Charlie McDonald puts hat in ring for mayor

Former deputy mayor says he will serve with 'common sense leadership' if elected mayor

Charlie McDonald, councillor for Ward 7 in Lindsay, has officially launched his bid to become mayor of Kawartha Lakes.

McDonald, 70, has served on council since 2022, including two years as deputy mayor. He is a lifelong resident of Lindsay and is well known as the former owner of The Grand Hotel and Grand Experience Restaurant for more than a decade.

In a sit-down interview with Kawartha Lakes Weekly, the former deputy mayor said he is not releasing a full platform or promises at this time while he builds his campaign team and listens to citizens’ concerns.

But one document that will inform his thinking will be the evidence-based Vital Signs report created by the Kawartha Community Foundation – a comprehensive, in-depth report on our community’s wellbeing. The project, a partnership between the Kawartha Community Foundation and the Kawartha Works Community Co-operative, offers a new local way to assess the community and its key characteristics. Similar standardized measures have already been used in more than 80 municipalities across Canada.

McDonald’s background is deeply rooted in the city, having grown up on an acre of land across from the old Victoria Manor. One of six children, McDonald spent most of his days working on area farms. That’s one of the reasons he believes he will be a good mayor “for the whole city” he says, since he understands rural issues, too.

“I always made decisions on council that I felt was for the good of Kawartha Lakes as a whole – that was important to me,” he says, as opposed to thinking only about his own ward.

As deputy mayor of the city for two years in a row, he said he was pleased to work with all councillors around the table

A former chair of the Lindsay Downtown BIA, McDonald was also a superintendent at GM for 36 years, and an auxiliary OPP officer in both Peterborough and Lindsay for a decade.

These are experiences, he says, that teach one “how to work with everyone.”

The former deputy mayor says his approach will be to bring “common sense leadership” if elected mayor, and he will ask questions much the same way as a household owner would – “what do we need and what do we want?”

During his time as deputy mayor, McDonald championed the municipality’s Short-Term Rental program, pushed for a renoviction bylaw to protect stable housing, and served as the budget committee chair.

In a prepared statement McDonald says he has gained “valuable experience, built strong working relationships, and developed a deeper understanding of…the challenges and opportunities” facing the city.

Ward 6 Coun. Ron Ashmore has also declared his candidacy for mayor, along with Matthew Flynn.