Red River Ward council Michael Zussino is not seeking re-election, producing a crowded race with five candidates seeking the empty seat: Cory Bagdon, Dino Cicchitano, Michael Giardetti, John Murray, and Jamie Scrimger.

Dino Cicchitano and Michael Giardetti did not respond to interview requests from the Acadia Newsroom.

Cory Bagdon

With a brand new master’s degree in ecological economics, Cory Bagdon has just returned home from the United Kingdom ready to dig into a new challenge.

A former small business owner who spent a decade in woodworking, he says municipal government is the level with the largest impact on the day-to-day lives of the people in his community.

Bagdon thinks it’s important for residents to “recognize the value that we have in our public institutions and our public goods,” like the library or the public transit system.

“Our public library system does incredible community services work for everybody, and to spend time humming and hawing over how much money they should be working with fails to recognize the return on invest we get when in invest in it,” he argues.

He illustrates a metaphor for public transit’s importance: that “small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and the transit system is the circulatory system that connects everybody and makes business even possible.”

He wants to see the city offer more respect to bus drivers and their working conditions.

In his own ward of Red River, Bagdon is very concerned with the city’s decision last term to begin selling off surplus public land.

“There’s this weird urgency to sell of our land real quick, and I think that’s a really bad thing to do. I don’t think we should be surplusing any publicly owned land because land is very valuable,” he explains. “Land is sacred. Once we sell it, we never get it back.”

Bagdon believes the city’s strategic plans, which it creates for different services, need to be more flexible: “They should all be living documents,” he says. “I think when conditions change, we shouldn’t have to go back to the drawing board a redo a whole new strategic plan just because, for example, we value wind turbines more now, right?”

When it come to items like the Temporary Shelter Village, Bagdon says while it’s unlikely to substantially reduce the number of homeless individuals in the city, it will help a specific subset of the group.

“It’s easy to focus on all those other things like how much it costs, and it’s really, really easy to forget that it’s going to help people, right? That’s the most important thing.”

If elected, Bagdon hopes to take a more deliberative approach to the democratic process, suggesting that it should be less about one specific person or group’s idea either passing or failing a vote, and more about letting everyone put their own ideas forward.

“Put them on an equal footing, and judge the ideas on their merit, not on the party or interest group that’s trying to push advocate for their own agendas, right? The deliberative approach, it needs cooperation, it needs collaboration, reciprocity is a big thing in this approach.”

John Murray

Head chef and owner of Red Lion Smokehouse John Murray has entered the race hoping to take his involvement in city affairs to the next level.

Murray is a member of the board (and former Chair) of the Waterfront District BIA, a board member of the Shelter House, and sits on a tourism committee for the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC).

The restauranteur feels confident that he’ll be prepared for the challenges of navigating local democracy.

“We have a very large team of staff that I’ve managed, and there’s obviously conflicting personalities and opinions in any team,” he remarks. “I’m a good listener. I think I can weigh two sides of any coin. There’s valid arguments that you can see from both sides.”

Murray believes that green space and parkland should not be used for development.

“I think an infill and densification plan for housing and for any development is something that should we be looking at. We have plenty of spaces that we can be developing that aren’t actual parks,” he says.

He also adds that “it’s been proven as a development tactic that densification is actually far more equitable in terms of capital infrastructure and maintenance… It’s frankly something we should get better at as a city.”

Rather than for development, Murray is eyeing Hillcrest Park as a potential spot for some improvements, including new trails and exercise equipment, on the recommendation of some local interest groups.

On homelessness and addictions, Murray credits the Temporary Shelter Village as a positive step for the city.

“Finding more shelter opportunities and getting more heads in beds in the shelter program is a positive thing,” he says.

Murray says residents in the ward have made clear that they want the issue addressed, and want to see less encampments, “so again, find humane ways to house our homeless… having a good measure of how you deal with your vulnerable populations is something that is a measure of a good, healthy, working society. “

In a crowded field, he believes his work in different city boards position him nicely to take on the role of a councillor, with plenty of hands-on experience dealing with the municipal budgeting process and the city’s shelter system.

“I bring a lot to the table with some real-world, practical experience.”

Jamie Scrimger

With a background in emergency management, as well as working as an advisor to First Nations, Jamie Scrimger is coming to the table with critical infrastructure and community safety as chief priorities.

Scrimger, who hails from Kenora but has lived in Thunder Bay for almost two decades, worries that the city is not taking care of its infrastructure, when considering how it continues to sprawl outwards.

“Take care of what we have and really be careful about what we’re building to make sure we can maintain,” she says. “It’s not just a problem of if we can build it now, it’s can we take care of it in 10, 20, 30 years.”

Scrimger says in her door knocking efforts over the campaign, the development of green space has been a recurrent issue.

“I would protect green spaces. We do have to do some densification to get that population up, make sure our infrastructure is cared for,” she says. “However, to build on those green spaces, we’re not going to get them back, so I would not be for that.”

Looking back at the last term of council, Scrimger hesitates to lob too much criticism.

“Being an outsider, I don’t want to pass too much judgement there. I’m not running because everything’s broken and wrong. I’m running because I think I can bring something to the table.”

The Red River hopeful was able to tour the Temporary Shelter Village alongside many candidates, and feels that it gives the city some new options for taking care of the vulnerable with dignity.

She calls the village “a tool in the toolbox that we can use. It’s not going to be the be all end all solution, it’s not going to magically make things better. But it is going to give us a tool.”

Looking ahead at potentially being the ward’s next councillor, Scrimger feels her experience in emergency management will help her work well with a potentially disparate council of differing personalities and ideas.

“In emergency management, it’s all about working together. You’re dealing with really complex problems, multiple response agencies, difficult jurisdictions, so you have to bring everybody to the table and that’s what I do,” explains Scrimger. “Just because you’re in a heated debate, doesn’t mean it’s an argument. It doesn’t have to be aggressive. So being respectful at that table — and that is part of my platform — is how to have those relationships and debate and ask hard questions, but be respectful as well.”

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

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