1. To begin with the next 4 years are going to usher in the biggest challenges in our history, and although I do not make a habit of telling others “I told you so,” the fact is I began warning people 14 years ago about what would happen after amalgamation and it’s all here today “exactly the opposite of what was promised to be” and now that the takeover phase of this agenda is underway, I would like to be a part of the new council team whose task it will be to guide our region through the difficulties ahead, therefore my election promise to every one of you is
“I am resolved to working as a team player with the new council in a mutually respectful manner in order to more effectively deal with whatever challenges the team may be called upon to overcome on your behalf.”
2. From my perspective the role of every representative regardless of rank, is to serve their constituents humbly, competently and equally, and if I am elected as a Whitewater councillor in October that’s what I will do!
3. (1) In 2011 I published my 9 week “Smelt gate” series in area papers (2) Then I delivered a Muskrat Lake presentation to council, which in turn set in motion official efforts to restore the lake (3) Next I addressed the council and opposed the Ottawa River Heritage Designation, which led to the council rescinding its prior approval for that designation (4) I also routinely published letters in the press exposing the Provincial MNR / MOE property control agenda (5) The Endangered Species Act abuses (6) The nefarious activities of unelected municipal officials and (7) I assisted each and every person who came to me with a problem and asked for help.
4. I possess expertise in departmental management, planning, communication and organization – I am also adept at problem solving, dispute resolution, production evaluation, process expediting, interpersonal relations and the research and development environment, where I was considered to be talented forward thinking innovator, and as a consequence was well regarded in my field, and finally I have an in depth understanding of the evolving Geo – Political interactions reshaping our world, which without question are soon destined to play a significant roll in the decision making process at every level of Canada’s Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments
5. The top priorities of all elected representatives should consist of being above reproach, transparent and fair, publicly accountable, fiscally responsible, and unceasingly dedicated to cost reduction and future development, as well as being absolutely relentless in protecting the electorate from the regulatory constraints of the unelected bureaucrats in Toronto, Renfrew County council, and municipal government administrations, and finally every member of council should be steadfast in their commitment to keeping a tight rein on capital / administrative and infrastructure expenditures / property tax increases / and the escalating costs of municipal services.
6. The short answer is “in every way possible” but what those possibilities may be in the future remains difficult to determine given the counter productive development constraint’s being imposed on our area, because despite all the future “sustainability and prosperity” rhetoric being a part of council deliberations for the last 4 years, there has been scant progress in this area, instead several businesses scheduled to open in Cobden decided they were not going to follow through, which was a disappointing loss to the regional tax base, as well as local job seekers.
As for promoting the Whitewater region we certainly offer a full range of camping, fishing, golfing and other recreational pursuits, however current economic realities are now placing negative financial constraints on the discretionary spending of many people, and I can see this becoming even more of a factor with respect to the Whitewater in the foreseeable future – for example we have the recent closure of
7.It would be untrue to say I have a roads repair and maintenance strategy, but with no more grant money available holding raffles just won’t cut the mustard, because the reality is, the only way for council to raise the funding for roads is to either – BORROW IT OR RAISE TAXES – in fact I am told the new Whitewater CAO Christine FitzSimons recently suggested council borrow money from the bank thus putting us in hock for $2 million.
However when you look at what the province is doing all across southern Ontario to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, for roads, infrastructure, transportation, solar panels, wind generators and other expensive extravagances we will have to pay for, then clearly it’s time for us to send a delegation down to Toronto to request, and then negotiate for, the relatively few millions it will take to bring our infrastructure up to par – because I have no intention now (nor will I ever agree to later) taxing my fellow citizens into hardships, emotional distress and financial disaster, because no one had the courage to go to Toronto and lobby for some money, indeed “nothing ventured means nothing gained”, and it’s time to do some serious venturing down in Queen’s Park. In fact as taxpayers we should be on the Endangered Species list, because there’s no shortage of government funding for such things as protecting the “Bog Bean Buckmoth” and turtles from becoming extinct.
8. Indeed I will because on new construction, and to the extent it’s possible on existing infrastructure, all that’s required is to instruct the roads department that these requirements are to be incorporated, and then see to it that the roads department carry out the instructions they were given, it’s just that simple.
9. Yes!
10. Agriculture is the foundational basis of all societies, as without food there can be no life, nor indeed does the food we eat come from the store, instead before it gets to the store it has to come from the land tilled by farmers.
Therefore as we are predominately an agricultural based rural region, and I myself was raised on a farm, I know full well that all farmers are ever at the mercy of the elements, changing market conditions, inflation and many other most unforgiving realities – and as there are no guarantees in this life, and especially for a farmer, my priorities for any area of development will always be influenced by my concerns for the best interests of the farming community, because as the source of our daily bread, farmers are our most important residents.
11. That’s a very difficult question to answer, because the 4 municipalities that amalgamation cobbled together 12 years ago chose to remain separate from one another a long time ago, due to differences in spiritual orientation, politics and ethnic background, not to mention the inherent rivalries that small communities engender, but at the very foundation of it all we are dealing with human nature, as well as deeply rooted blood, marriage, and economic ties, where despite the very best (and the very worst) efforts of mankind to do so for millenia – only the hand of divine providence can change human nature.
Nevertheless in the absence of a unifying cause sufficient to rally around, if we endeavour to treat each other with mutual respect, establish lines of communication and form sincere relationships, the “my community” mindset might gradually evolve into an “our community mindset” but to be perfectly frank I do not anticipate this happening in the short term, because over the last decade since amalgamation, there’s been little evidence of any collective perspective developing, despite the idealistic rhetoric of provincial politicians who forced this coalition upon us, instead of leaving our municipalities as they were for generations, living side by side in peace.
