Candidate for Barrie’s mayor chair wants to give blue-collar community a voice

By Bob Bruton, Barrie Examiner 

Gillespie-Rogers wants to trade his spade for the Barrie mayor’s chair next October.

The 19-year-old trades worker filed his nomination papers last week to challenge incumbent Jeff Lehman and political newcomer Ram Faerber in the race to become the next mayor.

“I stand for, and want to give a voice, to the blue-collar working community,” Gillespie-Rogers said. “That’s what I work in. And I feel that we do not have as much of a voice as we should.”

He will have lived in Barrie for a decade this summer; in the winter, he works in snow removal, and in the warmer weather, in landscape design and construction.

Gillespie-Rogers has no experience in politics, yet, but says he’s receiving training to be a politician – declining to say who is training him without permission to reveal names. And he has no affiliation with any political party.

He has attended some Barrie city council meetings, however.

“I love immersing myself in it and find it extremely interesting,” Gillespie-Rogers said.

When asked why he’s running for mayor without a stint on any city committee, or campaigning for ward councillor, he says it’s the platform.

“I feel like I can make the most difference and have my voice heard the best from running for mayor,” Gillespie-Rogers said. “I feel like it’s more of a public office and people can really identify with that, and identify with my points. It’s a better way for me to get my points across, I believe.”

His campaign platform has two main prongs. One is giving a voice to the blue-collar community. He says with minimum wage, blue-collar workers don’t have the time to immerse themselves in politics, or the opportunity to participate in democracy.

“My main goal is to bring a voice to the working community. . .a voice that’s not usually heard,” he said.

The second prong is involving more young people in politics; they don’t vote because they don’t feel part of the system.

“The reason we do not feel involved, that our vote counts, is we feel our opinion does not matter,” Gillespie-Rogers said. “The only reason for that. . .is that not enough of us are voting to make a difference.”

He hopes to set an example for other young people by running for mayor.

“We have to change the way young people look at politics and the lack of participation, on their part, it just has to change.”

Gillespie-Rogers said he welcomes people’s e-mails (candidatezach@gmail.com) and suggestions.

“I’m really hoping to bring a voice to people who don’t feel like they have a voice, both the working blue-collar community and young people,” he said. “It’s not what you can’t do, it’s what you can.”

Faerber, 54, filed his nomination papers last month and was the first candidate to challenge Lehman. Faerber owns and manages his own small Barrie business, Rams Miracle – which sells carpet and rugs, and does recycling.

Faerber says his agenda as mayor would be to reduce taxes, create jobs and affordable housing, just for starters.

He has lived in Barrie for 12 years, is married with four children and coaches minor baseball – but has no experience in politics.

Lehman, is finishing his first term as mayor after serving one term (2006-2010) as a Barrie councillor.

Nominations for the Oct. 27 municipal election opened Jan. 2 and close Sept. 12. For more information, go to barrie.ca.