Six candidates want your vote in Ward 5 byelection
On April 10, residents of Ward 5 will select a new councillor to replace Eric Smeaton who was unable to finish out his four-year term that ends in 2026. With six candidates in the running, including Mark Doble, Pat Dunn, Duncan Gallacher, Aananth Paraparan, Malcolm Quigley and Alex Steven, voters will have considerable choice on voting day.
The competitors for the empty seat agree on only the broadest of issues, like the need for new infrastructure for growth and better road maintenance, so voters will have to look deeper into the platforms and priorities of the multiple candidates on important issues like municipal reform, managing municipal growth, homelessness, affordable housing, community safety, and the recruiting of family doctors to Kawartha Lakes.
Municipal reform
Dunn and Gallacher both agree that the city needs to do things a different way than they currently do to improve services and reduce costs, and offer very different pathways to achieving these goals.
Dunn, a former long-time councillor and retired police officer, said the city should be “looking for the best possible return on taxpayer investments.” Dunn proposes bringing in an outside firm to review all city services, why the city provides these services, determine should the city continue providing those services and determine can the city find another way to deliver the service at a lower cost.
Gallacher, a master electrician working for Kawartha Dairy and a community volunteer, on the other hand, said more focus needs to be put on “improving the effectiveness and morale of the people who work for the city, many of whom are being poorly led.” Gallacher said “that many times bureaucracy will prevent smart people from doing their best.”
Municipal growth
Doble, Dunn, Gallacher, Quigley and Steven all recognize that as Lindsay grows, council will have a very important role to play in determining what that growth looks like and how quickly it will occur.
Doble wants to see council prioritize the “proper management of new capital projects recently approved by the city to ensure they are completed on budget.”
Dunn said he believes Lindsay could use another grocery store, and that council should be doing more to “encourage other retailers to come to Lindsay.”
He would also like to see the city “revisit the decision they made on David Drive and Richard Avenue,” which involved linking the streets with the Tribute South subdivision, a move opposed by most of the residents of those two streets.
Gallacher and Steven want to see council focusing on job creation in Lindsay. Both argue that for Lindsay to be healthy and prosperous, there needs to be well-paying jobs right here in the community.
More specifically, Gallacher said there should be a focus on revitalizing the manufacturing and industrial sector in Lindsay, and that can be done by looking at city policies that chase employers away rather than attract them.
Quigley is very concerned that “rapid growth will outpace our ability to service day to day needs of the community and that critical infrastructure will require a great deal of attention and investment to get us where we need to be and for the future.”
Homelessness and affordable housing
While there was a clear recognition by almost all the candidates including Steven, Doble, Gallacher and Quigley that homelessness and homeless encampments on public land in Ward 5 is a serious issue, their approach to solutions for these issues are varied.
Steven said the municipality needs to “develop a plan with the long-term goal of getting people off the street. We should be pursuing help from other levels of government to help municipalities develop facilities and shelter those who are in desperate need of safe and secure housing.”
Doble, a retired civil servant, author and musician, agrees calling the situation a “crisis” and suggesting that “all levels of government should be doing their fair share.”
Quigley, a retired OPP detachment commander and a community volunteer, says that the municipality “needs to identify solutions to aid individuals facing these circumstances.”
Gallacher is not only concerned about homelessness, but is also concerned over what he sees as “the unbalanced housing growth in Ward 5.”
Steven, a Fleming trained heavy equipment and crane operator, takes it one step further saying “it does not help our community to build houses no one can afford. I would like to see more initiatives to help first time home buyers to get into the local market. Another aspect of this concern is how expensive rent has become. I would like to encourage the building of apartment buildings instead of the current cookie cutter house rentals.”
Community safety
Dunn, Steven and Quigley spoke specifically to community safety. Dunn noted residents in Lindsay “feel unsafe because of the increase in minor crime.” He wondered if the police have the resources they need to deal with the problem.
Steven said the community needs to “deal with the drug issues on our streets. We need to develop a plan with the long-term goal of getting drugs out of our community.”
