Jim Lee, a 30-year veteran firefighter who served on the Oshawa city council for the last four years, is running to be the city’s new mayor.
In an exclusive interview with Juno News, Lee said his priorities will be restoring the city’s downtown, affordability, supporting the city’s homelessness strategy on drug recovery and rehabilitation over harm reduction, and supporting local police who target drug dealers.
Lee served as a firefighter for over thirty years in Toronto and spent eight years in Ottawa advocating to the federal government on firefighter issues.
He told Juno News that if he wins the mayoral race in Oshawa, he will work to restore safety in Oshawa’s downtown area, including Memorial Park, and support the police in dealing with drug crimes by pressuring the federal government to end catch-and-release policies.
“The main issue that I have is obviously homelessness. That seems to be the big issue, and rightfully so. The taxpayers in the city of Oshawa want Memorial Park back,” Lee said. “They want to be able to go into that park and feel safe. They want downtown back. They want to be able to go downtown and do their shopping and not be approached by homeless people in a number of different ways.”
