Joel Rowswell for Mayor
We have a challenger to Matthew Shoemaker, Joel Rowswell is officially running to be the next Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, launching a campaign focused on a simple promise: a safer Sault and a stronger future.
A lifelong Sault Ste Marie resident, CPA, business leader, community volunteer and former youth hockey coach, Rowswell is entering the race with decades of experience across some of the organizations and industries that have shaped the city, including Algoma Steel, OLG, and SalDan construction. He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council; Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services; and Benbowopka Treatment Centre providing financial leadership to organizations serving Indigenous communities, health care, addiction treatment, recovery services and community well-being across the North Shore.
“This city shaped my family, my career and my idea of service,” said Rowswell. “I’m running because I believe Sault Ste. Marie can be safer, stronger and more confident about its future, but getting there requires clear priorities, practical leadership and a willingness to stay with the difficult problems until we get results.”
Rowswell’s campaign will focus on five priorities: safer streets and stronger neighbourhoods; fixing roads and core city services; growing the local economy; creating housing for every stage of life; and building a City Hall that earns the public’s trust.
His approach is rooted in accountability.
“When something is City Hall’s responsibility, I will expect City Hall to act,” Rowswell said. “When Queen’s Park or Ottawa holds the authority or the funding, I’ll make the calls, request the meetings and show up in person. I won’t pass the buck. Sault Ste. Marie deserves a mayor who keeps pushing until we get an answer.”
Rowswell is also committing to bring greater transparency to how priorities are established and how progress is measured. His proposed first 100 days would include establishing clear baselines, publishing road and community-safety priorities, identifying funding-ready infrastructure projects and introducing regular public reporting so residents can see what was promised, what has been delivered and what comes next.
A record of leadership rooted in the Sault
His community service has included nearly a decade with the YMCA, youth hockey coaching, municipal planning work, construction-sector leadership and local charitable initiatives.
Rowswell says those experiences have reinforced a straightforward philosophy of leadership: listen carefully, tell people the truth, set priorities, take responsibility and deliver.
“I watched my father, the late Mayor John Rowswell, serve this community, and what stayed with me wasn’t the title,” Rowswell said. “It was the expectation that you listen, return the call and stay with a problem until every reasonable option has been exhausted. That is the kind of mayor I intend to be.”
Rowswell said the campaign will be built around conversations with residents in every part of Sault Ste. Marie.
“This election should be about what kind of city we want to become and whether we are prepared to do the work to get there,” he said. “I believe in this city. I believe in the people who live here. And I’m ready to get to work.”
A safer Sault. A stronger future.
705-971-1397
Sounds great! You sound like a people person!