Residents have until Aug. 19th to declare their intention to run in 2022 municipal election
With the deadline for nominations less than two weeks away, there are just six candidates who have thrown their hats into the ring to run for Timmins city council.
The contenders so far include three incumbents: Mickey Auger (Ward 2), Rock Whissell (Ward 1), and Cory Robin (Ward 5).
There are also three new faces: Marcus Niebler (Ward 2), Ed Stecewicz (Ward 5), and Neil David Siblall (Ward 5).
Candidates have until Aug. 19th at 2 p.m. to submit or withdraw their nomination. Nominations will be certified on Aug. 22nd by 4 p.m.
Certification is a process of verifying all the information on the candidates’ applications, explained City Clerk Steph Palmateer.
Once all candidates are certified, their information is added to the election page at Timmins.ca.
No candidates have yet been declared for Wards 3 and 4.
Coun. Whissell has represented Ward 1 since 2018. He is originally from Timmins where he graduated from École secondaire catholique Thériault in 1993. He has been married to his wife Sylvie for more than 19 years. They have two boys, Bailey and Jaden. He is the maintenance electrician at the public school board.
Whissell is seeking re-election to encourage a culture of planning ahead at city hall.
“There are big things that we need in the city – fire halls, city hall – this term, I think council should be working on putting things in place for the next 10 years,” he told The Daily Press. “I will be personally trying to make sure we’re looking forward and not just reacting to what is happening around us.”
As city councillor, Whissell sits on seven committees. In addition, he is chair of the MRCA and is a board member on the Santé Communautaire de Timmins, the Porcupine Health Unit, and the municipal non-profit housing board.
Whissell operates the Mountjoy Farmers’ Market in his role as president of the Porcupine District Agricultural Society. He can be found there Saturday mornings from July to October, chatting with shoppers and vendors.
Coun. Auger has represented Ward 2 since 2018. He has lived in South Porcupine since 1975, and has a son, daughter and twin grandsons who also live there.
“The people of South Porcupine and Porcupine are like family to me,” said Auger, “When they call me for whatever reason, I try to do my best to solve their problem.
“I’m running because I have a few things I want to accomplish,” he told The Daily Press. “I want to build a sidewalk from Tim Hortons to Crawford Street, which will probably be part of the new Connecting Link in 2025. With George Pirie as MPP in Toronto, we’re going to try and get a bypass to get the trucks off Goldrush Street. We’re going to have them bypass on the back road to Newmont Mine to the underpass on Langley Road.
“I’d like to serve another four years to do my best to improve the community in whatever way I can.”
Auger served as an officer with the Timmins Police Service for 30 years before retiring in 2005. During that time, he was very involved in the bike rodeos and built basketball courts throughout the city, he said.
He has been on the board of the Timmins Native Friendship Centre for 20 years. He hopes to resume his work with the Timmins Chamber of Commerce on the Santa Claus Parade this winter, which would make it his 30th year on the project.
Coun. Auger also sits on the boards of the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board, The Golden Manor, The Porcupine Health Unit, the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority, the Friends of the Porcupine River Watershed, and the city’s accessibility advisory committee.
Marcus Niebler moved to Timmins from Stratford in 2018 to open Escape from Reality, an escape room venue and tabletop games store in a former bank in South Porcupine. He and his partner, Julie, successfully ran the same business in Stratford, which they sold after two years in order to open a branch in town. Business is good, he said.
“As a business person, I understand the growth Timmins is about to experience,” he said, having seen the same growth in his hometown of Aurora, from 3,500 to 90,000 people. “It’s not just the nickel, it’s also the gold, and it’s the provincial government stepping up to the plate. A lot of people post-pandemic can work from home. So why would you live in Toronto in a house half the size of a house you can get here for half the money?”
Niebler thinks locals are “super friendly, salt-of-the-earth type people,” a foundation that he wants to build upon by helping South Porcupine become an entertainment district, as it was 20 years ago. He sees the evident decline as the end of a cycle where business owners in their sixties are getting set to retire, leaving the way for a new wave of economic activity.
