Sudbury mayoral candidates vow to woo private sector voters

Some of the leading candidates in Sudbury's mayoral race are trying to convince voters their approach is friendliest to the private sector.

Brian Bigger is known as a bean counter from his time as auditor general at the city, but he comes from a corporate background, working for Sears Canada.

Concern for the private sector is at the centre of his pledge to freeze property taxes for one year.

"Businesses are telling us that they can't grow,” he said. “Our economy is not growing."

City councillor Ron Dupuis is also pointing to his long history of running small businesses during his campaign to be the next mayor.

Like Bigger, he wants to make it cheaper to do business in Greater Sudbury.

"We have exorbitant development charges and off-site costs for developers."

Dupuis wants to bring CEOs and corporate presidents to town for “meet-and-greets” with Sudbury business-people.

"We really need to attract new companies and new businesses to Sudbury,” he said.

“I really feel that we need to be more aggressive."

As mayor, Dupuis said he would also create a "power team" of community and business leaders to help convince companies to move operations to Greater Sudbury.

Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Dan Melanson's resume highlights his time running helicopter companies.

And another candidate, former mayor and lifelong public servant John Rodriguez, is quick to point out the rosy relationship he had with the private sector when he was in office.