The 11 candidates vying for the five council positions on Whitewater Region Township are: (in alphabetical order): Donald E. Broome, Donna Burns, John Felix Cull, incumbent Councillor Allen Dick, Charlene Jackson, Joe Kowalski, Dave Mackay, incumbent Councillor Daryl McLaughlin, Chris Olmstead, incumbent Councillor Cathy Regier and Howard Winters.
They each spoke for two minutes.
Then, it was time for questions from the audience for any of the candidates.
A new resident to Whitewater Region Township said he has lived in various areas of the province, including the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas. He said Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion “is a hell of a mayor” and gets the attention of the provincial premier every time she speaks. He noted she knows how to fight the province and insists “they stay out of her sandbox.”
“My question to you is what are you going to do to keep the provincial government out of our sandbox?”
“That’s sometimes hard to do,” said Mayor Jim Labow, adding, “We don’t want them completely out of our sandbox because we need their help and money.”
He noted provincial help is sometimes required, such as in the cleaning up of Muskrat Lake, which is something the municipality can’t do on its own.
“We don’t own the lake, we don’t have jurisdiction over it,” Mayor Labow said. “We can’t just sort of kick them out. We do have to work with them. What we have to do is trick them into thinking we don’t need them.”
Mayoral candidate Joey Trimm said recently a farmer applied for a grant to construct a new manure storage facility on his property and was turned down because Muskrat Lake is not on the list of badly polluted lakes, therefore a grant was not necessary. Astounded by this decision, council agreed to speak to the minister at the next conference to ensure that the concerns of Muskrat Lake are addressed and put on the list of lakes where farmers can get a grant when constructing fertilizer storage facilities.
Mayoral candidate Doug Shields said there are all kinds of regulations set out by the bureaucrats in Toronto.
“It’s time to push back,” he said. “It’s our property, so it is.”
He recalled recently when Bonnechere Valley Mayor Jennifer Murphy spoke out against the provincial government removing discussion on the Endangered Species Act from a conference municipal council members and staff were attending. Mayor Murphy spoke against having it removed, but was a lone voice, as no other reeve or mayor backed her up, he said.
“We have to speak up people,” he stated, repeating, “We have to speak up.”
Hal Johnson, who is also running for mayor, said it’s important rural councils do not turn down any chance to speak with the province.
“We would be better off to have them afraid of us, then us afraid of them,” he said. “We need to continually go to them, we need to lobby and lobby and lobby until we are the people that the money comes to.”
There are many grants that are not announced that this council needs to go after, he stated.
“They’re out there people, and we can get them, we just have to continually go after them,” Mr. Johnson said. “ And we will get them.”
The next question was also to the mayoral candidates. How do they feel that by abolishing the ward system it will benefit the individual communities?
“That’s a question that’s on everybody’s mind I’m sure,” Mr. Johnson said. “When we abolish the ward system, what we accomplished was we all got to vote for everybody in Whitewater Region. The way the system is set up with wards is you get to choose your candidate from your area, but you can’t vote for anybody else. So you just take what you get.”
By abolishing the ward system, each person who votes gets to vote on seven people they wish to have on council, he said.
Mr. Shields said council members are to work for every person in the municipality, not just in one ward. If elected mayor, that’s a goal he will make for himself.
Mr. Trimm said the people wanted the ward system abolished.
“That was the will of the people and we’re going to honour that and we’re going to make it work,” he said. “I think it has been working. I personally was doubtful. I personally thought perhaps in our situation with a large geographical area, but a small population, the ward system might be advantageous, but that’s not what the people decided, and so we’re working with the new system and we will make it work.”
Mayor Labow said the biggest benefit of no ward system is you get to choose on the entire council instead of just one person to represent your area. However, he admitted, in the 14 years since amalgamation, “each and every one on council has represented the entire township anyway. There hasn’t been favouritism very much in any one particular ward.”
Mayor Labow is hopeful that by abolishing the ward system, the municipality will truly become one.
A Cobden resident said he understands that soon there won’t be any drinking water in Cobden. “What are you going to do when we have no use of Cobden water? Where are we going to go then?”
Mr. Shields said Muskrat Lake, which is where Cobden’s drinking water comes from, has to be cleaned up. The process has begun and council just has to push harder to get it cleaned up quicker.
Mr. Trimm said he’s not sure where that information is coming from, but it’s incorrect.
“… some of the best water in Ontario is produced at the Cobden plant,” he said. “The water produced is some of the best in Ontario and that can be documented. There isn’t any problem with the drinking water in Cobden. There’s isn’t going to be any problem with the drinking water in Cobden. We have a brand new water plant there and we see absolutely no problem. The pollution in the water doesn’t affect the drinking of it because it can be cleaned up.”
Mayor Labow agreed with Mr. Trimm saying, “There’s nothing wrong with the water in Cobden that the water treatment plant does not help. I drink the water every time I go to council.”
Mr. Johnson said the real question being asked is there’s a problem with the water in Muskrat Lake, and what is being done about that. He recalled that in the United Kingdom, the Thames River was so polluted people could walk across it. They cleaned it up and that’s exactly what can be done to Muskrat Lake, he said.