His campaign motto is “Let’s GROW SOPO together.” He would like to turn the Maurice Landry Community Hall into a community theatre, offering it to arts group free of charge, in exchange for 40 per cente of ticket sales for shows these groups would produce.
His other priorities include installing a proper sewage waste management system to clean up Porcupine Lake, making public transit free, and improving commuter safety.
Niebler has a Bachelor of Science with minors in astronomy and astrophysics. He also has a background in child development and ran daycares in Toronto, he said.
Because he feels lawn signs are environmentally unfriendly, Niebler has opted for pink campaign buttons instead.
Coun. Robin has served as a representative of Ward 5 for two years, having replaced Noella Rinaldo in 2020 who resigned to accept a job with the Timmins Economic Development Corporation. The ward is represented by four councillors. As of Aug. 9, there were three candidates on the list to represent the ward.
Coun. Robin is running for re-election in order to continue to work on the city’s most pressing challenges. These include the labour shortage and fixing local roads and the Connecting Link. He wants to continue to support the city in the progress it has made addressing social housing and addiction.
Among his accomplishments in office, Robin cites: line painting on Vimy Avenue, getting miles of fresh pavement installed in Ward 5, and assembling the funding to fix Hollinger Park.
“I think I’ve furthered the interests of the community and made the city a little bit better in my limited time there already,” he told The Daily Press. “I’ve personally enjoyed being able to help drive our economy and social issues. I’d like to continue to serve, I feel very humbled by the position and all that we’re working on together.”
Robin is a life-long Timmins resident. He was born in Schumacher, raised in South Porcupine has been living in Ward 5 for the past 20 years. He and his partner Melissa have three children. Robin is francophone and a member of the Kashechewan First Nation.
Coun. Robin is a business development officer with the Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund. In this role he helps aboriginal entrepreneurs to develop viable businesses. Robin is also on the board of the Northern Ontario Angels, venture capitalists who invest in new businesses in exchange for an ownership stake in the company.
Robin sits on the boards of the Timmins Museum, the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board, the TEDC, the Downtown Timmins BIA and the audit committee.
Ed Stecewicz (pronounced, “stesse-wicks”) has worked on major political campaigns since 2006 as a voter contact coordinator and volunteer coordinator. He’s worked with Charlie Angus, Gilles Bisson and George Pirie, hearing voter concerns going door to door, on the phone, visiting businesses, or on the street accompanying the candidate.
“What better avenue to bring forward their concerns than the council table?” he told The Daily Press, adding that he’s been mentored by the experienced politicians he’s worked for.
As a city councillor, Stecewicz would like to contribute to working with the provincial and federal governments to grow the local mining and manufacturing sectors.
“The future of Timmins looks really bright with our minerals and the offshoot jobs that will come with it, with manufacturing,” he said. “Now is the time for council to get with other sides of government and push for what the world wants. We have what the world wants here, with the minerals and the greener energy.”
Once all candidates are certified, their information will be added to the election page at Timmins.ca.
The Daily Press was unable to reach candidate Siblall by press time and city hall declined to provide contact information until the candidate is certified.
Michele Boileau, currently a Ward 5 councillor, was the only mayoral candidate at press time. If no other candidates are declared, Boileau would become mayor by acclamation.
In addition to those who have signed up to run for council, as of Aug. 9, there were nine trustee candidates from Timmins running for various school boards.
Candidates for English public trustee were Mark Clemence, Bob Brush, and Stephen Meunier.
Candidates for English Catholic board were Colleen Landers, Ron Macinnis, and Paula Del Guidice.
The candidate for French Catholic board is Langis Dion, and the candidates for French public trustee are Liliane Francis and Nicole Arcand.
School trustees will be declared by acclamation if there is the exact number of candidates required for an office. As of Aug. 9, there was still room for one more English separate trustee, and two more French separate trustees. All other school trustee categories have the exact number of candidates required.
To find out more information about how to run for council, visit the City of Timmins’ “Information for Candidates” page.
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