iPolitics, a news website with tenuous ties to Mayor Alex Nuttall, wants the City of Barrie’s help in launching a community news outlet, including a print newsletter.
“We invite you to support bringing the Barrie Compass to your city, where we can work together to keep your residents well informed and engaged,” says a May 29 memo on city council’s circulation list. “We are seeking the city’s assistance in launching an inclusive community news outlet that will strive to connect residents across (Barrie) and keep them informed.”
iPolitics publisher Laura Pennell’s name is on the bottom of the memo.
On Thursday, Nuttall said this stems from concerns raised by the city’s seniors and the accessibility advisory committee.
“Due to the absence of a print newspaper in Barrie, residents have reported a communication gap between the city and its citizens,” he said. “With a significant portion of Barrie’s aging population preferring print media over digital sources, there was an identifying need for accessible and tangible information.
“Going forward, council will not be involved in any negotiations with iPolitics,” Nuttall added. “Instead, city staff will provide content to iPolitics as an advertising tool to promote city news, program updates and initiatives, aiming to address the shortage of local print media in our community.”
The mayor said the city will be procuring paid advertising, similar to advertising done in other news outlets throughout the community dating back to 2017, such as BarrieToday and the Barrie Advance.
The City of Barrie’s This Week in Barrie portal ran on BarrieToday from Oct. 18, 2023 until Jan. 24, 2024.
This is not, however, the first time iPolitics has been involved in Barrie politics.
In January, a poll by Mainstreet Research indicated 73 per cent of Barrie-area residents support the city having sufficient land supply to attract new investments by major industry, while 77 per cent supported allowing local manufacturers to expand locally, rather than move elsewhere.
The poll was commissioned by iPolitics, an Ottawa-based news outlet.
The city issued a news release with the headline, ‘New poll shows majority of Barrie-area residents support boundary expansion.’
This happened after Nuttall appeared before the province's standing committee on heritage, infrastructure and cultural policy, regarding the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s study on regional governance, on Nov. 6, 2023, to make the case for Barrie’s boundary expansion for industrial development — plans for a combined 2,200 hectares in both Springwater and Oro-Medonte townships.
Barrie could provide for 20,000 industrial, manufacturing and warehousing jobs during the next 20 years if it could work out a deal to use neighbouring land, Nuttall had said.
But by mid-November, after Nuttall also made presentations to both township councils, Springwater council voted unanimously to terminate discussions with Barrie about the city’s proposal for boundary adjustments and decided to send a letter to the ministry saying talks on the matter were finished. Meanwhile, Oro-Medonte council had said it was not comfortable with Barrie’s request for land.
Talks have since continued with provincial involvement, but there has been no resolution to the standoff.
Nuttall has ties to Brian Storseth, at one time the co-owner of iPolitics. Both are former Conservative MPs — Nuttall for Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte, from 2015 to 2019, and Storseth for Alberta’s Westlock-St. Paul riding, from 2006 to 2015.
Storseth’s wife, Amel, worked as an assistant to Nuttall while he was a member of Parliament.
Nuttall is co-founder of Providing Instruments for Excellence (PIE) Education, while Storseth is co-founder of Progress for Mental Health, which has ties to PIE, in the annual charitable distribution of full school backpacks to underprivileged youths, as recently as Aug. 11, 2023.
BarrieToday asked Nuttall if he has a conflict of interest with iPolitics.
“I have consulted with the integrity commissioner (Suzanne Craig) to ensure there were no issues associated with your questions,” he said. “She has confirmed that there are none.”
Storseth could not be reached for comment by BarrieToday, nor could it be confirmed he is still with iPolitics.
The city’s finance and responsible governance committee approved a motion Wednesday night that Access Barrie, the city’s communications arm, pursue a pilot project until June 2025 with iPolitics to include a This Week in Barrie advertisement in the Barrie Compass to promote city programs, services and initiatives. City staff would report back to the committee by May 2025, providing details on the pilot project.
Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson also said he’s heard, through the city’s seniors and accessibility advisory committee, that Barrie residents are having trouble knowing what’s going on in the city.
“So, we’re trying to find a way to have a print form that could be circulated on a need basis to see if we can reach more people and have them connected and engage with the city,” he said.
Councillors have been roundly criticized for the city’s communication to Barrie residents about plans for a synthetic turf, multi-purpose youth sports field, and parade ground for the Sea Cadets and Navy League, to be located east of Military Heritage Park along the waterfront.
A couple of hundred people rallied against the field plan, and the process that led to it, on Wednesday evening outside Barrie City Hall.
Council was also criticized for passing a direct motion May 17, 2023, on chronic homelessness and public safety measures, allowing little or no opportunity for public feedback on its controversial measures, which include restrictions on panhandling. Direct motions bypass the city’s committee process, taking matters straight to city council, and, in this case, with no notice.
Rebecca James-Reid, executive director of Access Barrie, said Wednesday her department would report back on the level of the pilot project’s success, and then council could decide to end it next June or continue it.
James-Reid said iPolitics is to have a weekly electronic newsletter, the Barrie Compass.
“Then, once a month, the newsletter would be printed and distributed at city facilities … grocery stores, that kind of thing, so people could pick them up within the community,” she said.
The city has $82,000 in its communications budget for This Week in Barrie, which could be used to pay for the newsletter.
“So, that money is still in our budget. We’re not proposing any additional money,” said James-Reid, who said Wednesday she does not know how much the newsletter would cost, what its advertising rates would be or the size of the printed publication.
