An alternate voice is emerging in the race to represent Somerset Ward on city council.
Robert Dekker is looking to unseat veteran councillor Diane Holmes and the two are very different. Holmes says she's an advocate of an exciting vibrant downtown and supports costly projects to make it that way such as the reconstruction of Preston and Bank Streets and funding for arts groups.
Dekker, on the otherhand, says he wants to focus on streamlining and improving the budget and spending process at city hall He is amply qualified as a longtime manager with Bell Canada.
Dekker says that the city's budget has been increasing at an alarming year-over-year pace that will soon be unsustainable.
To get the city under control he proposes that the city re-establish the Board of Control which would have oversight for both operations and capital expenses and create a single point of contact for council and the public.
Another financial reform that Dekker wold like to see is the elimination of convenience fees that residents are charged when they pay things like parking tickets using the internet.
He says that it doesn't make sense to charge for a service like that because theoretically automated paperless services should save money and if the one at the city doesn't save money it should be dispensed with.
To deal with Centretown's poverty and homelessness Dekker says the city needs to expand social housing in order to create the stability necessary to find a job and break the cycle of poverty.
He says the city can afford to do this because it will be saving $18 million on social spending when the province uploads many social services to provincial responsibility.