Exclusive Interview with Matthew Shoemaker

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Matthew Shoemaker is taking his success as a two-term Ward 3 councillor and throwing his hat into the ring to become the next Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie. Councillor Shoemaker sat down with SaultOnline/ONNtv in his first interview after announcing his candidacy and shares why he chose to run.

Matthew has remarked that he spent his ‘formative years’ crafting motions and sitting on committees, but he has no regrets about entering municipal politics so young.

One of the many resolutions proposed by the councillor resulted in the creation of a winter skating trail. Shoemaker’s website, www.matthewshoemaker.ca, lists 249 resolutions he has proposed during his nearly eight years on council. According to Shoemaker, a new police station is needed and should be built in the downtown area. In the James Street area, he also wants to see a police neighbourhood resource centre created.

We look forward to following Councillor Matthew on his campaign trail.

 


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Colette Linden is a graduate of the three-year Broadcast Journalism and Communications Media program from Mohawk College before heading to McMaster University to obtain her degree in Public Relations. In addition, Colette has a certificate in Writing for Publication and a certificate of Competency in the French Language, . A recent resident of Sault Ste Marie, this Hamilton native gained experience working at TSN, the Ontario Medical Association and spent 14-years with the Ontario Good Roads Association (OGRA) as the Communications Manager. A Mother of two amazing boys, Connor & Dante, Colette is a die-hard sports fan with a passion for government affairs and hopes to one day represent this City on Council. Focusing on Politics, Indigenous Affairs and Local News, Colette also reports the latest in Sports both locally and professionally. Colette joined the Superior Media Team in September of 2019 and is thankful to finish out her career with such a family-oriented and community-oriented team.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Hi councillor Shoemaker, congratulations on your run for Mayor.

    And I definitely like the no-tie look!

    I saw you USED TO SIT on the Procedure By-law Review Committee on your website, but seeing as you were at the February 9 and March 10, 2022 meeting of that Committee ( https://youtu.be/LeIdbLQgA_8 ) I guess that means… you stepped down after changing that important By-law? Please advise.

    Speaking of the brand new Procedure By-Law 2022-100, I see you and the other committee members made it almost IMPOSSIBLE to submit a Petition to City Council by REQUIRING so many things in order to just be listed on the ‘Correspondence Agenda’ – what, for goodness sake, is the ‘Correspondence Agenda’???

    Here are the new Petition REQUIREMENTS you approved:

    —————————————————————–
    24. Petitions
    The following requirements apply to every petition submitted to Council:
    a) The petition must be addressed to Council and request a particular action within
    the authority of Council;
    b) The petition must be legible, typewritten or printed in ink;
    c) The petition must be appropriate and not contain improper language;
    d) The petition shall state that signatories should be aware that their personal
    information will be shared publicly;
    e) Each signatory must print and sign their own name. A paper petition must contain
    original signatures only, written directly on the petition; and
    f) For electronic submissions, each signatory must provide their name, address and.
    a valid email address.
    The City Clerk shall list on the Correspondence Agenda petitions that comply with this
    section.
    A member of Council may request that a petition appearing on a Correspondence
    Agenda be placed on a Regular Council Agenda where the member of Council then may
    be permitted three minutes to present the petition and may move that it be referred to a
    particular staff member for a report to Council. A seconder is required.
    The subject matter of a petition may not be debated.
    —————————————————————–

    Really, a Name, Address and valid email address for each and every Electronic Petition signer or it’s out the window?!?

    Sheesh, talk about shutting citizens down. 🙁

    For example, the 9,871 signature petition that I helped co-ordinate about getting the name ‘Sault Memorial Gardens’ back on the Greyhounds rink NEVER would have made it to the ‘Correspondence Agenda’ (???) with these REQUIREMENTS… we left the petition at 10 sites, and picked up the full Petition sheets up every two days or so for 50 days, and replaced them with empty petition sheets for people to sign.

    Therefore, we might not see the name ‘Memorial Gardens’ on the Greyhounds rink today if we had these ridiculous requirements.

    For goodness sake, a Petition is AN INFORMAL EXPRESSION of a popular citizen idea, or citizen frustration. It’s not a Legal Document for goodness sake.

    Why would you shut citizens out like this Councillor Shoemaker?

  2. As far as the roads go, we need to return to whatever the potholes used to be filled with 30 years ago. It at least lasted til dawn!! Turning onto old John st off Carmens I had to almost stop completely. The road is mush!! At least find something that will last. You buy cheap crap you get crap roads. Quit throwing money out the window. Lead with some pride please. Poor SSM

  3. Talk is cheap and a near broke city can only do so much no matter who the mayor is, despite the sky high taxes and hydro costs.
    They chased away large prospective employers in the past with the ridiculous taxes and red tape, and it’s far too late to fix that now. The downtown is dead and all the main streets are shot. The city needs about half a billion just to fix the war zone roads before they all cave in, that’s not happening, either.
    Good luck with this big can o’ worms.

Comments are closed.