“There isn’t anybody in the UK smarter than the people that we can call on in Whitewater Region,” he said. “So, if they can clean their river up, we can clean our lake up. We just have to start doing it.”
The next question was do you think the township should go to a central firehall rather than regional ones and if we did go central, where would we put it?
Councillor candidate Dave Mackay said he would need more information before making a decision on someone’s life or someone’s insurance increasing.
Councillor candidate John Felix Cull said he can speak from both sides of the coin. He noted there are fire departments within the township that do not respond to calls. Not because they don’t want to, but because they can’t, as the firefighters from that hall are most likely working out of the area.
However, there is the Highway 17 corridor on one side of Muskrat Lake that keeps the fire department busy and then three-quarters of the municipality live on the other side of the lake.
“Ultimately, you can’t have one station, it’s technically, economically and geographically not feasible,” he stated. “Two stations are feasible, maybe three. Can we afford five? No.”
The Ontario Fire Marshall’s office, through data, claims it takes $100,000 to operate a fire hall, Mr. Cull said. In this municipality, there is fire equipment that needs to be replaced and there is a lot of money tied up in infrastructure, trucks and equipment, which means there’s not enough money for training and personal equipment required for the safety of the firefighters, he added.
Councillor candidate Charlene Jackson said, “I think John Felix Cull said it very well. We have a large township, geographically, to put one firehall in the middle doesn’t serve anybody. I think at least two, if not three, but certainly five is too many.”
It’s not only the geographic location of the firehalls, but also the educational training for firefighters as well as the public, she said.
Another resident questioned the necessity of having to write a letter to get the bylaw officer to do his job.
Ms. Jackson said working for municipalities for more than 19 years, there are different bylaws and staff who respond to the complaints. Using property standards as an example, she said her opinion of what is acceptable could be quite different from someone else. If the letter is in writing the bylaw officer will respond. If the bylaw officer is told about something, or even another staff member is relaying a verbal message, it could be relayed differently, she said.
“I know it’s very frustrating, we do get that at every municipality I’ve worekd at, but it’s important for the staff and it’s important for council to respond to that letter of writing,” sher aid.
If people didn’t have to write it down, there could be so many verbal complaints, they would never all be answered, said Councillor Daryl McLaughlin, who is an incumbent.
“It’s easy to say my neighbour needs to clean up his yard,” he said. “Ask them to put it in writing and the answer is, I’m not going to sign that. If you really feel something needs to be done, then it needs to be in writing because we have to have some kind of track record to the complaint, so we can go ahead and look into it and deal with the problem.”
If bylaws are to be enforced, why is there a necessity for a letter,” asked moderator Cathy Williamson.
Mr. Johnson said while a letter is great, if a person were to call the town hall with their complaint, and give their name, that could start the process, or even an email would be acceptable. There should be a response within a reasonable amount of time as well, he added.
“It needs to happen quick, he said. “It doesn’t matter what the issue is, it could be someone’s dog eating your cat or someone’s cat eating somebody’s dog. Or it could be the fact that someone has left a potentially dangerous thing on the side of the road and it needs to be removed.
“We have all kinds of issues. I agree with you, it should be handled immediately with our staff and it should be done right.”
Mayor Labow noted there are many bylaws that are actually only enforced by a complaint.
“The bylaw officer has many other duties other than driving around looking for infractions that may be hidden behind a house or maybe whatever, but the key to the enforcement is that somebody needs to complain about it and bring it to his attention.”
Asking for clarification, Ms. Williamson said so if the bylaw officer is travelling around and sees something, would he then approach that person right away or wait until someone sees it and then respond to a complaint?
Mayor Labow said it depends on the nature of the infraction and how blatant it is.
“For instance, there are a lot of pools around the township that do not have the prescribed fence,” he said. “A lot of them are hidden in the back yard, so they’re not readily visible. But if something is blatant, he will act on it.”
Mr. Johnson said if the bylaw officer sees an infraction, the answer is, “He can absolutely respond.”
He believes there should be a communication system within the municipality that each email received by staff should also be received by every member of council so they are made aware of all concerns of the residents.
If the email is not answered within a reasonable amount of time, council will be aware of that and can find out why it has not been answered, he added.
A new resident to the area asked why there is no green bin system in the township.
Mr. Cull said most of the township is rural and residents have their own way of using the organic waste in their gardens.
“Why would we want to raise our taxes to pay for a green bin system and then you go down to Home Depot to buy fertilizer to put in your garden,” he questioned.
While he admits people who live in apartment units might find it difficult to get rid of organic waste, starting a green bin program for a small minority of the taxpayer would not be cost effective.
Julie Hennessy, who has been involved with the Cobden Recreation Association for 15 years, said Whitewater Region is fortunate to have three arenas. In the last five years, there has been much controversy over the repairs that need to be done to aging buildings with high upkeep and belong to the township. Will that be something the new council might want to look at?
“We are all very attached to our arenas,” she said. “It’ll be interesting to hear their answers.”
