With one term under her belt as a city councillor, Natalie Harris has now thrown her hat into the mayor’s race.
Harris won the Ward 6 race in 2018, beating her closest competitor by 105 votes. It was her first run for a political position and the former paramedic told BarrieToday that, despite contemplating stepping away from council completely, she loves the city and not being a representative just didn’t feel right.
“I feel like I have a lot of momentum in the city with certain projects and there was just something missing. I needed to do more,” she said. “At first, to be honest, I was going to step away from city council, as I had shared with everyone. I thought I would work best behind the scenes.
"But talking with my family, they suggested I run for mayor and it felt like the thing I needed to do," Harris added.
She says her first four years on council have been a great learning experience, both with how the city operates and about herself.
“I came into this role as a retired paramedic whom everyone wanted to see at their door, to being a city councillor who albeit was able to still use my experience managing crisis and navigating interpersonal relationships, was a woman who had to prove herself on a different level,” said Harris.
“I thought I had really tough skin," she added. "I have experienced a lot over my 40-plus years on this planet, but I quickly realized that I had to learn how to expand my crisis management and interpersonal skills greatly, and the best way to do that was to lean into the difficulties, and to listen a lot more.”
Harris says the current city council often seems divided during discussions and voting, and she believes she's the person to bring the proper order to the table.
“One of the things I strive for is being a leader. I feel I am good at elevating people and for those who may be elected, I believe I can help them shine where the best do so,” she said. “That's the role of the mayor: to make sure you’re really supporting and guiding all that team (councillors) and staff in the right direction. I’m good at building ships and helping them to sail.”
Harris said the role of mayor is to also “properly chair meetings, be visible in the community and stand for what we need in Barrie,” things she says she's capable of doing.
As one of two women on council, with the other being Ann-Marie Kungl representing Ward 3, Harris says diversity is key for the future of the city and politics in general.
“Diversity is huge and over the last few years I have done talks at schools, etc., about women in politics in trying to get women to come out and run,” Harris said. “If I can answer questions they have, that's what I’m here for. I want to be able to assure them that there are so many opportunities if you go into this role.”
Harris joined council in October 2018 with five other first-time councillors. While having half the table made up of new decision-makers would have been tough enough, in just two and half years the world would be gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing Barrie council to find new ways to serve constituents.
When asked what she viewed as her most difficult time thus far on council, Harris reflected on the lockdowns, saying it made in-person help impossible.
“This was a difficult time for all of city council. Provincial decisions were often confused for municipal ones, and it was hard to have to tell residents that our voices were only able to relay their messages when it came to lockdown decisions,” she said.
“It was also difficult to translate the same emotion of importance through a computer screen while doing our jobs virtually," Harris added. "We had to change the way the city operated on so many levels, but we adapted as a collective and learned how to make the most of a difficult time.”
Harris also noted the July 2021 tornado as very difficult, especially as she and her son were caught in the middle of it.
“Through this experience with Mother Nature, I was able to learn how to build safer homes and have been working with our MPPs Andrea Khanjin and Doug Downey, city staff and experts at the Institute of Catastrophic Loss Reduction to improve the Ontario Building Code and advocate for safer builds,” said Harris.
When asked about the main issues facing the city as the municipal election approaches in October, Harris didn’t hesitate in her answer.
“Housing. Affordable housing for sure, but also attainable housing. We can’t do much around the table about the prices of homes, the real estate market does what it wants,” she said. “What we can do is increase the stock and make it so, as a ripple effect, prices come down because we have more supply. But that means changing policy and doing things differently.”
Harris said one thing that needs to be done is to “not listen to a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) voice."
“I know not everyone will like hearing that, but if we’re going to grow to the level we need to as mandated by the province, we are going to have to make some big changes," she said.
Harris said the contract the County of Simcoe has to operate social services in Barrie is up for renewal soon. She is eager to reassess the value of this contract and examine how to better serve the growing needs of individuals requiring help with those services.
“With the growth of our aging population and the rise in precarious work, the need for social services will increase and the data clearly shows how in need our city is of things like affordable housing and improvements to our shelter services. But this isn't my only focus,” she said.
“We must also create progressive policies that focus on data-driven economic development. This includes things like reviewing our service-delivery framework to find further efficiencies from existing investments. I also recognize the value of collaboration with neighbouring municipalities to promote shared prosperity," Harris added.
Employment sectors are changing and long-term sustainability and inter-generational equity must be at the core of the city’s policies, she said.
“This is best done by engagement and inclusion of diverse groups and by placing more value on their lived experiences," said Harris.
The nomination period for the 2022 municipal election is open until Friday, Aug. 19. Election day is Oct. 24.
