With a municipal election less than a year away, North Bay Mayor Al McDonald is insisting he will not run for a fourth term.
"I was on record the night of the election, on October 22, 2018 - it just showed up on my Facebook Memories last week - so I am not running," said McDonald during a media event for a new Bitcoin Mining project on the North Bay Power Plant site Monday.
"I have made it very clear that this was my last term so I have made that commitment to my wife who is very supportive either way but it's time for me to go do some other things and allow someone else to take the reins. I think there are opportunities and sometimes new ideas are great so no I am not running again."
McDonald says dealing with criticism like the handling of Invest North Bay, large tax increases, and location and cost of the new twin pad arena project, can be tough but it comes with the territory.
"It wears on you for sure but we have a great council, a staff that has been fantastic and the community has been fantastic. We had a mandate of growth and we are hitting on all cylinders," said McDonald.
"Obviously, the pandemic affected us for a while and it was difficult and our focus went to safety through the pandemic. I think you are always going to have nay-sayers but I think it is really important for councils and mayors to listen to the conversation, but if you listen to the nay-sayers we would not have a new hospital, we wouldn't have the waterfront, we wouldn't have Steve Omischl Sports Complex.
"There were nay-sayers on all those projects and I cannot imagine if we are standing here today and we did not have that new hospital or the waterfront, or Steve Omischl Park our community would not be the place it is so I think it is really important that elected officials listen for sure, but they have got to move the city forward and you cannot let a few people stop progress."
Municipal Elections in Ontario are slated to take place on Monday, October 24, 2022.
