Belleville and Quinte West Mayoral Candidates participated in a meeting at Nine Golf on Old Highway 2, hosted by the Quinte Home Builder’s Association.
The event was attended by Belleville mayoral candidates Neil Ellis, Mitch Panciuk and Kyle Thompson along with Quinte West candidates Jim Harrison, Karen Sharpe and Claudor du-Lude.
Candidates took turns answering questions from the Quinte Home Builder’s Association. The major topics of discussion were addressing general shortages of housing, difficulties posed by regulation preventing the construction of new housing, and the shortage of skilled tradespeople.
One of the first questions of the night was how candidates plan to address housing shortages in the region.
Thompson said that he plans to work with builders to reduce red tape and increase home production.
Both Sharpe and du-Lude suggested holding a meeting between city council and other stakeholders to develop a plan to address the issue.
Harrison said he would want to expand landlord’s rights to make the area more attractive to developers.
Panciuk said he plans to fast-track the building permit process.
Ellis said he plans to incentivize construction of rental housing by reducing fees and charges.
One question asked of mayoral candidates was what they would do about excessive delays in construction, with new homes taking 10 years to build.
Sharpe said she planned to streamline the application system and both introduce an electronic system for applications, and increase planning staff to handle the applications.
Harrison had a similar solution, introducing an electronic system and increasing planning staff, but also wanted to attract more workers so that approved buildings could be finished faster.
du-Lude claimed the problem was caused at the administrative level, and that they needed a more representative city council to solve it.
Panciuk says he plans to keep investing in preparing more serviceable land and encourage landowners to develop their land.
Ellis says the city needs more “pipes in the ground” and wants to develop a plan with builders to address the shortfall.
Thompson also suggested preparing more infrastructure to support development.
One of the other questions asked of candidates was how they planned to address the shortage of skilled tradespeople.
Panciuk says he plans to work with Loyalist College to increase the availability of training programs for tradespeople.
Ellis says he wants to encourage skilled immigrants and other tradespeople to come to the region and settle in the area.
Thompson said he wants to have collaborative discussions with the community to develop an action plan.
Sharpe suggested working with Loyalist College to increase training of tradespeople, and also setting up an initiative similar to the doctor recruitment initiative in Quinte West.
du-Lude says he plans to hold trade shows to expose high school students to options for working in the trades and encourage them to pursue careers in those fields.
Harrison says he plans to encourage young people to get into trades, and suggested creating a fund to help encourage students to go into trades.
A similar event will be held on Wednesday with the mayoral candidates from Prince Edward County and Brighton.