Quigley suggested that speeding on residential roads in Ward 5 needs to be seriously looked at.
Doctor shortage
Dunn was the only candidate to raise this issue, asking if the “city is doing enough to attract doctors to the area.”
Kawartha Lakes Weekly reached out to Aananth Paraparan but did not hear back in time before deadline.
It’s wonderful that we have 6 candidates who have gone through the candidate certification process and who have thought about what they would like to bring to the position of Ward 5 Councilor. Thank you to all for your interest in serving the community. It takes courage to put your name on the ballot, and it takes time away from your family to serve your community in this role.
There are some practicalities in being able to be an agent of change in Kawartha Lakes and to bring wonderful ideas to fruition. Councillors do not get magic wands, nor are they given a sharpie marker to sign their name on executive orders. They get a chair at the council table, 1 vote each, and they have to listen to each other for hours on end in meetings.
There are 8 wards represented by 8 councillors plus the Mayor. One councillor is elected per ward. The Mayor is elected City-wide.
Lindsay is represented by 2 councillors, Ward 5 and Ward 7.
If the residents/taxpayers of Lindsay all agree and want something changed, they have 2 of the necessary 5 votes needed to pass a decison at Council.
When that matter is the annual budget setting process, the strong mayor powers are invoked. If Lindsay residents/taxpayers really want something changed in the Mayor’s Budget, they have 2 of the needed 6 council votes needed to change the budget.
As a practical example, during budget deliberations several budget amendments were proposed by the Ward 3 councillor and all failed to get the required 2/3rds of council voting to amend the Mayor’s Budget. The Mayor’s proposed budget, which is effectively the Staff proposed budget, passed by default. Note that while the municpal act requires at 2/3rds super majority, when you have an 8 person council that means that you really need 3/4ths to vote the same way – a very diffcult hurdle to clear.
In summary, while we have hopes and aspirations that any of the Ward 5 candidates could bring their own skill and experince to bear and in fact make a difference which results in our community being better off, the practicalities are that even with the 2 councillors from Lindsay working together, they cannot get anything done at Council unless they have the help of 3 friendly councillors from another ward lending their support on the vote, or 4 if they want a budget amendment.
If you are a Councillor in Ward 5 and you want to move a change benefiting Lindsay, you first need to discuss it with your counterpart in Ward 7. You then need to work together to cut a deal with 3 other councillors for support. There are 6 other councillors to work with, and you need to get half of them on side and working with you on your concept motion. I say cut a deal because councillors trade support for each others initiatives. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
The ward system incentivizes a parochial approach. It limits and narrows the thinking of councillors to primarily their ward individually.
This carves the pot of resources up 8 ways, with fairness and equity of each receiving similar amounts being the driver of outcomes, rather than looking at whats best for the greater good in the entire City overall.
So as I look at which candidate I’ll be voting for, I’m not looking that close at what they think is broken or what they can do individually.
I’m looking at which candidate knows how to play the game. Which has the clarity of thought to organize what they want, the ability to then communicate it clearly and concisely, the ability to negotiate and influence, and to know how to compromise while getting really close. The ability to collaborate and partner with other councillors to give and get.
While formal decisions are only made at the council meetings, I’m certain there are many many calls between councillors to feel out positions on topics, to bargain and compromise before the formal council meeting. And if that is not happening, we are in even worse shape that we might realize. When a council is not negotiating between themselves ahead of the meeting, they will fall victim to allowing the municipal staff to write the reports in the way that staff prefer, and to leave council divided, and rubber stamping staff reccomendations because amendments or different decisions are impossible to reach.
The process for a decision at Council starts with a Staff report which usually includes a reccomendation to council and the text of the motion reccomended by staff. The process of developing reports to council is one of the reasons we have so many people in City Hall. Gathering data, writing reports, wordsmithing for the the right political tone, manipulating the report so that the staff prefferred outcome is the only logical outcome, and writing the alternatives that explain the dire consequences should council not choose the staff preferred outcome.
