Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman says he will not seek re-election in October’s municipal election and has instead put his name in the hat for June's provincial race as he seeks the Liberal nomination in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte (BSOM).
Lehman was scheduled to make the official announcement at a press conference this afternoon at State and Main restaurant on Cundles Road East.
Lehman, 46, has served three terms as Barrie's mayor since 2010, winning his last two terms handily with over 90 per cent of the vote both times. He also represented Ward 2 as a city councillor from 2006 to 2010.
Leading up to this afternoon's announcement, BarrieToday spoke with Lehman about his decision.
“I am not going to run again for mayor,” he said. “I’m all-in even if I lose. I’m all-in with going provincial and all that it entails.”
Lehman said the decision to leave the mayor’s seat behind was “incredibly difficult,” and one he weighed for a long time.
“It was difficult to make, I feel, for the right reasons. I love my job, I’ve loved it from the day I was able to do it," he said. "The idea of not being mayor and not going to city hall on Mondays is pretty hard to take. In some ways it's hard to imagine.
“I will say, though, that I am so excited at the potential to play a role on the provincial stage and take what I’ve learned here and use it to help the people of Barrie in a different way, and that helped me in making the decision somewhat easier," Lehman added.
In recent weeks, Lehman said his decision to pursue provincial politics was only reinforced.
“It has never been more apparent that the major issue of our time is (whether) we’re going to have a populist government or a pragmatic government that's focused on getting things done,” Lehman said. “I think COVID has really exposed, in so many different ways, the weaknesses of populist government.”
Lehman also said he believes the work he has done at a municipal level could translate well onto the provincial stage.
“For the last 12 years, I think I’ve been delivering very pragmatic things for the people of Barrie and I think I got a lot accomplished as mayor,” he said. “The more I’ve done that job and had the opportunity to play a role on the provincial stage through AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario), through chairing (Ontario's) Big City Mayors twice, the more I realized across our cities, across municipalities, across our communities, the issues are common.”
Progressive Conservative MPP Doug Downey currently represents the BSOM riding at Queen's Park, and is also the province's attorney general. He confirmed to BarrieToday on Thursday morning that he will seek re-election and is getting his campaign ready.
Meanwhile, Lehman said should he win the Liberal nomination for the provincial election, he would take a leave of absence as mayor, which he said is standard practice for members of council.
"If I am successful in the nomination process, which I understand is in about three weeks from now, I would take a few days after the nomination meeting for transition then will be off on an unpaid leave until June 3," he told BarrieToday.
Lehman grew up in Barrie and was the city’s mayor for three terms. He called the position “a dream come true and not one that I had as a young kid.”
“I dreamed of being a pilot. I thought for a while I might be a planner and even worked for my family’s business while I was in school,” he said. “I have been so fortunate to be mayor for the city at a time we were really coming into our own. Barrie has grown from a small, central Ontario city to one that is playing a much broader role in the province and country.”
Having discussed his plans with his family, including partner Carolina Belmares, Lehman said he had their full support, whichi made the jump into provincial politics that much easier.
“Carolina is nothing but supportive; she’s just a rock for me. She is someone who strongly believes about issues like social justice and equality and she knows that this will give me an opportunity, should I be successful in the election, to pursue those goals and a more just society in Ontario and our community," he said.
"When I talked to (my child) Logan about it, they had never known anything but me being mayor, so it's a big change,” Lehman added. “But I think they know Dad can make a larger contribution and one of their first questions was when can they start knocking on doors to help. As well, having Carolina’s kids (Anna, Era and Nova) in my life has brought me a huge amount of fun and adventures away from work, which brings more balance in life.”
Lehman said he felt a little better leaving council at this stage because some of the main issues he was involved with have been dealt with. He also hopes city council moves forward with the same enthusiasm members have shown.
“We completed these three task forces on issues that are so important to the future of the city — the arts and culture sector, the west end of the downtown and the housing file," he said. "I also think we’ve set plans in motion that are going to take political will to see through.
“If I have a message to the future council, it is to hold on to the enthusiasm that we saw over the last couple of months around these task forces and the projects that they’re championing. Over the next few years, those are some big projects for our community," Lehman added.
When asked if he had a favourite moment in his time as mayor, Lehman mentioned walking into the victory party when he first won the seat in 2010 and how it reminded him of all the hard work put in and the gratification that came with it.
But Lehman also became emotional talking about one memory that jumped out immediately, and that was the announcement around the city's Rec Access program, which is the free rec program for families from low-income households.
"We had kind of an opening day event at the Holly rec centre after it had been running for a little while and a young mom had spoke. She had her kids there playing in the gym. I watched her playing with her kids and I remember thinking they wouldn’t have got to do this otherwise,” Lehman said. “Its easy to focus on something really big and physical as your legacy, whether it's renovating the waterfront, building the GO station or building our libraries and expanding them into all the little branches with more coming, but watching her play with her kids and all the other people doing the same, really sticks in my mind."
Lehman said he just wanted to make an impact on the community in his time as mayor. And the 46th mayor of Barrie says he believes he has done that.
“If I was to have a legacy here, it wasn’t going to be some building that people looked at and said, 'Oh, Mayor Lehman did that.' It was going to be in the things I, and council, changed in people’s lives and the opportunities we certainly tried to give them.
"It was a tremendous honour to do that as the mayor of my hometown, of the only city I’ve ever loved.”
Born in Toronto, Lehman moved to Barrie with his family at a young age, attending Allandale Heights Public School and then Barrie Central Collegiate Institute before obtaining a bachelor's degree from Queen's University in Kingston and then a master's degree from the London School of Economics.
The provincial election is set for June 2, with the municipal election four months later on Oct. 24.
