Coboconk’s All Candidates Debate - A Summary

At the All Candidates Debate at the Coboconk late nite, 6 Mayoral Candidates and 7 Councillor Candidates for wards 1 & 2 participated. The room was packed to capacity with only grey-haired residents.

As a “Citizen Journalist”, here’s my report.

Last night, I attended the All Candidates Debate at the Coboconk Lions’ Centre which featured 6 Mayoral Candidates and 7 Councillor Candidates for wards 1 & 2. It was presented in the standard format of all events this these “public debates”.

The questions and answers were revealing. Here are some of my come-always from this meeting starting with the Mayor candidates.

Your choices for Mayor

Doug Elmslie represents the status quo with some tweaks to improve access to City services since this is the most frequent complaint he hears. He supports the new Coboconk medical (Wellness Centre) project and believes that, while it will be built on City land, it’s management should come from the community, not the City. Doug is satisfied with the City’s library services and the Board who oversees those services across the City. When asked about the #1 issue in this election, he agreed with nearly all the other Mayor and Councillor Candidates that roads and infrastructure investments are a high priority but there are other areas, such as Climate Change, that must be considered too. It is my understanding that Doug chaired the Public Health committee and voted in favour of the mask and vaccine mandates to which we were all forced to comply over the last few years; this suggests to me that Doug did not take seriously the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when casting his vote. Consequently, many innocent citizens have suffered the consequences when a much superior option that was proposed by The Great Barrington Declaration in October 2022 was available. While Doug has the most CKL Council experience, I do not believe that our City will be better off after 4 years of Doug as Mayor especially if he is asked to support another series of mandates with every coming flu season.

Pat Dunn represents the “belt-tightening” choice for Mayor. He wants an independent auditor to review all City Departments to see where money can be better spent in City operations and within budget. His  #1 issue in this election is “governance” because City staff (in the CAO’s Office) has been setting spending priorities, not City Council, and this must change (Mayoral Candidate Bill Denby agrees). Mr. Dunn made it clear that a City Council under him as Mayor would focus on core services as its top priority and it will continue to do so until City debt becomes manageable and spending can be contained on budget with minimal tax increases. He also favours the decentralized of some services to the ward level where appropriate. Climate change did not factor into his priorities. He is a “law and order” candidate who respects the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms but also understands that our laws and justice systems are not perfect - we have to live with them as best we can. I am not sure is he would have voted in favour of the pandemic measures that Doug supported. I suspect that City Council with Pat Dunn as Mayor would break the status quo and re-acquire much (if not all) of the decision-making authority that belongs in Council if it is truly to represent the priorities of CKL taxpayers.

Kathleen Seymour-Fagan is the choice for Mayor whose background is the most balanced for the job in my view. I am a retired professional recruiter who considers a Candidate’s Life Lens and work history in relation to the Candidate’s suitability to the job and and ability to carry out its responsibilities. With 8 years of City Council experience combined with over 30 years owning and operating businesses, and raising a family within the CKL, Kathleen brings a deep respect for the challenges facing business owners who must compete in markets that are facing a dearth of employable workers in this post-Covid era. She also understands the need for community amenities that will benefit families and residents of all ages. Finally, she recognizes the priority for investments in roads and infrastructure are essential. Kathleen made it known that her real passion is centred on creating a City that will attract young people to live and work here, and to raise their families too. In a room full of grey-haired citizens who have raised children that inevitably moved away for better work prospects, her passionate message was not lost on the crowd. Kathleen knows with certainty that her passion can only be achieved by creating a social and economic environment with the CKL which will enable local businesses to thrive, hire employees and feature housing and other family expenses to be affordable. In my personal conversations with Kathleen, I know her to be respectful of the Canadian Constitution and that additional Climate Change policies does not factor into her list of high municipal priorities. She also believes that the new Coboconk Wellness Centre should not the managed by the City because of the inevitable delays in decision-making that would result. As Mayor, I believe that Kathleen has the experience and perspective that can enable the City of Kawartha to live up to its potential if we all get behind her vision and elect a team of City Councillors who will be aligned with it too.

Faye McGee, Bill Denby and Jim Riches all contributed many good ideas and perspectives to the discussion. Since I don’t consider them to be front-runners in the contest for Mayor, I will only say that I value their inputs and hope that they will stay involved in City affairs after the election. They each all have much to offer in terms of knowledge, passion, experience and community contacts but we can only elect one Mayor and their contributions would continue to be of great value to the residents of the wards in which they live.

Candidates for City Council.

I liken City Council as an board of executives charged with making important decisions under a fiduciary obligation to shareholders. In the case of the City of Kawartha Lakes, the “shareholders” are everyone who pays taxes and incurs City debt, and who expects high-quality and affordable City services . For this reason, every shareholder would be wise to consider what mix of the 27 Candidates who are vying for 8 Ward positions would best achieve our goals.

Of the 7 Candidates for Ward Councillor on stage last nite, only Emmett Yeo (Ward 1) is seeking re-election. For this reason, he came across with the kind of credibility that one would expect from someone who possesses 16 years of CKL Council experience. However, as Jim Harris (Ward 1) pointed out, why do so many Ward 1 residents complain that they have been overlooked time and time again when City investments are considered by the City Hall and Council? It’s a valid question and one that begs an answer. Is it because Ward 1 is a large, sparsely-populated region that is an “out-of-sight/out-of-mind” part of the City which has an employee base that lives in Lindsay? Will decentralization of some City services be a suitable, cost-effective solution to the Ward 1 residents who feel left out? The other Ward 1 Candidates Raymonde Blais-Couture and Don Logan seemed to agree that this is part of the problem and some form of decentralization of authority and budget control over local services may be worth considering. None of the Ward 2 Candidates mentioned any concerns regarding City debt, budget overruns, Climate Change or Charter violations by government decision-makers.

In Ward 2, the race boils down to a choice between John Snider and Pat Warren. I have have personal conversations with both of them in the past and know Pat to be a Climate Change zealot who refuses to discuss the topic with an open mind to alternative views with the science to back it up. John Snider is your prototypical conservative Candidate who believes that the City must live with its means, provide real value for the tax sacrifices that we must all make, deal with the City debt problem, and focus on core services. If Pat Dunn becomes Mayor, John Snider would surely be his ally to achieve similar goals. Pat Warren, on the other hand, would bring her Climate Change convictions to the table and likely vote for more government policies to achieve that priority. As such, Ms. Warren and Pat Dunn would likely be unaligned in their priorities whereas Doug Elmslie as Mayor would be a better match for her priorities. The other Ward 2 Candidate, Jamie Brown, seemed unprepared for the Debate and appeared confused about his priorities as Councilor.

My Conclusion

I have been Less Government Advocate since 1979. For this reason, I am opposed to any socialist policies and politicians who promote further government expansion. In fact, since I believe that all levels of government have become too big, too expensive and have amassed too much authority over our Constitutional rights and freedoms, the status quo is not good enough when real fiscal and regulator accountability is needed. The only realist and acceptable options for Mayor from my perspective are Kathleen Seymour-Fagan or Pat Dunn.

I am a Ward 3 resident and, as such, the Ward 1 and 2 Candidates for Councillor are out of my voting jurisdiction. However, my choice for Ward 2 would be John Snider and for Ward 1 it would be hard to me to decide because all 4 of them have merit for different reasons. If I spent more time getting to know the Ward 1 Candidates, I would likely choose the one who best aligned with my Less Government priorities.

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