There is another election, municipal, in my city. I really did try to find someone to vote for this time. I haven't voted for a few rounds now. I just can't find someone worth voting for. They all say the same stuff, they all care about something that doesn't make sense or make any difference. Overall, I think they are all about lining their pockets. It is discouraging. After reading here and there and leaving some replies (see below) I just do not see any point in voting for anyone. It take very little time to actually vote now with it online too. But, why bother?... I really do not believe any of them really care or understand about the people in the city or the issues with living here.

Complaining about past Mayors does not make you sound better in any way.

Are you in Ward 1? This seems to be where the most problems are with the druggies and homeless people. I would like to vote for someone who has actually lived with encounters and more with these druggies and does feel at least some of the anger and paid some of the repair bills we have been stuck with.

Sadly the people with businesses and homes in those areas can not up and move. The people who pay the bills for Barrie do not have all the options and choices and support which are freely given to the homeless druggies. I feel no sympathy at all for them. I just feel very unsafe living in Barrie. My neighbour cleans up shit, literally, from the doorstep of his business in downtown Barrie every day. He doesn't have much of a choice about that. The people who are the problem should have just as few choices, if not less.

The Police are already demoralized enough. The problem is not the Police but the courts which leave them with no power to help anyone but the criminals etc. If you want less taxes take a look at education. That's where your tax money goes. What is it now? 75% of the tax bill. For students who sit in class with their cell phone. They could be out there with a job and figure out that life is not all waiting for parents to do everything for them. A good dose of real life would help a lot of them, I hope.

I voted for you. Just now. I didn't thoroughly read the information on your site but did read something about each candidate. I would very much like to see no cell phones in schools. I think the problem is enforcing this but it could make a huge difference in students participating (at the very least). Education is the most expensive thing for tax payers and I do resent that. I do not see education as being at all effective - students who have no interest in being in school could be out there getting a dose of reality with a job and paying taxes themselves. I think that would be a huge wake up call for a lot of them. Especially those who think nothing of smashing up jewellry shops, vandalizing, and stealing from cars in front of houses even in daylight. Anyway, I do not use a cell phone myself. Don't want some machine attached to me or hounding me for attention. Students could do the same and learn to think for themselves.

Tenants are destructive and get away with not paying rent for over a year before a landlord has any hope of getting rid of them. Government and courts are 100% supporting tenants and screw over landlords every time. We rent an apartment in our home. We are far from slum landlords but get screwed over all the time, by tenants. This is a government of Ontario issue, not municipal.

For me the bus route which used to go by my house was taken out. Now the only routes, 3 of them, all go down the same main street. No use to me. I moved here in part due to transit access. We had it for over 10 years. I don't understand why it was removed about 6 years ago. Now I take taxis. More expensive but I don't really have another option. Having groceries delivered has been a great help, it costs less than taking a taxi to the store and back and they are left at my doorstep rather than hauling everything myself. That helps when there is no useful transit service.

One of the candidates wants to remove traffic from downtown Dunlop completely. I think that will leave it a ghost street, no traffic but homeless druggies once all the businesses move to places where people can find parking and actually get to them. Not everyone is mobile enough to get to the downtown as it is. No bus service on Dunlop for years. Parking all but gone now. With only foot traffic it's not going to be enough to keep those businesses alive. Not only for customers to come and go but I think all those businesses also need deliveries and other services which need street access. Some of the candidates seem to have rose coloured glasses and do not see things clearly or logically at all.

Doesn't look like anything is actually getting a reply here. I was trying to decide who to vote for... I think I will just not bother with it at all. Each candidate sounds a lot like the others.

We still live on a street which used to be nice, know our neighbours, all of that. Now we have druggies prowling around trying to break into cars even in the day time. We had to pay to fix the garage where a druggie homeless person lit it on fire. No city help with that. Insurance would not cover it either.

I look after my Mother 24/7, when she dies and this house is sold I will not remain in Barrie. I took a two day trip to Woodstock, Ontario. It was like a vacation - no druggies or homeless people at every intersection, etc. It was wonderful. I didn't realize exactly how stressed I have been feeling until I got away from Barrie a couple of days. I live on a street in Ward One, near the RVH. Downtown is far worse but here is no picnic either. I feel no sympathy at all for the druggies who make life here feel very unsafe.

I am not willing to pay taxes in order to "support" these people. Sucking the life out of the people who have jobs, pay taxes, show up etc is not helping the problem with druggies and homeless. Anyway, no one in government really cares at all. When I write about what has happened to us no one replies. So much easier to ignore it all or decide I'm some crazy old woman. Good luck with the election I'm just going to not bother voting for the people who can't bother with me.

My cousin lives in BC, along the coast. She sent photos of a young bear which appeared near her home. I'm glad she had the common sense not to approach and/or feed the bear.

Years ago we had a wild deer at the house, along the street. It tried to jump through the big window at the front of our house. I don't know how it didn't break, I was very glad it did not. At the end of our street, in the suburbs of Barrie, are farms. We get more wild animals coming from that way. Not many get far before turning back. Likely it happens more often now as they get less and less space. But, it is nice to see them, real and alive now and then. To remember they are there.

What was the last wild animal, of a larger size like a deer or bear, which has wandered into your area?