Mr. Johnson said there are good managers at the arenas with lots of community involvement, which is how they were all constructed as well.
“All three need to be in our community,” he said.
It’s important to advertise throughout the area, and not just Whitewater Region, that there are three arenas that can be utilized by private companies, he said.
“I believe we can make them thrive well,” he said.
Mr. Trimm said all three arenas are operating in the black, but that’s a credit to the volunteers, not council. However, council contributes about $99,0000 a year to the five recreation associations within the township.
He knows the Westmeath arena has a strategic plan, so it has a vision of where it wants to go. Now, it’s up to Beachburg and Cobden to get strategic plans done, and to help them, council put money into the budget for this purpose, Mr. Trimm said.
Mr. Shields said rinks are important to the communities and with growth and development, people will come to the area and they will be used more.
Mayor Labow said in order to keep the rinks operating, more volunteers are needed.
Ms. Jackson wanted to know if the recreation facilities were included in the township’s asset management plan.
When no one volunteered to answer the question, she said, “I don’t think they were. They are a part of the municipality, owned by Whitewater Region and run by a great volunteer base. I think we need to look at the asset management plans, add in all assets, so we get a true picture of the whole municipality, and not just roads, water and sewer.
“There are other assets in the municipality, buildings, fire department buildings, equipment, recreation facilities, ice making machines. We have to understand when is the end of life? And we have to start putting money aside for those. We can’t continuously expect volunteers to come up with funds to replace a roof, to replace large ticket items, like furnaces and ice making machines. They have to make sure that we are also prepared as a township to continue on with the recreation facilities that we have. We have three great rinks, they are getting old, getting dated, but being ignored, and it’s time not to ignore them any longer.”
Chris Olmstead said there’s a larger picture to be looked at.
“It’s more important to look at it from a sport and recreation standpoint,” he said. “There are many benefits to an active lifestyle, including mental health, physical health and confidence in our youth. So it’s very important that Whitewater looks at the region as a four-season playground, rather than just an arena.”
He suggested there be a sports, recreation and tourism department in the township.
“We have lots of facilities and resources, but very fragmented and really one region doesn’t work well with the other, including some of the benefits,” he said.
On another recreational issue, Mr. Olmstead said the rail lines are being ripped out and there is opportunity to create nature trails, walking, biking, hiking, skiing and snowmobiling trails.
“I think now is the time to turn the page and look at opportunities versus past issues,” he said.
Coun. McLaughlin said numbers have been going way down in minor hockey.
“We are proactive and we started, in Beachburg, a new program, and council donated funds to help support it and there are now 65 new children out there trying out hockey, seeing if they like it,” he said. “We need to get more people more interested into our arenas. There’s too much dead time as I call it.
“We have to be proactive in trying to get more children to come out and try hockey,” he added. “Hockey’s a great sport.”
Coun. McLaughlin said if there are new programs and funding is required, bring a request to council and they can look at it and decide if more funding should be given out.
Ms. Williamson questioned if the money in the Ottawa River Power Corporation fund is available only to people in Beachburg or to the whole municipality.
Mr. Johnson spoke about the history of the fund, which was to be used by the people who pay into it, which is those in Beachburg.
He said it’s unfortunate it has become one of the “hottest items in Whitewater Region. That has almost split Whitewater Region into pieces in the last four years.”
Mr. Johnson believes there should be a committee of people from Beachburg who decide what happens to the money in this fund.
This money has been used in other parts of the municipality and there was nary a word said, Mr. Johnson said. However, that has now changed, he said.
“It should be the people of Beachburg, whom it was designated for, that should have the right to control it and should have the right to have other places come to them and say we need money for our arena and they will most certainly put money towards that other arena,” Mr. Johnson said. “They would also like to spend it on new things in Beachburg and they have, such as a medical centre, and I’m very adamant about the fact that it’s a great blessing, but it has been used to bust our township up.”
Reeve Don Rathwell was chair of the transition board when the four municipalities came together. There were several votes taken regarding this issue of the ORPC fund and each time there was a tie and he would break it, which meant the money remained for Beachburg’s use only.
In seven years, he received no call or complaint from a Beachburg resident about how the money was spent, he said.
However, since a motion came to the current council that the money be put into the general fund, while it was turned down, people were upset that it was even discussed, he explained.
“So, it’s the same today as it was in 2001 and I believe the people in Beachburg will treat it the same way and I hope everybody else can look at it in the same light,” Reeve Rathwell said.
Mr. Trimm said the township has lost a lot of taxes since amalgamation occurred.
“The dividends paid to the municipality each year are about $20,000,” he said. “For God’s sake, let’s share it.”
Councillor Cathy Regier said the money should remain within in Beachburg to be spent on the medical centre, the waterworks plant and the arena.
“That’s where that money should be going, should there be a problem,” she said. “That way everybody in Whitewater is benefitting.”
If a club or organization wants $50,000, then the money is gone and it did nothing for residents in other areas of the municipality, Coun. Regier explained.
“This way, if it remains for those three assets, that would work fairly,” she said.
Ms. Williamson thanked everyone for attending the all candidates meeting.
