also served as president of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Toronto Central Council where we did $8 million in work with the City of Toronto running homes and shelters," Ossowski added. "I have a passion for helping those most in need. I also understand the strain and stresses of those living with loneliness, poverty and those with addiction and mental health issues. The last two and a half years have exposed many of those issues.”
Ossowski says he would also bring a new vision for the direction that the city can take to keep it affordable, sustainable and to build the housing that's so direly needed. He also believes the most immediate concern for Ward 2 is related to police enforcement on a couple of issues.
“There is a real and immediate need for better traffic and noise enforcement by Barrie Police Service. A common complaint I have heard in Ward 2 is the noise from speeding cars and motorcycles, hearing engines redlining,” Ossowski said. “The noise from loud exhausts and vehicles lacking proper exhaust systems.
"Ward 2 is fed traffic coming off Highway 400 from Essa Road, Dunlop Street, Bayfield and Duckworth. No other ward is accessible so easily. Out of the vehicles on the road, 99 per cent don’t cause an issue. It's the one per cent we need to deal with.”
The other candidates running in Ward 2 include Shanicka Edwards, Tif Arshi, Craig Nixon, Greg Peach, and Tracy Strohm
Incumbent Ward 2 councillor Keenan Aylwin announced in mid-August that he would not seek a second term.