All the same there is one thing that is going to bring us together soon, and that’s the actions of our provincial government politicians and unelected bureaucrats, whose agenda is to incrementally impoverish the taxpayers of every municipality in Ontario by downloading the cost of everything on them, such as roads, infrastructure repairs, upgrades, policing and huge tax increases, because they know full well that when the people of rural Ontario are in a fiscal bind, controlling them will be a cinch “because the borrower is the servant of the lender.”
In order to counter this agenda Renfrew County municipalities must band together against these socialist engineering planners in Toronto, the unelected functionaries at county council (working with Toronto against us) and the acquiescent municipal representatives who sat back in silence like a herd of sheep and did nothing, that the people of Renfrew county have had enough and we are not going to be forced into a corner and be fleeced like a herd of sheep any longer! 12. There can be no other answer than to say neither I nor anyone else wants to see crucial infrastructure like our roads degenerate into cow paths, because the fact is gravel roads are far inferior to paved / tarred and chip roads.
13. That’s a tough call as there have been times when some stations were unable to respond, because all of the volunteer firefighters were away working at other jobs, which means more volunteers should be added to ensure people are available to respond when required.
That being said since amalgamation all five Fire halls have remained open, so its apparent previous councils saw no reason to disband them, and as a consequence my answer is “I do not know whether we need five fire halls or not” therefore in order to determine the definitive answer, a study should be conducted to find out what the correct solution to this issue is, bearing in mind that many people take great comfort in knowing there’s a fire hall just down the street, and I myself am one of them.
14. Yes I would, and I already have, after publishing my 9 week “Smelt Gate Series” back in 2011, which then inspired the Whitewater Council supporting a public call to clean up Muskrat Lake – but 3 years later (and with all due respect intended to the people involved) who I’m sure are all highly committed – the end result has been the formation of a 13 member committee to “investigate the matter and recommend solutions” instead of the Council going down to Toronto and asking the appropriate ministries directly “When are you people going to clean up our lake” and in the absence of a positive response, a class action lawsuit should then be initiated before someone dies from the lethal effects of blue green algae: For more on this critical issue watch the “Don Broome Muskrat Lake Video” containing my delegation / presentation to Whitewater Council.
15. There is a limit to what council can do about stopping future pollution other than putting our area lakes under 24 hour surveillance, however warning signs can be installed and people can be educated about the dangers of medication – chemicals – fuel and other contaminants getting into the aquatic environment (either directly or indirectly) all of which represent a dire threat to the health and safety of humans, animals, birds, and fish. Therefore education and public awareness are the key components in addressing this issue, but in the end barring an accident or the actions of irresponsible people, it all comes down to the character and integrity of individuals.
16. This is not an easy question to address because a number of things such as mountain climbing, lion safari’s and (thanks to the MNR) “smelt fishing in Muskrat Lake” are out of the question. In fact after Whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, running over a family of skunks with your car, hiding out in the bush when the mother-in-law comes over to visit, or outrunning an angry bear at the local dump, there’s really not a whole lot of alternate adventure recreation in the Whitewater at this time, however not wanting to be negative I will give this question some serious thought, and perhaps I can come up with some “adventure recreation” ideas later on.
17. To be perfectly honest I am not willing to give up anything, because these policing costs are nothing more than a provincial government protection racket, which from the very start simply extorted money from people who did not have either a choice or the money to spare (especially in today’s economic climate) for example the OPP recently handed council an unitemized bill for $600,000, at which time council was told next year’s bill would be double this year’s bill to the tune of $1.2 million dollars, and after costing $6.4 billion in 1999 the cost is now over $12.3 billion, with municipalities paying 60 per cent and the OPP getting a fat 8.55 per cent raise in January.
My question is why are we paying $100,000 + salaries to patrol car cops, only to be handed an unitemized bill for $600,000 policing services this year, only to be told it’s going to cost $1.2 million next year. In fact how do the police know they will be providing double the amount of services next year? The answer is they don’t!.
Instead the province is simply strip milking a cash cow called the Whitewater Region, and I believe it’s time area municipalities should get together and investigate forming a local police force before the province bleeds us dry, because that’s where all this is going folks, it’s going to get much worse, and I will have more to say later on.
18. First we have to get rid of the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) because this Provincial Government Agency not only has a “Cost Plus Mentality” but a long history of putting the wood to taxpayers at every turn. Indeed area residents will recall the warning letters I put in everyone’s mailbox before council hired OCWA to run our water and sewer facilities (In order to avoid personal liability issues) and we had better get rid of OCWA fast, because this spendthrift provincial government agency is bad news for the Whitewater.
In fact a Whitewater councillor I spoke with two weeks ago told me “Donald the expenditures for water and sewer upgrades alone are going to sink us” but with the disadvantage of not being privy to the detailed information council has, I am not in a position to make any further recommendations at this time, as practical solutions require informed data, but here again with respect to this very issue and having had 4 years to do so, the present council has yet to come up with any definitive answers either.
In the final analysis though, everything (except the spirit to overcome adversity) comes down to money and where it’s going to come from, but ever since this four way amalgamation was cobbled together 12 years ago, it’s no secret where the money’s been coming from “because it’s been coming from us” – however we can only pay so much until we simply cannot pay any more, and then what? Indeed the biggest dilemma for the new council by far, will be finding an answer to the question “How are we going to raise money without impoverishing the taxpayers, because more and more people are just getting by as it is” and there’s the rub folks!
19. Not really as I believe I have said enough about myself already, however if someone does wish to speak to me personally, I can be reached by phone or Email and I will be happy to answer their questions at that time. You can also watch my election video by googling Don Broome Election Video.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration folks, and I respectfully ask for your vote on October 27th. Phone 613 – 646 – 2632; E-mail [email protected].
