Thunder Bay’s Neebing Ward has two candidates running for its seat: incumbent Greg Johnsen, and challenger John Beals.

Greg Johnsen (incumbent)

Johnsen, a teacher with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, is the current incumbent for Neebing Ward.

He is currently wrapping up his first term as a city councillor.

He says running for re-election “was a no-brainer. I knew early on taking my seat that the goal wasn’t just to be 4 years, one-and-done, if you will. The goal was to keep going and keep learning and keep trying to move the needle wherever I could.”

Johnsen says democracy is a slow — even glacial — process, but he’s proud of the the advocacy he’s done for the local issues affecting Neebing ward, particularly with regards to water issues around flooding and ditching, roadways, and safe walking spaces.

“I’m looking forward to doing the continued good work on that.”

He points to the Designated Truck Route, the indoor turf facility, and structural reforms to City Hall’s governance and committee model as big wins from his tenure.

Going to the next term, he wants growth to be a big focus, building on the momentum of the Smart Growth Action Plan’s implementation.

Johnsen remarks that working together with city councillors who may not always agree is a challenging proposition.

“Ultimately, I think we really have to rely on administration, to have those hard conversations with the city manager and administration. We can do a lot of different things all at once, or we can focus on one or two things… I don’t believe there is overarchingly a good way to be a city council,” he says. “We’re all very nuanced. We have different ideas, different opinions, certainly. We vote different ways. But what we do agree on is that we care about the city. We care to do a good job. We just have different views on how to do that.”

The incumbent candidate repeatedly emphasizes the importance of listening in his role, whether its to city staff or to constituents.

“I know people often say, ‘council doesn’t listen,’ but I can put my hand to my chest and swear on any good book that I’m listening. I try to use that metric in my decision,” Johnsen says. “When I make decisions, I try to get information and the facts from administration, and I also try to get information from residents and how they feel. And then I obviously can’t help but use my own moral or ethical code on these decisions as well.”

John Beals

Challenger John Beals is a man of many hats: a veteran architect, restauranteur, and hotel and property developer.

Working with Lakehead Developers, he built recognizable landmarks in the city before transitioning to the food and hospitality scene, founding fixtures of Neebing including Neebing Roadhouse and the Best Western Plus Nor’Wester.

Beals first ran to be a city councillor about two decades ago, and decided to throw his many hats in the race this time around when he saw that Neebing Ward’s incumbent candidate was running unopposed.

He cites water and road infrastructure of his ward as a huge concern driving his campaign.

“I’m going, ‘holy smokes:’ and you look at some of the streets and roads, the ditches are full of mud, full of water, they’ve got no place to drain.”

Beals is also making taxes a big focus, arguing that if taxes are going to go up, “I want to make sure that we’re getting our money’s worth for Neebing,” adding that “we contribute a fair amount of money to the City of Thunder Bay and we’re not getting a proportionate share back.”

The former architect often refers to Neebing’s rural character despite being part of a city; this has become relevant in an election where the development of green spaces for housing has become an issue at the ballot for many.

“You take a look at Toronto, per square kilometre, it’s got more parkland percentage-wise than the City of Thunder Bay has. We should be preserving it,” says Beals. “Maybe the excuse is that we’ve got forest all around us and lakes and we go camping and that sort of stuff. But that doesn’t mean that you start building on green space, the places that we as people love to go to.”

He wants voters to choose him because “I’ve got the time, I’ve got the energy, I’ve got the experience in business and public works… I can help. But most of all, I’ve lived in Neebing for almost 50 years. I understand it.”

Ontario’s municipal elections are set for October 26, 2026.

More information about Thunder Bay’s election can be accessed on the city website.