Four of the candidates vying for the role of Saskatoon’s mayor faced off during a televised debate hosted by the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce this evening.

Cynthia Block, Cary Tarasoff, Don Atchison and Gordon Wyant discussed topics such as scope creep, homelessness, business attraction, budgeting, housing, the DEED and the downtown library. The fifth person that you’ll see listed on your ballot, Mike Harder, chose not to attend.

Homelessness

Earlier in his campaign, Saskatoon mayoral Candidate Atchison proposed his plan to mitigate homelessness by building one hundred tiny homes from recycled plastic.

During the debate, his opponents shared what they thought of the idea.

Tarasoff posed the question of where these tiny homes would go, as it would need to be somewhere with services and utilities. Block didn’t detail her solution but instead stated that the provincial and federal governments should play a larger role in addressing the city’s homelessness crisis.

Candidate Wyant says it is unfair to claim that the province hasn’t supported the city in that regard.

“We have one of the best revenue-sharing programs in the country between the province and our municipalities. (This includes) $14 million more that came from the province last year in municipal revenue sharing, and our municipal police grant which funds, currently, 53 sworn officers in the city of Saskatoon and another 37 which has just been announced more recently.”

In reply to the criticism of his idea, Atchison stated that he is the only candidate that offered a solution in their comments, dubbing himself ‘Atch with Action’.

Housing Accelerator Fund

Back in June, when Saskatoon residents heard that City Council agreed to rezone many areas of the city in exchange for $41 million from the federal government, many were quite dismayed with the decision, with dozens bringing those concerns to City Council meetings.

Block, who was on City Council at the time the Housing Accelerator Fund was approved, says the decision was rushed, but they had no choice.

Tarasoff says building fourplexes and four-story apartments across the city will not only create sewer and water issues, but he can’t seem to find any engineering documents or drawing to back up the feasibility of the decision.

Atchison says the smart decision would have been to reopen negotiations with Ottawa.

“Other cities have different deals. This deal, I would say to you, is a bad deal, and we rushed through this before they wanted to get it done before the election.”

Wyant says the move would wreck many older and historical neighborhoods, as well as generate additional traffic and parking challenges.

Wants vs. Needs

Candidates were asked what they believe are wants versus needs, and how they will operate on those beliefs should they be elected.

Wyant says policing, fire, infrastructure, snow removal, and community safety are needs. Atchison agreed but added a few more needs to that list…

“On the needs side, it’s really about policing, it’s about fire, water, wastewater…transportation as well is a critical one.”

Tarasoff says a new rail plan is needed, as well as more constables on the ground keeping the city safe. He states he would immediately cut the Downtown Event and Entertainment District.

Block didn’t list what she considers needs; however she stated that she doesn’t want to see important projects compromised. She hopes to focus on the basics but also understand what the cost is of not moving forward with large projects such as the DEED.

Budgeting and Spending

When voting for a mayor in the upcoming Saskatoon civic election, how they decide to spend taxpayers’ money is probably a topic most people have on their radar.

Candidates detailed how they plan to save and allocate resources if they win.

Wyant says he will implement an 8-point budget renewal plan, issue an efficiency audit on City spending, cap the mill rate, among other things.

“I’ll put a cap on departmental spending. I’ll put a freeze on management hiring, but I won’t put a freeze on frontline services. We need to make sure we have enough people who are delivering the frontline services to the people of Saskatoon.”

Tarasoff stated that the city has too many reserve accounts that often go unused because they are forgotten about. Meanwhile Atchison hopes to have a zero per cent mill-rate increase next year, achieving that with hiring freeze that excludes police officers.

Block states that Saskatoon has a balanced budget and has worked really hard to shave down additional unnecessary costs.

Downtown Event and Entertainment District

Among several other hot-button topics debated was the Downtown Event and Entertainment District.

Tarasoff, Atchison and Wyant consider the controversial DEED as more of a want than a need. Meanwhile Block says they need to focus on the bigger picture.

“We’ve done our due diligence, we have a funding strategy, and I think this is going to be a way to reduce property tax by attracting taxation through residential and commercial development, but for now, nothing is moving forward with the DEED.”

Tarasoff retorted that if nothing was moving forward with the DEED, there would be no need to spend valuable time or resources on planning it. He adds that “Edmonton has a fancy new arena, and Taylor Swift still isn’t going there.”

Atchison says downtown needs to be a safe place to go before the DEED is even considered, or else no one will feel comfortable enough to go there. Wyant added that downtown development is great, but not if it will impact the mill rate, as he states neither the municipal nor provincial government will be able to pay for it.

Cynthia Block and Charlie Clark

The other candidates made a point of comparing Block to current Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark. Wyant claims she voted in lockstep with him 63 times this year, and she will only bring more of the same to Saskatoon.

During the debate Block stated that as mayor, she would host roundtable discussions with business owners in order to get their input. Candidate Tarasoff looked at the camera and stated “So, if you’re playing Charlie Bingo at home, you can take a square. Roundtable is already on the board. That is a common theme from Charlie’s previous mayor campaigns cause that’s all he talked about. He was going to have roundtables on everything.”

He suggested the city should be catering to business owners and making processes easier for them, instead of forcing them to follow rules created by City Administration.