Gary Gardiner was hip-deep in a footing trench when I arrived at his worksite yesterday to chat about his new life as a North Bay councillor, which begins officially after a swearing-in ceremony next week.
A builder by trade following a sports-centred career as a national wrestling official, his main project right now is renovating the former Deluxe Taxi and Union Cab property on the south side of Main Street near Ferguson Street. When finished the renovation for a 30-seat indoor restaurant, the Northern Himalayan Café will also have an enclosed outdoor patio where the cabs used to stack from the Oak Street entrance.
I was coming from a presentation to the Blue Sky Probus Club, a keynote speaking gig after their morning meeting held at the Mother House. They asked me to talk about my life and 35-year (and counting) journalism career, as well as the Back in the Bay Magazine. I was reminded beforehand they were apolitical and non-denominational, likely prompted from someone catching my election columns or stand up comedy bits. A meandering and tangent-heavy tale, I was just getting started when the hour was gone and I was stuffing cookies into my pockets going out the door.
Arriving at the former Deluxe Taxi stand, memories of my “college daze” days at Canadore and the bar-hopping downtown flooded in – complete with the incoherent mad scrambles after last call trying to catch one of those elusive cabs and hopefully an after-hours party. So much has changed since then.
Gardiner, 67, squeaked into the 10-seat chamber with a ninth-place finish Oct. 24 despite a 2018 mayoral bid that gave Al McDonald his toughest challenge before claiming his third four-year term in a row.
“What were you thinking?” I asked when the subject of his “zero cost” campaign came up, my query rooted in the theory he could have finished higher in the polls had he expensed even a nominal amount.
There was a clarion call for sea change at council with several factions backing mostly new blood for the chamber. And the results were epic for most of those who combined traditional campaign techniques with social media savvy. For the first time in the city’s history there were an equal number of women elected (5), including the top three spots which come with chairperson roles for general government, infrastructure and operations, and community services. Keep in mind, though, two women also topped the polls in the 2018 with Tanya Vrebosch taking the deputy mayor position followed closely by Johanne Brousseau.
Also notable this election was the influx of six new councillors with only four returned – although there were three seats automatically up for grabs. Extra room for new faces came from the retirement of long-time councillor George Maroosis, Brousseau being eliminated in a losing bid for mayor and Scott Robertson, a first-termer who ran in the federal race last fall under the New Democrat banner, electing to opt out.
Gardiner said it started with the decision to run the campaign without yard signs, a bid against plastic waste stemming from a student presentation to council about reducing convenience products such as straws. He said that snowballed into a theory that it would be better if candidates were chosen on their character and platform instead of monetary matters.
It’s a commendable philosophy, for sure, and probably worth a deeper discussion considering the lack of voter turnout, the hope for more diversity among candidates and the role economics has on politics.
I believe Gary had the privilege of considering this due to his 6,715 vote result in the 2018 mayoral race – just 1,365 shy of winning. The 10th place candidate for council that year – Marcus Tignanelli – won his seat with 4,600 votes. One could be forgiven to expect that a near-miss for mayor might be a shoo-in for a top-half council spot, although pundits would contend the public is a fickle lot and it’s dangerous to assume fealty.
It looked promising early with a BayToday poll asking readers to pick one candidate that would be on their list if they voted early. Gardiner topped the list with a couple thousand participants giving him the nod. Even then, though, Gardiner said he knew that kind of poll doesn’t translate to how people actually vote and he put his time and energy into providing solid answers to group surveys of candidates.
What he discovered was that it’s difficult to reach a significant segment of potential voters through media coverage and letters to the editor, as the market is heavily fractured and there are readership overlaps.
The decision to not compete with money also had unforeseen consequences, such as not attending meet and greets that rented table space to candidate participants. Even though the debate portion of the candidate event at the Elks Lodge didn’t require a fee, Gardiner said it didn’t seem fair to show up when most other candidates had rented tables during the afternoon.
Gardiner said it was clear that signage helps close the gap for reaching those who don’t follow local media closely, pointing to the top five councillor-elects including returnees Chris Mayne and Mark King sitting fourth and fifth.
I suggested Gardiner could have put his carpentry skills to work and built a set of signs for the major visual points, although that may have forced him to claim some expense for material.
While he said there was a Plan B drawn up, he didn’t execute it and in the end, there was some anxiety on election night as they waited for the final tally giving him 24 votes over 10th spot veteran Mac Bain, who garnered 4,529.
Gardiner points out that Maroosis, the longest-ever serving councillor in North Bay with 30 years in the chamber, including 24 straight years in office, provided significant service to the community despite never finishing in the top five.
Also worth knowing, when it comes to signs, candidate Peter Gregory scored 4,038 votes in 2018 and doubled-down on sign numbers this year and only managed 3,670 this time around.
Gardiner said it would just be better to reduce plastic waste and to solve the logistics of how large numbers of council candidates can get a chance to debate the issues in a public forum accessible to all (both voters and candidates) regardless of economic situations.
Until then, he said council and the community should remember how lucky we are to live in North Bay and area.
“I feel we’re in a difficult time, it’s not just the municipalities, it’s every government, it’s every household everybody on the street. It’s just unprecedented. We’ve never been in this much turmoil, everything is upside down, right? At least, we need to really remind ourselves we need to be thankful …we’re not in any kind of war. We don’t have a dictator locking us down.
"We don’t have floods, cross your fingers there, and we don’t have heat waves and stuff. Where we are in North Bay, we’re pretty insulated from all that stuff, so we always have to remind ourselves that we’re lucky to be bitching about these little things. The rest of the world doesn’t have the same luxury as we do, so we are really extremely fortunate.
“It’s unbelievable what we've got, so we just have to correct the little things. And that’s why I know we can do great things in the next four years, even in turmoil we can advance the city. That’s the goal.”
If you look at the council like a hockey team, it's great to have a strong class of rookie recruits and new members with life and community experience, mixed in with municipal political experience. Gardiner adds a bit of depth to that third line and I suspect it won't be long before he's called up as the second-line winger. But I know a few of his supporters wish he went all out in the campaign and shot for a higher position.
Dave Dale is a veteran journalist and columnist who has covered the North Bay area for more than 30 years. Reader responses meant as Letters to the Editor can be sent to [email protected]. To contact the writer directly, email: [email protected] or check out his website www.smalltowntimes.ca
