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speakup

There are two names on the ballot box for mayor of Bathurst when the municipal election rolls around next Monday. One is incumbent Stephen Brunet, a retired teacher and veteran city councillor who is seeking a second term as mayor; and former journalist James Risdon, now a student at the New Brunswick Community College. The Northern Light asked both men three questions in relation to their candidacy.

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Stephen Brunet

NL: "If you are elected, what is your vision for Bathurst for the next four years?"

Stephen Brunet: "My vision is that Bathurst would probably spread out and become more of a manufacturing sector, especially in the metal fabrication. We would probably be the metal fabrication centre of New Brunswick with the community college teaching young people in metal fabrication. I would hope we would end up getting more contracts in the Bathurst area to meet the needs of not only the province but other parts of Canada as well.

"I know right now we have different companies that are working on metal products for different parts of Canada and the United States. Hopefully, we will grow that and be able to help Saint John with their needs for the LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) refinery and the Point Lepreau (nuclear plant).

"I also envision us becoming more of the service centre of northern New Brunswick because of our location...We have one new car dealership being opened soon and another just beginning and I hear through the grapevine that there's others looking at us for the services sector, not only in the automobile industry but in the restaurant industry and different types of stores."

"We would be become the centre of health care. With our expansion to our hospital we will be better to meet the needs of the region. With the hospital authority being located in Bathurst they will be able to better serve the people in northern New Brunswick."

James Risdon: "Bathurst is at a crossroads. What we need at city hall is a new vision and what I'm proposing is Bathurst moves towards being a leader in environmentally-friendly technologies and industries, and that we differentiate ourselves from all the other municipalities that are trying to do economic development by also offering completed business plans, completed ideas to entrepreneurs that want to set up here.

"We have to build an economic base in Bathurst that will allow us to have the tax revenues to be able to offer better cultural and recreational services and also to lower our tax rate. Currently what we have is one of the highest tax rates in the province and that acts as a disincentive both for personal investment and business investment."

"Wind energy, solar energy being used to power things here in Bathurst is a possibility. I see no reason why we couldn't do some light manufacturing of sports equipment, why we couldn't have light industry that is catering to the knowledge industries, that is heavy use of communications."

NL: "How will you accomplish these goals?"

Mr. Brunet: "I would be hoping I would have a great team on council that I could lead and work with...I would hope we would be able to put in place infrastructure to help us become the service centre and the building centre. We would look at our municipal plan in a way to make it look more user friendly and we would encourage development."

Mr. Risdon: "My background is that I have 20 years experience as a reporter and as an editor across Canada. Ten of those years were spent covering business...so I've seen a lot of different business ideas, different models across Canada. Now, I'm taking business administration (at NBCC Bathurst) which teaches me how to manage and also how to prepare a business plan."

NL: "Why should voters put their faith in you?"

Mr. Brunet: "I have a wealth of experience under four great mayors and I led this past council for the past four years where we had quite a bit of development in the city. The infrastructure that we've put in place sparked development and all one has to do is drive around the community to see what has happened over the last four years.

"I feel I can offer the same services and time because I am retired and I have also opened doors in the provincial capital and federal capital. I will continue to visit on behalf of the citizens of Bathurst and keep looking for new ways to work together with the three levels of government."

Mr. Risdon: "What they are getting now is a situation where in the last four years we've seen the closure of one of the major employers in town, Smurfit-Stone, and the building stay empty for almost three years now. Recently, (the) St. Hubert (restaurant) closed down, Le Chateau Bathurst...is closed, boarded up and seems to show no indication of reopening any time soon.

"We need some leadership at City Hall to solve these problems or to provide other solutions so that the city can move forward. We can't continue to lose hundreds of jobs at a time and not do anything about it."