Making Timmins a better place to live was the underlying theme of all the issues raised Thursday night, at an event to hear from each of the three candidates for mayor on October 24th.
Discussing the quality of life, first-time candidate Richard Lafleur said the outgoing council has been distracted the past four years, away from the crime and opioid crises.
“We need more police officers on the road,” he said. “My goal, my wish is to hire ten officers straight away if I’m elected.”
Lafleur added that those officers’ boots would be on the ground immediately.
His opponent, Coun. Michelle Boileau, responded that as a member of the police board, if it was as easy as hiring ten officers tomorrow, the board would be doing that. And she took exception to Lafleur saying council has thrown its hands in the air, rather than dealing with crime.
“We are working tirelessly and things are improving,” she stated, “and there are a lot of efforts at work right now, and we are making progress and there’s definitely a lot more work to be done.”
The forum – which also included Coun. Joe Campbell — was a civil contrast of ideas on how to resolve other issues such as infrastructure, industrial diversity, doctor recruitment and retention, and high property taxes.