Brian Bigger
| Brian Bigger | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Greater Sudbury, Ontario | |
| Assumed office December 1, 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Marianne Matichuk |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1958 Sudbury, Ontario |
| Occupation | accountant, auditor |
Brian Bigger is a Canadian politician, who was elected mayor of Greater Sudbury, Ontario in the city's 2014 municipal election.[1]
Background
Born and raised in Sudbury, Bigger attended high school at St. Charles College,[2] and studied marketing at Cambrian College and commerce at Laurentian University.[2] He is a Chartered Professional Accountant,[2] and worked as an accountant and auditor for Sears Canada and the Regional Municipality of Halton[3] until he was appointed to a three-year term as the city of Greater Sudbury's auditor general in 2009.[4]
As auditor general, he identified significant waste in the city's management of road maintenance, including scheduling inefficiencies and overbilling by outside contractors,[4] as well as uncovering an illegal practice of paid shift trading taking place among employees of Greater Sudbury Transit.[4]
In 2011, Greater Sudbury City Council held an in camera meeting about whether to renew Bigger's contract for a second three-year term;[5] during the meetings, they took the unusual step of deciding to hire an outside auditor to audit Bigger's office.[6] Bigger's contract was renewed, but several citizens of the city filed a complaint with the Ontario Ombudsman about the closed-door meetings.[6] Ombudsman André Marin investigated the matter, ultimately finding that council was within its right to hold a closed meeting as it was a personnel matter involving a city employee, but criticized many of the councillors in his final report for refusing to cooperate with his investigation.[6] As a result of Marin's report, city council voted to reject any oversight from the ombudsman's office.[6]
Politics
Bigger stated that by summer 2014, he was beginning to consider running for mayor to combat the obstruction he had faced in his role as auditor.[2] In August, he requested a leave of absence from his job as auditor to launch a campaign for mayor.[3] The request was granted.[3] However, council then faced a further controversy when, rather than hiring or contracting a temporary auditor general to continue audit operations during Bigger's leave of absence, it simply suspended the office and reassigned Bigger's assistant, senior auditor Vasu Balakrishnan, to the finance department.[7]
Bigger's campaign for mayor was based on a platform of openness, transparency and accountability.[8] His campaign promises included identifying budget savings in order to deliver a zero property tax increase in his first year as mayor,[8] reinstating the provincial ombudsman as the investigator of complaints about council activities,[8] and implementing new ethics guidelines for city councillors and staff modelled on the Vaughan Accord implemented by Vaughan mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua in 2011.[9]
On election day, Bigger garnered 46 per cent of the vote.[8]
References
- ↑ "Brian Bigger elected mayor of Greater Sudbury". CBC Sudbury, October 27, 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Mayoral profile: Bigger believes in value for money". Sudbury Star, October 24, 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Bigger granted leave to run for mayor of Sudbury". Sudbury Star, August 1, 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Auditors serve up savings". Windsor Star, March 4, 2011.
- ↑ "Councillors could have faced charges for not co-operating: Ombudsman". Northern Life, August 30, 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "City Issues: What Sudbury's Mayoral Race Means to the Rest of Ontario". The Agenda, October 17, 2014.
- ↑ "Ombudsman jabs Sudbury council over auditor general's office". Northern Life, August 13, 2014.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Bigger elected mayor in Greater Sudbury". Sudbury Star, October 27, 2014.
- ↑ "A Bigger Plan for City Hall". Northern Life, September 26, 2014.
| Sudbury |
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| Greater Sudbury |
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