1) Why are you running?
I’m running to help this city turn things around. I want mine and other children to have a bright future here, with things such as good paying jobs, affordable housing, and a clean safe downtown. Also I felt there wasn’t much blue collar working class representation on council to make their concerns heard.
2) Are there any steps municipalities can take to ease cost of living concerns? If so, what measures would you support?
I believe there is something the city can do to relieve the cost of living but it’s not going to be easy. We really have to get a handle on our property taxes for starters. Being a retirement community those taxes are really hurting those on fixed incomes as well as folks with young families. We also need to tackle the affordable housing issue, people can’t keep choosing between rent and groceries, and those folks can’t help the city grow if they can’t afford families and houses. I’d support fully reinstating development charges with the exception of purpose built geared to income/low income housing. We could use the revenue from development fees to invest in more housing.
3) What are your ideas for economic development in your municipality?
I’d like to see the city attract more food processing companies here. We live in an agricultural resource rich area and we should play to those strengths. Meat Packers, dairy processing, mills, fertilizer plants etc. The world’s hungry for Canadian food products, let’s work with our local producers to help feed the world. Also I’d like to attract more tech jobs here. Did you know 1/3 of all the world’s microchips are manufactured in Taiwan? With the political turmoil there I see opportunity and think Owen Sound could offer political stability and ease of access to the US market.
4) Do you think the municipality has a role to play in the recruitment and retention of physicians and other healthcare workers?
I firmly believe the city has a major part to play in attracting and retaining health professionals. They’re going to be loving here so it’s in our best interests to work with them and they’ll them integrate and feel welcome here. With our retirement community title we have a great demand here, so we better be working with all players and pursuing all options because the demands only going to increase.
5) What steps could municipalities take to help get more housing built that you support?
Steps I’d support to get more housing built would be development charge exemptions for non-profit housing, also freeing up surplus land to get housing built ASAP. But at the root, I believe the housing shortage is a financial problem. If folks aren’t making ends meet working the jobs we have here now maybe it’s time we go after higher paying jobs. If folks have more money they’ll actually start considering buying homes which will create the environment for developers to build more here to feed the demand.
6) Should the city do more to regulate short-term rentals, such as AirBNBs?
100% yes. Personally I’d ban them.