Two candidates running to be mayor of North Bay, Ont. — Dan Seguin and Melanie Demers — walked off the debate stage Monday evening in protest after an audience member booed Seguin’s opening remarks.
With the Oct. 26 election just days away, the debate took place at the Nipissing University Student Union centre and was to be focused on student issues.
However, things escalated quickly. In his opening remarks, Seguin said he believes a woman is going to win the race for mayor.
He then pulled out a light pink bra from his suit jacket and placed it on his shoulders.
He said he’s going to “change my sex” to convince more women to vote for him.
“I want to feel that the women who told me they weren’t going to vote for a man that now they can vote for a woman,” Seguin told the crowd.
“Now, I’m going to have a few (more) votes.”
When a spectator booed, Seguin and Demers both demanded the spectator be removed or they would leave instead.
“That’s not right,” Demers said while packing her things up. “I’ll walk out with him. Bye.”
Moderator George Legler, co-president of the Nipissing University Political Science Society, tried to get the situation under control, asking Seguin and Demers to stop talking.
Ignoring Legler, they both walked off the stage. Campus security was called and escorted the pair out while audience members clapped.
“I’m getting out of here. This is disgusting,” Seguin yelled out to the crowd.
They did not return.
After the fireworks, the remaining three candidates — Jamie Lowery, Maggie Horsfield and Connor Currie — addressed student concerns, such as housing, transit, the drug crisis, homelessness and North Bay’s future.
Currie proposed creating a “permanent transit advisory committee” and ensuring student representation from both the college and university be on it to provide insight on how to improve city bus use for students.
“We could look at actually forming a tri-party service level agreement between the city, Canadore College and Nipissing University,” he said.
“We could have it look at including transit costs for running buses and running them more at a frequent schedule.”
Horsfield promised to take a “hard look” at the effectiveness of the city’s Dynamic Dispatch service.
“I do hear frequently about that from students,” she said.
Dynamic bus dispatching is used during low transit demand times and in areas where fixed routes are “most inefficient and expensive,” with the aim of reducing wait times, providing more direct trips and improving efficiency.
Lowery said it all comes down to affordability.
“I think that we should be looking at things about how we can encourage more students to take transit,” he said.
On the topic of the shortage of student housing, Currie said his plan included increasing student density near the college and university campus, securing middle- to low-rent units from federal and provincial programs that could be used for students and increasing housing downtown.
Lowery said there’s an opportunity to increase the number of dwellings where seniors could partner with both post-secondary institutions to increase student housing.
“There actually would be a social element to it as well, which is assistance with seniors in our community,” he said. “There’s a win-win.”
He also said part of the problem is the cost of construction, “which is around $500 per square foot”.
“The idea of lobbying other levels of government is important,” he added.
“It’s going to take that kind of help to create more affordable housing in North Bay.”
Horsfield noted there should be more done from the city’s side to promote the university and college about the opportunities for homeowners to welcome a student into their home.
Candidates then turned their attention to homelessness, mental health and addictions and the opioid crisis.
While acknowledging the provincial government has the “primary responsibility” to tackle the situation, Horsfield touted the success of the Northern Pines transitional housing complex on Chippewa Street.
“That phased approach that they’re operating allows individuals to get in, start to set up their lives and then slowly move through to become more stabilized (with) employment and eventually stabilized housing as well,” she said.
“It’s about coordinating and advocating. So, it’s going to be working with coordination tables with police, the hospital, outreach teams, our Indigenous partners and making sure that we’re all staying up to date on how we can solve this together.”
Currie re-pitched his idea of looking into creating a tiny home community with wraparound services. He also challenged Horsfield assertion that Northern Pines is “working as intended.”
“A lot of people there don’t have a guaranteed spot. That’s a barrier to recovery,” he said.
“We don’t have enough transitional housing as it is, and we don’t have enough permanent housing.”
Horsfield nodded in agreement.
Lowery spoke on a personal note, remembering his son’s battle with mental health and addictions.
“The amount of resources, time and patience that went into just one person — there’s not enough money in this world to fix the problem,” he said.
“It’s a terrible thing. We’ve got to meet it with compassion. The other side of the coin is we also have to think about the residents that live here, as well.”
Lowery promised to move the 24/7 low-barrier emergency shelter — currently located beside Northern Pines — to a new location that would be better suited for it.
Justin Barrette, co-president of the Nipissing University Political Science Society, said only 1,100 youth voted in the 2022 municipal election.
“So that’s 34 per cent, I was told. So, this is all about asking student questions,” he said.
“All of the questions that are being asked are sourced directly from the student body of Canadore and the university. We’re hoping to get students more involved.”
Election Day is scheduled for Oct. 26.
