The mayoral race in Leamington is heating up.
The town's chamber of commerce hosted an all candidates debate Tuesday night with the three candidates running for the mayor's seat capping off the event.
Incumbent John Paterson is up against current Deputy Mayor Hilda MacDonald and Bruce Medcalf.
Paterson has been mayor for two terms, MacDonald has been on council for 12 years, four as deputy mayor, and Medcalf brings 28 years with the Canadian Armed Forces to the table.
The candidates tackled a number of issues including improvements to the uptown core and getting the pieces in place for further greenhouse growth.
Paterson says believes his track record speaks for itself.
"Over these years I've been able to develop the contacts in the provincial and federal levels that none of the other candidates have and if Leamington is going to advance it's my belief that you have to have those contacts. Otherwise, you're just spinning your wheels waiting for it to happen and it takes time."
MacDonald says it's time for change at the top.
"If I though that at the end of the four years we would be in a better position I would not have run, but I feel that, at the end of four years, the next four years we're going to need some change in order to get where we need to be."
She says running for the the mayor's seat is a natural progression.
"I have a good relationship with the residents. I think that, as council, we straddle between administration and the residents and sometimes we forget who the priority is to listen to and I will be listening to them."
Residents look on at an all candidates debate in Leamington September 25, 2018 (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
Medcalf says the current council has come up short.
"They're still talking about the same problems they had eight years ago. People, when I've been out doing my canvassing, they've been saying the same thing. It's easy to say it needs to get done, but getting it done is a total different entity. That's what I'm here for, to get it done."
On the contrary, Paterson says the town is moving in the right direction and he'd like to finish what he started.
"We've got our waterfront. We've got the industrial park to the north. We've got our greenhouse industry, the cannabis industry. It's all one giant puzzle and we can't just focus on one location to just keep that momentum going and make it happen. I'd hate to just see that all let go."
Medcalf says he'd like to see the town re-branded as the "Florida of Canada."
"Here we are sitting with the most southern point in Canada. We've got a couple nice extra months of weather. Bring the people in, develop our Florida-style communities for the retirees. That way we can expand our tax base without raising taxes."
Current councillor Larry Verbeke is running for deputy mayor against Dharmesh Patel.
There was 14 candidates vying for the five councillor seats.
The municipal election goes October 22.