Barry Ward

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@TheDHTaylor Probably won't make you feel any better but when I owned a bookstore, we had a fairly well-known cookbook author in for a signing and NO ONE showed up. On the plus side, she brought a huge dessert that she had made which we got to enjoy exclusively.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@altersgame John Boccabella, just because I loved the way the Expos announcer dragged out him name. Jooooooon........Baaaaakwa......bella!

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@Andrea_Khanjin Congratulations on the new post, Andrea. I wish you all the best!

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@ThatEricAlper Some Velvet Morning

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@nut_history Dennis Ribant. How he ever got his name on a glove is a mystery.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@Havenlust Twitter answered!

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@msbutler21 Probably no shortage of suspects but I'm going with a bartender on Dunlop Street.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

Over the next four years, there are times I will and times I won't agree with Mayor Alex Nuttall. But I would be remiss in not acknowledging his extremely generous tribute to me at last night's Barrie Arts Awards. Thanks, Alex! It was a classy thing to do and much appreciated.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

Two photos, 22 years apart. Our sons at my 2000 inauguration and at my election night gathering. Time flies.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@BarrieVoter @csimonwrite @AlexNuttallMP @annmariekungl @ClareRiepma @RT4Ward5 @Sergio4Barrie He lives in Barrie. I knocked on his door during the campaign and talked to both Craig and his wife.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday Ok, I'll answer because you've lobbed a softball. As I mentioned earlier, dealing with people's mental health issues frees police up to do the jobs people want them to do: investigating assaults, break-ins, dangerous drug dealing, patrolling the downtown.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday Well, I'm afraid you haven't read any of the previous responses so I see no sense in continuing.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday You are fixated on the word "defund." I'd prefer prevention. So, yes, I prefer preventing people from needing to call an ambulance, needing to go to the hospital or going to jail.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday Too easy! Both.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday Police may have to attend mental health calls the first time. Maybe the second. Why would anyone prefer they keep responding a third, fourth and fifth time, rather than finding the caller the help they need?

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday It was an analogy. Here are more. Keeping people healthy is cheaper than treating people in hospital. Stopping crime is cheaper than putting people in jail.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday A few years ago, Simcoe County paramedics found themselves answering many calls from a small handful of people, calling about non-emergencies. Rather than simply add paramedics to meet the demand, they created a team to work with those callers to reduce the number of calls.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday If police are short-staffed because they are spending a lot of time answering mental health-based calls, it makes more sense to direct money to social workers to reduce those calls, rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars adding new police officers.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@SafeBarrieSt @BarrieToday I have spoken about it many times. We must work on preventing crime and have someone other than police deal with many of the calls they now answer so that police can focus on things that matter to residents: assaults, traffic, break-ins, dangerous drugs. Police actually agree.

[Barry Ward @Barry4Barrie4]

@EngageBarrie @cityofbarrie Just so people know, the voters list is put together by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. City staff are as frustrated as anyone by the errors.