Mayoral candidates’ visions for homelessness & affordability

Stephen J. Donkers — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:14:46 +0000

With the 2026 Barrie municipal election campaign ramping up, the candidates for mayor are outlining their priorities, with affordability, public safety, growth and homelessness emerging as key issues.

Incumbent Mayor Alex Nuttall is seeking a second term, while Tanya Saari, Kay Sayer and Russell Tighe are also running for the city’s top political office.

Nuttall told Compass News that affordability, public safety and traffic safety are the issues he hears most often while campaigning across Barrie.

“On affordability, people are feeling the pressure,” he said.

“We’ve worked hard to keep costs down at City Hall. We eliminated the 4 per cent rain tax increase and delivered one of the lowest tax increases in the province,” Nuttall said. “We also held City Operations increases at 0 per cent for four years. We kept infrastructure increases to 2 per cent, and I’ve reduced that to 1 per cent going forward.”

Homelessness and addiction are also central to the incumbent’s public safety platform.

Nuttall pointed to the city’s response to encampments, including declaring a state of emergency in September 2025, providing outreach support before removing tents and enforcing trespassing orders.

“We need to keep making sure people have an opportunity to get help while continuing to restore safety and order in our public spaces,” he said.

Nuttall said Barrie needs greater investment in rehabilitation services and changes to the Mental Health Act to allow for what he described as a compassionate form of intervention.

“There’s more work to do – it is not compassionate to leave someone overdosing on the side of the street,” he said.

“It is compassionate to get that person help and support for their addiction and mental and physical health. We also invested with the Province and County in the HART Hub to give people a pathway to treatment and recovery. We need to keep making sure people have an opportunity to get help while continuing to restore safety and order in our public spaces.”

“Moving people from one place to another isn’t the answer”

Saari, managing director of Redwood Communities and a local realtor, is making homelessness a key part of her campaign.

She has previously run for council twice and was the federal Liberal candidate for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte in the 2021 federal election.

On the city’s ongoing state of emergency related to homelessness and encampments, Saari said she would first determine what it is accomplishing before deciding whether to continue or end it.

“I don’t think tents in our parks are the answer, but moving people from one place to another isn’t the answer either,” she said.

“If we want fewer encampments, we need to give people somewhere else to go. I want us putting more of our energy into long-term solutions that actually move people out of homelessness, particularly supportive housing.”

Saari also addressed whether she would support reconsidering a supervised consumption site in Barrie.

A proposed site at 11 Innisfil St. was cancelled in 2024 after applications had been made to Health Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Health.

“I don’t have a firm yes or no position on supervised consumption at this point,” she said.

“I want to understand the evidence, what’s worked and what hasn’t, and listen to the people working directly in addictions and mental health before taking a position. A lot has changed around supervised consumption sites in Ontario. The province has moved away from that model toward HART Hubs.”

Saari also identified growth and affordability as major challenges facing Barrie.

“I want us to take a hard look at what we’re spending, what we’ve already committed to, and what we can realistically afford over the next four years,” she said.

“The emergency is secrecy”

Sayer, who has been a Barrie resident since May 2026, focused her campaign responses on government transparency, taxation and what she described as provincial responsibility for municipal pressures.

On homelessness, Sayer said the focus should be broader than encampments.

“The emergency isn’t tents. The emergency is secrecy,” she said.

“Since the convoy, government froze accounts paid with our taxes because people disagreed. That must be addressed by (Premier) Ford and all mayors. Keep the emergency only if we use it to force transparency. Cancel the hiding.”

Sayer also called for greater transparency across municipal spending, a stronger focus on community organizations and a more unified approach from Ontario mayors in dealing with the provincial government.

The 2026 Barrie municipal election will take place Oct. 26.

Compass News contacted Tighe for comment but had received no response by publication time.

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Second candidate jumps into Barrie mayoral race

Stephen J. Donkers — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:16:12 +0000

Then there were two.

Managing director of Redwood Communities and local realtor Tanya Saari has launched her campaign for mayor of Barrie, becoming the second candidate to enter the race for the city’s top political office.

Saari is seeking to unseat incumbent Mayor Alex Nuttall, who announced in May that he will seek a second term in the 2026 municipal election.

Saari has previous political experience, having twice run for Barrie city council in Ward 3. She was a candidate in the 2018 municipal election and again in the 2020 byelection following the resignation of former Coun. Doug Shipley. Shipley was elected as the Conservative MP for Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte in 2019.

She later ran against Shipley in the 2021 federal election as the Liberal candidate for Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte.

Saari said she entered the mayoral race because she believes residents need options as Barrie continues to grow and faces major decisions in how to run the city.

“The simple answer is that I believe Barrie deserves a choice,” she said.

“Barrie is growing quickly, we’re making significant financial decisions, and we’re facing complex challenges around housing, infrastructure, affordability and community safety.”

Saari said she has seen positive changes in the city, including new investment and development, but also hears residents raising concerns about affordability, traffic, infrastructure and how decisions are made at city hall.

“I believe residents deserve the opportunity to hear different ideas, compare different approaches and decide what kind of leadership they want for the future of Barrie,” she said.

Saari said her background in housing, community development, business, finance, real estate and the non-profit sector has shaped her approach to leadership.

“I don’t believe leadership is about being the best. I believe it’s about bringing the right people together,” she said.

Her campaign priorities include what she calls “honest affordability,” which would provide residents with a focus on taxes, fees, debt, reserves, user rates and future costs.

Saari is also campaigning on improving transparency at city hall, increasing public engagement, addressing community safety concerns, supporting responsible growth and ensuring that core services such as road maintenance, snow clearing, sidewalks and parks remain a priority.

She said one of Barrie’s biggest challenges is making sure the city’s rapid growth is matched with the infrastructure and services needed to support residents.

“We’re growing. We need more housing; we want new investment, new jobs,” she said.

“But we also need the roads, infrastructure, parks and services to keep up.”

On homelessness, mental health and addictions, Saari said solutions must focus on partnerships and proven approaches, including supportive housing.

“My experience in housing has shown me that people are experiencing homelessness for many different reasons,” she said.

“That’s why there isn’t one solution that works for everyone.”

Saari said a future administration under her leadership would focus on bringing the right partners together and supporting solutions that have been shown to work.

Barrie voters will choose their next mayor, councillors and school board trustees on Oct. 26, 2026.

The post Second candidate jumps into Barrie mayoral race appeared first on CompassNews.

Tanya Saari Archives - CompassNews

Mayoral candidates’ visions for homelessness & affordability

“Moving people from one place to another isn’t the answer”

“The emergency is secrecy”

Second candidate jumps into Barrie mayoral race