COST Endorsed Candidate
Candidate for Owen Sound City Council
I’m running for Council to bring a practical perspective, a willingness to ask questions and a focus on responsible decisions for Owen Sound.
My background includes management and operations, labour leadership, financial services and technical education. These experiences have taught me to listen, examine the facts, work through differences and look for better ways to solve problems.
Council should protect taxpayers, maintain essential services and make decisions openly. These are the priorities I would bring to the Council table.
I support a two-year municipal property tax freeze while Council conducts a serious review of spending, operations and possible efficiencies. Before asking residents to pay more, we should make sure we are getting good value from the taxes already collected.
Major expenditures should be justified, including their long-term operating, maintenance and debt costs. Essential infrastructure and services must also be considered responsibly.
Roads, sidewalks, snow clearing, water and transit are everyday services residents depend on. We need to maintain existing infrastructure and look for practical, cost-effective ways to deliver services.
I would support examining partnerships that make better use of existing resources, provided the numbers, safety and service needs make sense.
Owen Sound needs more housing choices. We should review unnecessary municipal barriers and delays that add time and cost to new housing, while ensuring growth is supported by roads, water, wastewater and other essential services.
The goal should be more housing opportunities without unfairly shifting the cost of growth onto existing taxpayers.
Residents and businesses deserve clean, welcoming and safe public spaces. Homelessness, addiction and mental-health challenges require cooperation among the City, County, police, health and social-service organizations, businesses and other levels of government.
We should respond with compassion while working toward a downtown where people want to live, visit, shop, work and invest.
Our waterfront, harbour, parks and trails are valuable community assets. Council should look for practical ways to make better use of them while protecting what makes Owen Sound special.
Partnerships with schools, community groups, businesses and volunteers can also create more affordable activities and positive opportunities for children and teenagers without automatically requiring expensive new facilities.
Residents deserve to be heard and to understand why important decisions are made. I will bring residents’ concerns to Council, ask questions and explain my position.
City staff provide valuable professional advice, but elected Council must make decisions and remain accountable to residents. When I don’t know the answer, I will ask questions, examine the evidence and listen to people with relevant knowledge.
City Hall should make it easier for residents to participate—not harder. I support practical changes that give people more opportunities to speak directly with their elected representatives.
These changes would help make City Hall more accessible, transparent and accountable.
I’m not running because I believe everything in Owen Sound is wrong. I’m running because I believe we can do some things differently. When an approach isn’t working, we should question it, look at the facts and consider better options.
Together, we can work toward an Owen Sound that is affordable and welcoming, with
accountable
local government and a strong quality of life for the people who live,
work and raise their families here.
LISTEN QUESTION WORK TOGETHER.