Just two of five invited candidates hoping to represent Wards 3 and 4 on Brampton city council come Oct. 23 attended a debate hosted by the Brampton Board of Trade on Monday (Sept. 17).

The debate, focusing mostly on issues and concerns from Brampton’s business community, was hosted at the Garden Banquet Convention Centre and featured six debates: one for each of the city’s ward pairings and another for mayoral candidates.

The BBOT invited five candidates for each debate. Participants were chosen from the full slate of candidates in each riding based on a vote by BBOT members.

Ryan Rennie and Harpreet Hansra accepted the invitation for Wards 3 and 4 and took part in the debate. Incumbent Coun. Jeff Bowman and Nishi Sidhu both declined due to previous engagements. According to the BBOT, the fifth invited candidate, Omar Mansoury, accepted but did not ultimately attend.

Questions were submitted by BBOT members ahead of the debate and candidates were queried by a panel of three BBOT representatives, which included current chair Heather Strati.

The debate covered many topics, but infrastructure, higher education, jobs and past dysfunction on council were front and centre.

Rennie and Hansra were mostly in agreement on several files, but there were some notable areas where the two diverged.

When asked what they considered Brampton’s biggest challenge over the next four years, Rennie called for fiscal responsibility and controlling debt.

“We have to prioritize what we are spending our money on — that’s key. We need to make sure what we are spending and that it has a goal in the end,” said Rennie. “A triple-A rating is great, but it’s just like paying the minimum payment on your credit card. Debt is not good.”

“We can’t operate with debt; there has to be a surplus. We need shavings at city hall. Salaries are a huge portion of the budget which the property taxes go toward. Based on the performance of the last term, I can look at a number of roles that can be — not eliminated — but at least reduced or offered at pay-for-performance salary. That’s one way we can (realize) savings,” added Rennie.