Barrie Votes 2026: Four Candidates Compete for the Mayor’s Chair

The Canadianist | North of the City

Barrie voters will choose between four candidates for mayor on October 26, with incumbent Alex Nuttall seeking a second term against Tanya Saari, Kay Sayer and Russell Tighe.

The candidate list was certified by the city clerk on August 24. Voting begins online and by telephone at 10 a.m. on October 16 and closes at 8 p.m. on election day, October 26.

The race comes four years after one of Barrie’s closest mayoral elections in recent history. Nuttall won the mayor’s chair in 2022 with 13,401 votes, just 777 ahead of former councillor Barry Ward, who received 12,624. Only 30.45 per cent of eligible voters participated.

Alex Nuttall

Nuttall enters the campaign with the advantage and baggage that come with incumbency.

Before becoming mayor in 2022, he served on Barrie city council representing Ward 10 from 2006 to 2014 and as Conservative MP for Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte from 2015 to 2019.

His re-election campaign is built largely around his record at City Hall. Barrie has held the city operating budget to a zero-per-cent increase for four consecutive years, although residents have still faced increases associated with infrastructure and other portions of the property-tax bill. The 2026 budget includes major investments in roads, recreation, the waterfront performing arts centre and other infrastructure.

Nuttall has also made homelessness, addiction and public safety central to his time as mayor. He declared a state of emergency over homelessness and addiction in September 2025 and has pursued stronger enforcement against illegal drug use and other activity in public spaces while pointing to investments in affordable housing.

His campaign is also looking beyond Toronto as Barrie grows, with Nuttall arguing that the city needs a stronger employment base of its own and additional industrial capacity.

Tanya Saari

Tanya Saari is likely the most politically experienced challenger in the race.

A Barrie resident of 21 years, Saari has worked in banking, business, real estate, affordable housing and community development. She previously sought a Barrie council seat and was the Liberal candidate in Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte in the 2021 federal election, receiving 16,145 votes and finishing second to Conservative Doug Shipley.

Her mayoral campaign is centred on affordability, transparency, public safety, growth and municipal services.

Saari argues that residents need a clearer accounting of taxes, fees, debt, reserves and future costs. She has also criticized the use of strong-mayor powers and argues that major decisions should involve council and the public more directly.

On homelessness and public safety, Saari is presenting herself as an alternative to Nuttall’s approach, calling for supportive housing and prevention while maintaining that public spaces also need to be safe. On growth, she argues new housing needs to be accompanied by roads, transit, parks and municipal services.

Kay Sayer

Kay Sayer entered the race in August and brings a very different background to the ballot.

Sayer, 48, had lived in Barrie only since late May when she registered as a candidate. She has spoken publicly about experiencing homelessness herself and says homelessness, drug use, government transparency and individual rights are among the issues motivating her campaign.

Sayer has argued that Ontario municipalities need to work together to pressure the provincial government for stronger action on homelessness and drug addiction. She has described her candidacy partly as an effort to force issues into the public discussion regardless of whether she wins the mayor’s chair.

Russell Tighe

Russell Tighe, 53, is a Barrie native and hospitality business operator who describes his background as operational rather than political.

Tighe has identified affordable housing and poverty as major concerns and has made homelessness a central part of his campaign. His platform argues that Barrie should finish measures contained in its existing Affordable Housing Strategy and improve the transition between treatment, recovery and stable housing.

His campaign also emphasizes economic stability and municipal accountability. Tighe has acknowledged the current council’s financial accomplishments while arguing that a strong municipal balance sheet hasn’t resolved the social problems facing the city.

The Issue: Affordability, Homelessness and Public Safety

Barrie’s election isn’t developing around a single isolated problem.

The city’s own public-opinion research conducted for the 2026 budget found cost of living was the issue most frequently identified by residents, at 21 per cent. Encampments and homelessness followed at 19 per cent, with community safety, policing and crime at 18 per cent. Housing was cited by another nine per cent and addictions, drugs and opioids by eight per cent.

Those issues increasingly intersect in Barrie.

The city remained under a homelessness state of emergency this summer. Barrie reported 705 people experiencing homelessness as of August, while the broader County of Simcoe counted 1,080 people experiencing homelessness in its October 2024 Point-in-Time count, compared with 722 in 2022. The county cautions that some of that increase reflects improved counting.

Barrie is simultaneously under pressure to grow.

Housing construction, roads, transit and other infrastructure are competing for attention with immediate concerns about affordability and conditions downtown. The 2026 city budget includes $41 million annually for transportation and construction projects and $19.8 million for drainage and sewer projects, along with major recreation and cultural investments.

That leaves voters with competing questions about where the next council should put its attention and money.

Nuttall is asking voters to judge the direction taken during his first term and allow him to continue it. Saari is challenging both the substance and style of that administration. Tighe is arguing that Barrie’s financial successes haven’t adequately addressed housing, poverty and homelessness. Sayer is using her own experience to push homelessness, addiction and government accountability onto the agenda.

A Different Barrie Than Four Years Ago

The 2026 election is taking place in a city that has physically changed.

Approximately 1,673 hectares formerly belonging to Springwater and Oro-Medonte became part of Barrie on January 1, 2026, while the city has also redrawn its ward boundaries for this election. Growth and the infrastructure required to accommodate it will therefore follow whoever wins into the next term.

Barrie’s mayor also holds powers the office didn’t have at the beginning of the previous municipal term. Ontario extended strong-mayor powers to Barrie in July 2023, including additional authority over budgets and certain provincial priorities.

The person elected on October 26 will consequently inherit a more powerful mayor’s office, a larger city and some significant decisions about how Barrie manages its next stage of growth.

Election Day

Barrie residents can begin voting by internet or telephone at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 16.

Voting closes at 8 p.m. on Monday, October 26, 2026.

Voters will elect the mayor, councillors in each of Barrie’s 10 wards and school board trustees. In-person Voter Assistance Centres will also operate on October 22, 23, 24 and 26 for residents requiring assistance.