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In Their Own Words:
The Candidates for Mayor & Deputy Mayor

The BMRA, together with Climate Action Now Network (CANN) and the L.E. Shore Library in Thornbury hosted a series of “Meet the Candidate” sessions.

In our last email, we shared links to the Councillor candidate videos, together with the candidate’s website.

In this email, we cover the candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

For each candidate we’ve included:

• link to the video of the session (begining with their 3-minute summary).
  We believe that hearing the candidate in their own words adds meaningful context to their written positions

• link to the candidate’s website.
  We encourage you to view their websites to get a better understanding of the candidate and their position.
  

• A summary we prepared of each candidate’s position, which we compiled from multiple publicly available sources.

At the end of this email, we’ve also linked to articles from the two candidates for English Public School board Trustees.

We hope you find this helpful.

The Candidates for Mayor

Moreau groups her priorities around managing growth, protecting vital services and building a collaborative Town Hall. She proposes measurable timelines and oversight for capital projects, greater financial transparency and less duplication in staff reports and consulting work.

Her platform supports farmland protection, infrastructure planning that preserves community character, housing for workers, seniors and families, and expanded access to primary and long-term care. She also supports continuing the bike-lane network through future road improvements and improving relationships among council, staff and residents.

The Candidates for Deputy Mayor

Ardiel emphasizes municipal experience, agricultural interests and cooperation with Grey County and service providers. She supports growth aligned with the Official Plan, infrastructure capacity, farmland protection and established neighbourhoods. Her priorities include balancing resort-area needs with rural and environmental protection.

She also proposes practical support for isolated residents, including community outreach, improved transportation options and better access to mental-health, addiction and social services through partnerships with the County and local organizations.

Gilliland emphasizes long-term financial planning, reserve management, fiscal discipline and clear accountability. She supports prioritizing core infrastructure and coordinating growth, so existing residents do not bear an unfair share of future costs. Her platform also supports farmland and local food systems, a diverse housing mix aligned with infrastructure capacity, and protection of trails, waterfront access and natural areas.

She presents rural representation and preserving the character of neighbourhoods as integral to planning a sustainable, year-round community.

Welling emphasizes fiscal responsibility, stronger project oversight and a clearer distinction between council’s policy role and staff’s operational responsibilities. He proposes working with council on a five-year direction, prioritizing infrastructure upgrades proactively and preparing projects to seek external funding. His campaign

also stresses a stronger voice at Grey County and constructive relationships with municipal staff.

He presents clearer goals and disciplined execution as central to delivering projects and services.

English Public School Trustee Candidates

Online voting starts tomorrow, Oct 16th

What do you think?

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In Their Own Words:
The Councillor Candidates

The BMRA, together with Climate Action Now Network (CANN) and the L.E. Shore Library in Thornbury have hosted a series of “Meet the Candidate” sessions.

The last session is tonight, at 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM, with candidates for Mayor & Deputy Mayor.

All the Councillor candidates sessions are complete.

Each session starts with the candidate offering a 3 minute introduction.

In this email, we are sharing links to the Councillor candidate videos, together with a summary of the candidates’ opening statement.

We’ve added links to each candidate’s website (where available).  We encourage you to view their websites to get a better understanding of the candidate and their position.

The candidates for councillor are presented in alphabetic order

Background:

• Young lifelong resident;

• consultant to manufacturers across Ontario.

Points:

• Addressed youth: will listen, do the homework, exercise judgment

• $19M overrun ($34.8M → $53.6M); reserves under pressure

• Supports KPMG-driven reforms (baselines, risk reporting, change thresholds)

• Proposes public capital-projects dashboard

• Plain-language summaries of council decisions – ‘accountability shouldn’t depend on trust’

Background:

• Executive/business-owner background,

• graduate degrees;

• council liaison to planning; alternate at Grey County

Points:

• Financial stewardship; hold tax levy near current level

• Rebuild public trust and improve town communications

• Affordable housing incl. ‘missing middle’; protect water and environment

• Support arts/culture/heritage, businesses, physician recruitment

• Handouts on $19.5M overrun, core services, town finances; ‘find common ground when I can, stand my ground when I must’

Background:

• Local business owner since 2008,

• self-employed since 1995;

• ‘not a politician’.

Points:

• Slow, calculated growth – no big subdivisions

• Small business is very important

• Tourism is natural here; doesn’t need chasing

Background:

• Lifelong resident;

• ex apple grower;

• construction business owner;

• conservation authority director;

• agricultural committees.

Points:

• After $19M overrun, sought municipal-auditor advice that fed reforms (bundling, no single-source tendering)

• Overhaul tendering; focus on core services

• Comply with asset management plan; review municipal service corporation

• Clearer, plain-language budgeting

• Food/shelter affordability; water and wastewater conservation; county reps who work for the town

• Tourism must benefit residents first

Background:

• Fifth-generation local;

• grew up and went to school here.

