VadimVasenin / Depositphotos.com
A candidate to become Belleville’s next mayor, has withdrawn from the race.
Mental health advocate Cynthia Black will not seek the top chair, but rather help push forward the ideas of new candidate Paul Fleming.
Fleming, who runs a non-profit consulting firm, filed his papers Thursday. Our newsroom is still waiting on the final candidate list from the City. As of the update yesterday, Fleming is against comedian Kyle Woolven, Don Metzger, and current Mayor Neil Ellis.
The unofficial nomination list can be found on the City’s website. Staff have revealed to our newsroom that the official list will be confirmed and posted Monday afternoon.
The nomination period has now closed as of 2 p.m. today. Election Day across Ontario is October, 26th.
The full statement from Ms. Black can be found below.
Mayoral candidate Cynthia Black has withdrawn her nomination and is throwing her support behind Paul Fleming’s campaign for Mayor of Belleville. The two will work together through to election day and beyond.
“When Paul and I sat down together, it was clear very quickly that we want the same things for this city,” said Black. “Our values line up. Our vision lines up. And we both believe collaboration is how you get things done, not just something you say during a campaign. We would rather work alongside each other than against each other, and I am looking forward to doing exactly that.”
Black is President of the Mood Disorders Society of Canada and has spent more than 30 years working in high profile roles across the Canadian non-profit sector. Her campaign platform centred on financial responsibility and transparency, affordable housing, community safety and policing and a Housing First approach to homelessness.
She said the fiscal case is what made the decision straightforward.
“Families budget. Seniors on fixed incomes budget. Students budget. People on OW and ODSP budget. Non-profits and small businesses account for every dollar they spend,” said Black. “City Hall should be able to do the same. Paul has been saying that since the day he filed, and that is why this was an easy call.”
Fleming said the alignment between the two campaigns was obvious from the first conversation.
“Cynthia brings lived experience, sharp insight and an enormous amount of energy,” said Fleming. “She has spent decades in the non-profit sector, she knows what responsible spending actually looks like because she has had to practise it, and she wants the same Better Belleville I do. This is a natural fit.”
Both campaigns identified the same core ground:
• Respect for every dollar, and the expectation that public spending can explain the impact it is meant to achieve
• Transparent and accountable governance, in plain language residents can understand
• Collaboration and partnership as the way decisions get made, not an afterthought
• Listening to residents first, and staying visible and reachable throughout the Mayor’s time in office
Fleming said Black’s platform will become a key ingredient to the public report his campaign has committed to publishing before online voting opens on October 16.
“I said I would publish what I heard. Cynthia has shared her platform built on years of frontline and leadership roles, and it goes into that report alongside everything residents tell us between now and October,” said Fleming. “That is how this is supposed to work. Good ideas do not have to come from the person whose name is on the sign.”
“Good ideas don’t have to come from the person whose name is on the sign.”
Both said the significance goes beyond the campaign.
“This is what Together means,” said Fleming. “Two people who were running against each other looked at what they had in common and decided to work together instead to make this City better. That is the same instinct I want operating at City Hall. Belleville does better when the people trying to improve it are pulling in the same direction.”
Black will join Fleming at community events and in neighbourhood conversations across Belleville and Thurlow through to election day.
Residents can reach the campaign directly. ‘Call Paul’ at 343-296-PAUL (7285) or send emails to callpaul@paulfleming.ca. Belleville residents can vote online beginning October 16. Election day is Monday, October 26.
