Elected Member of the AMO and OSUM Executives. MY PRIORITIES
Celebrating Our Successes and Moving Forward
Housing
Climate Change and the Environment
Arts, Culture and Recreation
Citizen Engagement
Celebrating Our Successes and Moving Forward
These past two years have been tough on all of us - we are frustrated with lockdowns and health mandates, with inflation, wage insecurity, supply chain is
sues. It seems like nothing is changing and nothing is getting done. People are angry, people are negative. I choose to remember what we have here… a jewel on Georgian Bay with 4-seasons’ worth of activities to take advantage of, thriving businesses - both large and small, great schools, and great services. We as a community have taken affirmative action against racism, and we recognize and embrace our diverse people and cultures. We are a growing community with a strong tax base, and a financial status that is the envy of hundreds of municipalities in Ontario. Let’s build on the positives, build on our incredible strengths and move forward with energy and optimism. Housing Affordability
Housing that is affordable for everyone needs to be a high priority for this coming term of Council. We cannot sustain our businesses or our employment base without it. Our new Official Plan will assist with a made-in-Collingwood road map to ensure that we are creating new opportunities for all different types and sizes of housing, for rent and for ownership. I want to be a leading member of a strong council that will think outside the box and use all the tools available to ensure we increase supply as quickly as possible - facilitating secondary suites, coach and laneway housing, using our Servicing Capacity Allocation Policy to incentivize developers to build a wider array of new housing. We must develop new financing and land banking schemes to create non-profit housing and tap into the federal and provincial money that is available now for the creation of affordable housing. Climate Change and the Environment
The COP 26 Resolution to achieve Net Zero by 2050 involves every level of government, starting with municipal. It is incumbent on all of us to make concrete changes in the way we live, eat, move, build and grow. Collingwood’s declaration of a climate crisis in 2019 must now be followed with an ambitious and achievable Climate Change Action Plan and a commitment to achieving Net Zero emissions in Collingwood by 2050. These targets will be achieved through a commitment to Active Transportation, to improved public transit services that people will actually use, and to protection of our natural heritage – our urban canopy, our creeks and wetlands. This is Nature’s infrastructure that absorbs carbon, that absorbs stormwater, and provides us with the green spaces we so value. Arts Culture and Recreation
Arts and Culture are one of the 5 pillars of the Community Based Strategic Plan. They are a crucial part of the fabric of our town and very important to our residents. At long last, we have completed the Collingwood Arts Centre Feasibility Study, paving the way to refining the scope and planning for the establishment of an Arts Centre. I want to work with our community to bring this project to fruition. Covid 19 got in the way of almost all of our most important projects, now it’s time to move forward. I want to see all of our most significant capital projects get done - The Terminals redevelopment, the Harbourview Park Waterplay Park, and material advancement, even completion of an All Arts Facility and a Multi-use recreational facility. We have the studies, we have the masterplans, we have reserve funds set aside - Council needs to work as a team and hold itself and staff accountable for real progress on these projects. Citizen Participation in Day-to-Day Governance
Our community is comprised of residents from all walks of life, with talent and energy to give, helping us to collectively achieve our goals. Many of our most significant projects could benefit from input and assistance from the hundreds of volunteers who call Collingwood home. Let’s reinstate citizen committees for every major portfolio - Recreation, Arts and Culture, Housing, Economic Development,
Transportation and Climate Change - with every committee chaired by a member of Council who becomes a specialist and an advocate around the table.
