1) Why are you running?
I am running because Arran-Elderslie has so much potential and I want to help realize this to grow our community. We have so much to offer, our community demographics are changing and it’s important everyone feel they have a voice and are represented. I am a community builder and inclusive leader, and want to work for everyone, no matter where you live in the municipality. I want to build on the strengths of our community to make it an even better place for those who live here, and in turn, help attract businesses and visitors.
2) Are there any steps municipalities can take to help ease cost of living concerns?
Being judicious with how we spend tax dollars and ensuring we provide value for those dollars and are keeping services local for residents is important. We also need to focus on housing, as this is the greatest burden for many households. Council agreed to form an Affordable Housing Task Force in spring 2021 but there has been no further action on this. We need to get this going and start exploring ways to increase available housing in the municipality.
3) What are your ideas for economic development in your municipality?
First off, we need to fill the staff position that has been vacant since February. Then, we need to get our Community Improvement Plans updated and identify the priority areas for focus. What is the community’s vision for the downtowns? What sort of businesses do we want to attract? Where will they locate? Where do we want to build new housing? Arran-Elderslie’s population growth has lagged the rest of the County, and we need to be more proactive in not only attracting people to the community but planning where they will go. I’d love to see place-based work done with residents in and around Chesley, Tara and Allenford to answer some of these questions. Revitalizing our downtowns, especially in Chesley, is so important to retaining and attracting businesses and workers, not to mention maintaining pride in our community.
4) Do you think the municipality has a role to play in the recruitment and retention of physicians and other healthcare workers?
Yes, we do. In the long-term, our economic development efforts will translate into making our community a place workers want to live, but we also need to act now. We are in a crisis with our hospitals. We need to work with our neighbouring municipalities and pressure the province and South Bruce Grey Health Centre Board of Directors to act immediately. We have evidence our hospitals are facing imminent collapse and the SBGHC sites are struggling more than other rural multi-site hospitals. Why is this? We need to be asking some hard questions of the board and hold them accountable to their commitment to “Ensuring suitable resources are obtained and allocated appropriately and Ensuring the safety of patients, staff and visitors”. We may also need to start lobbying harder to the province and possibly to the federal government- our healthcare system is fundamental to Canadians and it cannot be allowed to collapse.
5) How do you think Arran-Elderslie can best position itself to attract both businesses and families to the municipality?
I think the best ways we can position ourselves to attract businesses and families to the municipality are:
1) Focus on our strengths – our friendly, welcoming people, our dedicated community organizations, our beautiful rivers & trails, our strong agriculture & food sector, and our unique, heritage downtowns. We have so much to offer here and need to support and partner with our community organizations to further enhance and market these assets.
2) Update our plans so we are ready for growth and able to support it with the proper infrastructure and services.