Sudbury seniors, young professionals quiz wannabe mayors

Sudbury's mayoral candidates faced off in front of two very different audiences yesterday seniors in the afternoon and young professionals in the evening.

About 100 people spent their evening at a mayors debate sponsored by the young professionals association.

The discussion swirled around how to keep university grads in Sudbury, how to give them better transit and entertainment.

But the candidates offered few specifics, particularly when it came to boosting affordable daycare in the city.

Unfortunately the city doesn't really set the mandate on how these operate, said candidate Jeff Huska.

And we really don't have any control on them."

There were also several questions on how to attract more young professionals to the city.

Mayoral contender Dan Melanson said he believes Sudbury has a bad reputation in some circles.

"I don't think a lot of it is justified, but it's out there, he said.

And I think it's very difficult for young people to get started and get past that negativity."

Former mayor and current candidate John Rodriguez gave a specific example of three young professionals who were recruited by a local mining company.

"Their spouses were not impressed with the lack of cultural and recreational infrastructure in our community, and refused to move here."

Rodriguez said what Sudbury needs to attract young families is a new library, an art gallery and a performing arts centre.

But almost all the other candidates dismissed those ideas as too expensive.

Ombudsman questions

The seniors debate earlier in the day, had about twice the crowd and far more pointed questions.

The mayoral candidates were quizzed on bringing back the Ombudsman as a closed door meeting investigator. Almost all of them said they would, including Ron Dupuis, who was one of the councillors who voted to fire him.

"We would have a face-to-face meeting with the Ombudsman to make sure the egos are checked at the door."

And they were asked about the so-called slush funds, the $50,000 each councillor can spend in their ward.

Some said they would scrap the funds, while others said they would keep them in some form.

The would-be mayors of Sudbury are set to face off in two more debates next week.