1) Why are you running?
I have been honoured to serve on council this past term and would like the opportunity to share my experience next term, if re-elected. Council must follow through on many of the initiatives and actions in progress, including decisions on the biodigester, the Recreation and Trails Master Plan initiatives, minimizing disruptions related to short-term rentals, and putting necessary steps into place that will come from the Master Servicing Study. I believe that some continuity on council is crucial in moving us forward. I also wish to make a difference by listening to residents’ concerns and needs, and taking their voices back to the council table. I am committed to resident advocacy and ensuring Georgian Bluffs remains a safe, healthy, affordable, and enjoyable place to live, work, and play.
2) Are there any steps municipalities can take to ease cost of living concerns? If so, what measures would you support?
Our municipality can help ease the high cost of living for our residents in several ways. In addressing the home affordability crisis, we can adjust our Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw to allow for smaller homes to be built. We can continue to approve the construction of secondary living suites to increase the number of rental units and multi-generational space available. Efficient spending of tax dollars will help ensure property taxes remain low in Georgian Bluffs. The municipality can also work to increase our commercial tax base by attracting new businesses to our township, which can in turn, would ease the residential tax rate. We could offer more assistance to our existing businesses to remain successful. Supporting our agricultural community and protecting prime farm land will help to ensure availability of healthy, local foods. Encouraging sustainable development will increase our tax base and help pay for growth. Our council should continue to lobby county council and upper levels of governments to effectively address concerns related to housing, food security, and transportation.
3) What are your ideas for economic development in your municipality?
Municipal councils should champion economic development activities. Council should have an economic development plan to ensure our municipality’s economy is vibrant and growing in a sustainable way. This plan should include initiatives that attract new businesses, retain existing businesses, and improve our visibility to tourists in a measured way. I would like to see Georgian Bluffs council be more proactive in helping to organize community events and festivals, and highlighting our natural, heritage, and cultural assets (e.g., parks, falls, trails) to visitors. Georgian Bluffs has much to offer our locals and visitors to our area. However in doing so, council should put measures in place to mitigate problems associated with increased tourism (e.g., parking, disruption to permanent residents, bylaw violations). Sustainable growth is the key.
4) Do you think the municipality has a role to play in the recruitment and retention of physicians and other healthcare workers?
Problems in healthcare are complex and mostly under the purview of the provincial government. Our municipality can advocate for increased medical student and residency spots locally. We can make efforts in recruitment and retention of all healthcare workers. However, unless we can offer meaningful incentives to nursing graduates, medical students, and residents in the family medicine residency program, we will be unable to attract them to our area. Systemic solutions are needed. Increasing the number of beds in healthcare, be it long-term care home or hospital, is not a panacea. We need healthcare workers to staff those facilities. Municipal councils should vigorously lobby the provincial government to take action in areas like ours that are under-serviced. There needs to be incentives for students to go into nursing and PSW programs, including competitive pay rates. Residency spots in family medicine continue to be under-filled; fewer medical students are choosing to become family physicians. Councils should delegate to the provincial government to offer incentives for medical students to choose family practice as a specialty. Until systemic disparities between family physicians and their counterparts in other specialties are addressed, we will continue to have a shortage of family physicians provincewide.
5) Should the township pursue more shared services with neighbouring municipalities?
Yes, absolutely. Municipal councils operate far too often in a vacuum, and to the detriment of the taxpayers. The ‘turf war’ and ‘win-lose’ mentality of many municipal councils only serves to waste time and money and to duplicate efforts. We are elected to be stewards of our municipal finances and to do our best for our residents. Sometimes that means better collaboration and cooperation with other municipal councils and with the county. We need to adopt more of a “give and take” approach for the betterment of our communities. There is much efficiency to be found if councils were more inclined to work in partnership with their neighbours in the efficient provision of services in many areas including: transportation, road maintenance, fire and police, garbage collection, bylaw enforcement, and administrative and professional services.
6) What issue do you believe is a top priority for Georgian Bluffs to tackle during the next term?
There are many issues and initiatives to be addressed in the next term of council, some of which I have outlined under Question #1. I would have to say that staffing has been the most challenging issue for our municipality over the past term. When staffing is an issue, the work of the municipality is stalled. Province-wide, there is a municipal staffing problem. There is a shortage of experienced, qualified municipal staff. At the same time, there is great demand for these staff across the province. The market is very competitive and that puts small municipalities at a distinct disadvantage. We have hired some talented staff over this past term and after a short period of time, many have moved on to other areas where the pay is greater or to be closer to their ‘home town’. Currently, we have made progress in attracting and retaining some competent, hard-working, qualified staff and we have more stability in senior management. However, we still need to fill some positions in order to advance the work of the municipality. We could also partner with the county and neighbouring municipalities to fulfil some of the work within those vacancies.
