LETTER: Campaign slogans vs. real-world leadership – BayToday.ca

To the Editor,
Candidate Johanne Brousseau’s election platform features inspiring slogans about municipal governance: "Leadership starts by listening," "Questions should be welcomed," and "Every voice matters." Voters can read these reassuring promises for themselves on her campaign website.
As a North Bay resident, I recently had the opportunity to test whether those platform promises reflect real-world action.
A campaign sign for Ms. Brousseau was recently placed on my private property at a high-visibility corner, without my knowledge or permission.
Unauthorized sign placements happen during election season. In the past, when another candidate mistakenly placed a sign on my property, a simple email produced a prompt apology and immediate removal. Expecting basic courtesy, I reached out to Ms. Brousseau directly.
Rather than simply demanding the sign’s removal, I used the moment to test her platform. In my email, I invited her to engage in a dialogue about a serious municipal issue at the very corner where her sign sat: nearly a decade of documented damage to our cedar hedge, a critical safety and privacy screen for my young child. I detailed how this file has escalated to active oversight by the Ontario Ombudsman, interventions by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario regarding withheld public records, and formal Professional Engineers of Ontario regulatory complaints against municipal engineering staff.
This was a genuine invitation for Ms. Brousseau to explain her stance on municipal accountability, demonstrate her leadership style, and show why she merited my vote.
Her response? Complete silence.
Unlike the previous candidate who apologized, I received no acknowledgement of my email, no apology for placing an unauthorized sign on private property, and no confirmation that it would be removed. Instead, under cover of darkness, someone from Ms. Brousseau’s campaign team quietly retrieved the sign from my lawn and vanished into the night. Is this the type of leadership North Bay deserves? Absolutely not.
This is not an isolated incident. During Ms. Brousseau’s term on council, when I challenged her on constituent oversight, her instinct was to pass the buck onto city staff rather than take ownership. When challenged on that decision, she messaged me privately to present an alternate version of events.
If a candidate’s immediate response to a documented constituent inquiry is stealth deflection and radio silence, voters ought to ask: what happens when she actually sits at the Council table? Following her unsuccessful mayoral bid in the last election, one would hope for a shift toward genuine responsiveness, yet her approach to resident concerns remains entirely unchanged.
North Bay taxpayers deserve leaders who practice what they print on glossy campaign signs. When candidate promises stop the moment a real issue is raised, "listening" is just a hollow campaign slogan.
Lance Belanger
North Bay, 
Editor's note: BayToday reached out to Ms. Brousseau to give her an opportunity to respond.
Unfortunately, one of my signs was placed on a property without the homeowner’s permission. This location was not in our campaign’s sign records.
The sign was removed promptly the following evening while my team and I were in the area.
Unfortunately, signs do get moved around during elections without permission. We respect homeowners’ wishes and regret the inconvenience.
Johanne Brousseau
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