The city council campaign of a Saskatoon baptist pastor might surprise you if you presume he’s bringing a message of love, forgiveness and compassion.
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If you heard a Christian pastor was running for Saskatoon city council with a homeless shelter as his main issue, you might expect a campaign preaching love, forgiveness and compassion.
So the campaign of Robert Pearce, who is running to represent Ward 3 in November’s election, will probably surprise you.
Pearce serves as the pastor of Fairmont Baptist Church, which is located close to the provincial emergency shelter run by the Saskatoon Tribal Council adjacent to the Fairhaven neighbourhood.
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Pearce wrote to the provincial government earlier this year urging the province to close the shelter, which is run in a former church purchased by the Saskatchewan Party government.
That seems a strange goal for a man described on his church’s website as someone who has “a heart for the disenfranchised and discarded in our society.”
Pearce’s opposition to the shelter appears to be legitimate; he believes, as do others, including departing Ward 3 Coun. David Kirton, that the 106-bed facility is too large and has created public safety issues in Fairhaven.
Pearce has concluded that homeless shelters need to be located outside residential neighbourhoods. He may be right, but city hall seems an odd place to address those concerns.
The province pays the tribal council, which contributed $3,180 to the governing Saskatchewan Party in 2022, to run its wellness centre, and the province bought and owns the building where it’s located.
City zoning allows the facility to operate in a residential neighbourhood, so presumably Pearce wants to try to change that.
But, barring a seismic shift in direction by the province, closing the Fairhaven shelter would mean dumping 106 people out on the street and denying treatment and recovery opportunities for perhaps hundreds of others.
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The chances seem very slim that five other council members will vote to do that while the city experiences a crisis of homelessness and addiction. It’s unthinkable and unconscionable.
Yet that perhaps should not surprise, given some of Pearce’s social media posts.
In January, his Facebook account replied to a post from the shadowy group A Better YXE, which has since been revealed to be connected to former Saskatchewan Party operatives, by suggesting an audit of city operations “to determine if incompetence or corruption is at play.”
Those are some pretty serious allegations to be slinging. Who would have thought a Christian pastor would be contributing to the toxicity of social media?
I must have missed the passage in the Bible where Christ counsels his followers to launch vicious public attacks. Notably, the “Statement of Faith” of Pearce’s church says Satan “is the present ruler of this world.”
Plus, if you don’t like the politicians and bureaucrats at city hall, adding to the noxious political atmosphere is unlikely to attract better people. It will repel them.
And audits are already conducted periodically, such as one a couple of years ago on Saskatoon Transit maintenance issues.
Pearce’s account also advocates in a related post for an “entire new council,” which bodes very poorly for his ability to work in a co-operative, productive way with others.
Pearce has appeared before council, where he’s asserted that police statistics fail to capture reality, even though they show an increase in crime since the shelter opened. He also said he’s called 911 so many times that the operator recognized his voice.
In a July post on X (formerly Twitter), Pearce’s account said the person who killed homicide victim Harvey Zoerb in a Fairhaven park in June is “likely an addict that is volatile and violent.”
Police have yet to make an arrest in the case, or even make public how Zoerb died. But why let that interfere with a sensational narrative?
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Unlike many city council candidates who pledge to commit full-time to the role, Pearce’s profile posted recently on Facebook about why councillor positions should remain part-time to accommodate candidates like himself.
That’s ridiculous. Saskatoon’s population surpasses 300,000 people, and city hall represents a billion-dollar-plus corporation. That necessitates full-time attention from decision makers like councillors, who are paid $73,314 a year.
Kirton quit his job as a radio host to devote his efforts to city council, and so should every single person elected to council.
Meanwhile, residents in Ward 3 should pray for a better candidate.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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