1) Why are you running?
I retired from the construction business last year, so I know I’ll have plenty of time to represent Grey Highlanders. This position will require 20 – 25 hours per week, and sometimes more.
To me, the most critical environmental problem facing us is the climate; yes, it’s a global crisis, but small municipalities can make a big difference here. For two years, I served on and chaired the Grey Highlands Climate Action Task Force to propose solutions to Council for carbon emissions reduction. I want Council to treat the climate danger like the emergency it has already said it is. The task force handed in its report in mid-2021; now it’s almost 2023!
I like working on infrastructure, budgeting and human resources, which I did for thirty years as a board member of housing co-ops in Toronto. I’m fascinated with how things are made, what they cost and why it takes so long to get things built. When I don’t know enough to fully understand something, I seek out knowledge wherever I can find it; in going door-to-door, I’ve seen the wealth of information that Grey Highlanders have to bring to the council table.
2) Are there any steps municipalities can take to help ease cost of living concerns?
One word: housing.
Other than inflation, which we don’t control, lack of housing is the major economic issue for those who don’t already own homes. A lot of people worry about where their children are going to live (those that wish to stay in or return to GH), and I worry about the gradual greying of Grey Highlands – the need for services will grow, and the people who will perform them will be driven from the area because it’s too expensive to live here.
We can’t develop our agricultural, manufacturing or tourism resources without places for the people who work at them to live. Governments need to get involved in backing housing projects that are developed by community organisations. This needn’t be a big expenditure; Council simply has to write a policy directing staff to fast-track these projects. The difficulties will be in defining “affordable”, and in untangling the zoning impediments. But it shouldn’t be too hard to, for example, waive or reduce development fees.
I think there is a deep well of co-op experience in this part of Ontario, especially with agricultural co-ops. I wonder if our housing problem couldn’t benefit from the co-op experience and history here.
3) What are your ideas for economic development in your municipality?
Council has to answer two high-level questions here: One, assuming that some growth is inevitable, what is a sustainable rate? By sustainable, I mean a rate of growth that we can handle without spoiling what makes this area special – its natural beauty and high quality of life and recreational opportunities.
Two, what is the role of Council in achieving said sustainable rate of growth? Currently, we tinker around the edges, by starting committees, and making small grants to small businesses to assist them with various things like storefront improvement and digital strategy. Of course, we also develop infrastructure for anticipated growth in the usual sense (eg. new water tower in Markdale) and some quality-of-life initiatives such as assisting the development of the new hospital and school in Markdale.
What we haven’t had to do until recently, is directly intervene in the housing market. Attainable housing at the low end is fast disappearing. That means there are few places to live for the people who are going to staff any new businesses or existing business growth.
The municipality has traditionally put obstacles in the way of developing attainable housing, and that must change. This is crucial for economic development.
4) Do you think the municipality has a role to play in the recruitment and retention of physicians and other healthcare workers?
Yes, but mostly indirectly. Yes, we should do outreach, advertising, housing assistance and even incentives, if absolutely necessary, but everyone else is doing those things too.
Our primary recruitment avenue, therefore, is to continue to be a great place to live and raise a family. So we have to be aware of the quality-of-life implications of everything we do. An example: a frequently given reason for rejecting larger industrial buildings on lands zoned for farming (such as what Southgate allows, and Grey County permits) is the wear and tear on our roads, with heavy truck traffic. But I would see this first as a quality of life issue. Physicians who are thinking of locating in Grey Highlands will do their homework – who will want to live here if our sideroads are clogged with semis servicing factories on our farmlands?
Senior medical personnel are also going to notice how we treat the people who do the service work in our hospitals, clinics and care facilities. This brings me back again, to the importance of the municipality assisting in the provision of attainable housing. We can’t attract workers if there is nowhere for them to live.
5) What would you like to see for land development in Grey Highlands?
I’d like to stop subdivisions popping up away from towns and villages. I’d like to see orderly land development within built-up areas that already have infrastructure. Our Official Plan already reflects this, but there’s a loophole on vast tracts of so-called “recreational” lands, such as the upper parcel of the Kimberley lands (that Grey Highlands owned until this year).
If you have read my other answers on this page, you might have guessed by now that I’m in favour of more attainable housing. I think we have to look seriously at requiring developers of large projects to either: include an affordable housing component, or provide funding for such housing in another location.
I am deeply concerned about creeping industrialization of lands zoned for agriculture, such as the recent proposal to triple the size of allowable “on-farm diversified uses” (OFDU’s) which is a fancy acronym for “factory on non-industrial land” (FONI). At what point do we just throw up our hands and declare the entire municipality an industrial park? What are the provisions for enforcing regulation of these industrial uses? I don’t believe the majority would ever want to move forward with this.
6) What would you like to see for community safety and well-being?
Since my wife and I moved to Flesherton nearly eight years ago, the front of a heritage building on Durham St. – a porch with concrete pillars – was demolished by an out-of-control car. This is not the only time a vehicle has taken out a piece of a house in Flesherton. The tragic incident this year in Eugenia has all of us thinking more about this issue.
Better sidewalks are needed; one of my neighbours asked for sidewalk repairs for the children walking to Flesherton’s two schools; Council’s response instead, was to close several sidewalks, and stop maintaining or plowing them.
The recent Recreation Master Plan has identified the need for a large indoor recreation space for non-ice sports such as indoor soccer, pickleball and a walking track for seniors. I support this.
The slogan for my campaign is: More Democracy for Better Decisions. The number one issue I’m hearing about on the doorstep is increasing traffic danger, but being elected to public office is just the beginning of engaging people, not the end. This has particular importance for health and safety, because no one knows more about dangerous traffic situations than the people who live through them every day.