But wait, there’s more. When your municipal directors and department heads are operating with Expert Level skills in this game, they will have been proactive and strategic in achieving what they want as an outcome and will have crafted by-laws and policies which then constrain council to one or a limited number of choices in later decisions, much like chessmasters plotting the a course across the chessboard step by step, boxing you in to a limited number of moves later.
The budget process does not start in October, it starts every day with evey new by-law and every new policy passed by council.
One sentence in an inoccuous sounding bylaw passed today could turn into a policy requirement that justifies the needs for a new $1.4 million fire tanker truck, purchased every year, forever, resulting in the fire service in Kawartha Lakes having half the number of large fire trucks as the City of Toronto.
Caucuses are groups of politicians that regularly work together because they have similar interests, similar problems to solve or are of similar political persuasion. You could also call it a team.
Establishing an Urban Caucus comprised of the Councillors in Wards 2,3,5 and 7 could help those councillors in our urban areas of Lindsay North, Lindsay South, Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls focus on the things urban residents care about and are most impacted by. Managing growth, expansion of water and sewer infrastrucutre, crime, homelessness, more retails stores, more employment/industrial land, and street and sidewalk conditions, maintenance, new bridges, and urban policing, speeding through neighborhoods, and the seemingly higher incidence of violent crime proximate to housing authority buildings.
In summary, Ward 5 needs a councillor that is:
A relationship builder. A team player. Emotionally mature. Approachable. A critical thinker. Well prepared, has read the agenda before the meeting and understands the material. And because money is critical, we need a councillor with financial accumen to evaluate the budget line by line, challenging the assuptions and estimates that drive it, not get caught up in fluff and pet projects, and focus on the return for taxpayers for their hard earned money paid as tax to the city.
Well I wish the present council had those qualities and not increased our taxes over 6%; with all the new homes that have been built in the last five to ten years and the taxes on these new homes, you would think you could maintain a reasonable increase of less than 3%. I also would like attention given to the horrendous amount we pay for water and sewer bills. I know contracting out to OCWA is extremely expensive and we are subsidizing their new trucks, training courses, hotel bills and meals for sending out all their employees. We should have our own people and assets to run these facilities which in the long run should cost less than OCWA is charging us. When you look at Durham Region water bills and ours, its twice as high! Be smarter, get work done for the taxes we pay and stop spending and wasting money on services that do not pay for themselves, such as empty new buses.
I’m in ward 5 and I do agree that there is a crisis with the homeless and harmful drugs and the selling of hash in Lindsay.William street north road needs to be repaired and you need to stop isolating residents and get go buses to different towns so that families can reunite and shop at different store locations and see the country of farmlands and jobs and seniors need to make and meet new people and socialize and recreation in all seasons. I moved here in 2022 for rent geared to income which I’m grateful for since I’m 58 years old with low income and health conditions.
It isn’t hash that is the problem. They are meth addicts mainly. Real action needs to happen so my children can live in the lindsay I grew up in.
When one writes a detailed letter to one’s councillor how about a problem related to the municipality, one should receive a response of some sort. I encourage each candidate to consider very seriously whether he or she is prepared to invest time in what may seem to be an unimportant distraction like that but surely, an important part of your job is to support your constituents. We’ve heard from exactly one candidate and supporting constituents was not to mentioned. How can one vote intelligently having heard from only one?
I’m glad to see at least one candidate is still concerned about the sensitive topic of connecting that massive Tribute community of 1,000+ homes to the smaller David and Richard community built 75 years ago. It’s a pitty we have city councillors like Tracy Richardson who ignore the preservation of pre-existing communities and what residents have voiced their opinion on. Or even the simple supportive facts that connecting these communities have no impact to Tribute itself, EMS, facilities of hydro, cable, gas (except possibly water), snow plowing, garbage collection, etc as all described by their respective experts during past PAC meetings. Hopefully we get someone in place for the massive growing ward 5 that can find balance in “smart managing” the incoming population boom with pre-existing residents to create positive harmonization.