Arthur Watson is running to become councillor at large this municipal election. (Photo: Submitted)
Residents of the city might recognize the new independent candidate from his previous campaign as a councillor at large.
Arthur Watson said he shares views and values with many of the parties, but he felt the harbour riding would be more accepting of an independent candidate, someone they could relate to.
He ran for the municipal election as a councillor at large but when that was postponed in March. he decided the provincial seat would be a feasible idea.
“I think the biggest issue is COVID, obviously, and the safety precautions around that, employment and income inequality as far as helping those navigate themselves through this crisis and have enough money to support themselves,” he said.
Watson said we don’t even know what the world will look like in a few months.
His solutions and plans if he’s elected is to help alleviate stresses by working with the federal government to come up with a basic income and a living wage.
“To work with the federal government to come up with some sort of basic income minimum wage, also a living wage may be another option to look at, these are things that I’ll definitely be looking at,” he said.
Watson said tax reform is definitely needed and on his top priorities.
He said when you look at the disparities between Saint John and other communities and residential versus commercial, it’s been on the agenda for some time now and fair taxation is one of the first things he wants to work on.
Regarding healthcare, given the circumstances, Watson feels Bill 11 was flawed because it goes against fundamental rights and freedoms in the democracy and that’s why the bill failed. He also feels the addition of staff would be helpful for front line workers.
He also feels running a deficit because of healthcare would make sense over a certain amount of time because we don’t know what the landscape will look like in a few years.
“As far as clinics go, and private clinics, I think we need to be very cautious in where we spend the money and right now the hospitals offer those procedures and I think we should keep them there at the moment and maybe look at other options post-COVID,” he said.
Watson said there will be an issue in the future with how running a deficit will impact younger and older generations, but there has to be a balance.
He said he plans on working with other colleagues in the legislature and looking at the research to address those needed tax reforms especially in regards to commercial taxes versus residential taxes.
Watson said he supports an inquiry into systemic racism because it plagues our community and province for generations. He said he does sometimes worry there are outside influences pressuring the Black Lives Matter Movement.
“We need to have some type of reconciliation, we need to develop programs for unification so that we can help these minority communities grow,” he said.
