Three candidates aiming to become Collingwood's next mayor

After this past summer's provincial election, it became clear the Town of Collingwood would be under new leadership this fall.

Three well-known candidates with high political acumen are vying to replace MPP Brian Saunderson as Collingwood's next mayor.

Yvonne Hamlin has practiced law for three decades and served as a town councillor last term. She's also gained leadership experience by chairing the Development and Operations Committee and sitting on the Regional Physician Recruitment committee.

"As mayor, I would work to ensure we build a new hospital and fill in desperately needed physician spots," Hamlin told CTV News Friday. "We have to set up a non-profit corporation to recruit those physicians, which we need eight."

Hamlin said affordability is also top of mind for her this election cycle - an issue that each candidate brought up.

"We've had numerous newer families move to the area, but purchasing a home is still difficult for them," she added. "So now is the time for me to step up. I can fight for Collingwood."

Former four-term city councillor Norm Sandberg thinks he'll do best in tackling the housing crisis.

Having served as a town councillor in the 1990s and 2000s, Sandberg said he's no stranger to helping the town go through change.

"We have a lot of changes that we're facing, a lot of fiscal challenges," Sandberg said. "With a changing demographic, It's going to be a very challenging job forward to manage the increase in costs without knocking down the very backbone of our community, which is small business."

Acting deputy mayor and former journalist Mariane McLeod said she plans to bring a sunny disposition and transparency to the town's top spot.

Affordability is one of the key issues she's looking to tackle as mayor. On top of that, she wants to give the community a council it can trust.

"I know Collingwood. I know the job. I'm ready to serve, and it would be an honour," McLeod said.

A judicial inquiry in 2018 investigated the town's partial sale of its municipally owned utility company six years prior.

"That put us in a bad and unfortunate light for sure, but we took recommendations from that report and have done our best to fulfill them," said McLeod. "So what we can do is set a shining example of clean governance here because of the unfortunate stuff that we went through."

With no clear standout, each candidate admitted it's difficult to tell how election night will go.