Points:

• Councillor’s job is to listen and show up

• Thoughtful growth; responsible investment in public spaces

• Keep improving services residents rely on

• Council accessible and accountable; future shaped ‘with residents, not simply for them’

• Common sense, respect, ‘always room to do better’ (values-focused, few specific policies)

Background:

• Finance background;

• Certified Fraud Examiner;

• ex PwC corporate investigations lead.

Points:

• Topic this session: consulting spend up 38% to $1.9M

• Consultants useful only with strong management; results hard to measure

• $100K KPMG overrun review was wasteful – wrong team (infrastructure, not forensics), ‘not an investigation’

• Council needs someone with finance/investigation experience

• Prior sessions covered growth figures and the $19.5M shortfall

Background:

• Moved back 2020 (3 generations under one roof);

• ~20 yrs at Telus, then own small-business tech firm;

• chaired CMHA Grey Bruce board.

Points:

• Governance and oversight (merged 3 agencies, hired CEOs, strategic plans at CMHA)

• Welcoming place for tourists, residents and employees

• Attainable housing via county collaboration and federal grants

• Preserve farmland

• ‘If we don’t have the money, we can’t spend it’; ‘smart governance, practical solutions’

Background:

• Former health-care executive (MScN, MBA, Wharton exec ed);

• resident since 2010.

Points:

• Protect natural beauty, grow thoughtfully; meaningful resident engagement

• Efficiency: municipal service corporation, technology, shared services, new delivery models

• On $19.1M overrun: pressed for answers early; twice suspended Thornbury West Ph. 2 (unfunded engineering)

• Moved to embed KPMG recommendations (risk reporting, validating growth numbers)

• ‘Pragmatic, persistent, professional’ – measure results

What do you think?

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The Election Homestretch

We are approaching the end of the municipal election campaign period, and it has been very encouraging to see the high level of engagement observed from town residents. As we have stated, the Town of the Blue Mountains is facing a variety of significant challenges, and it is of vital importance that our next Council has the required capabilities to deal with them effectively.

The Role of the BMRA

Our association sees its most important contribution to the election as helping inform our members on the key municipal issues to be addressed, and to provide access and insights into the candidates for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council positions.

In an earlier email we detailed our perspectives on the areas of concern impacting our Town’s future, and views on the capabilities we believe the members of our incoming Council should display:

• financial acumen,

• a stated desire to focus on top priorities and

• the ability to work in a collaborative manner.

We have worked with other community stakeholder groups to coordinate a number of “Candidate Socials” in the summer, and a series of “Meet the Candidate” sessions at the LE Shore Library in September and October. Through these public events, in addition to candidate debates held by other parties, the candidates had ample opportunity to persuade voters to support them.

Coming soon: summaries of candidate platforms

Recognizing that it is difficult for the public to participate in all the election activities, the BMRA is putting together summaries of the platforms of all the candidates.

We will also provide links to the 3 minute introductions that the candidates delivered at the start of their Meet the Candidate session.

We will group and distribute these summaries by Council position – starting with Councillor, followed by Deputy Mayor and Mayor – and will share this information with our members over the next week. Our intent is to send out this material in advance of the start of the early voting period, Friday October 16.

Now It’s up to the Voters

Voter turnout for our 2022 municipal election was just 28%.

That low level was likely influenced by the limited choices available – the Deputy Mayor and Councillor positions were effectively all acclaimed.

For 2026, we are in the fortunate position of having a number of very well qualified candidates from which to choose for all seats on Council. It is therefore up to town residents to engage with this election, and cast our votes. We hope you will participate, and encourage friends and neighbours to do so as well.

The results of this election, and the make up of our next Council, are too important not to cast your vote.

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Meet the Candidate Sessions:
September 22th, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

L. E. Shore Library, Thornbury

The next “Meet the Candidate” session is tonight, Tues Sept 22, at 5:00 – 6:00 PM.

Tonight’s candidates are:

Gail Ardiel, who is running for Deputy Mayor

Meghan Loney, who is running for Councillor

Next session is Thursday, Sept 24th, 7:00 – 9:00 PM

The candidates wil be:

7:00 – 8:00 PM – George McLeod, running for Councillor

8:00 – 9:00 PM – Alex Maxwell, running for Councillor

We hope to see you there

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Meet the Candidate Sessions:
September 8th, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

L. E. Shore Library, Thornbury

The first of 8 “Meet the Candidate” sessions is this Tuesday, at 5:00 – 6:00 PM.

Bob Welling, who is running for Deputy Mayor is tonight’s candidate.

Next session is Tuesday, Sept 15th, 5:00 – 7:00 PM

The candidates wil be:

5:00 – 6:00 PM – Paul Reale, running for Mayor

6:00 – 7:00 PM – Sean Kelly, running for Councillor

We hope to see you there