The BMRA is committed to assisting our members in making well informed voting decisions for our upcoming municipal election. Our primary election initiatives include:

Meet the Candidates

The BMRA, together with Climate Action Now Network TBM (CANN) and The Blue Mountain Public Library (BMPL) are sponsoring a series of “Meet the Candidate” sessions at the LE Shore Library in Thornbury.

In these 1 hour sessions, candidates will deliver a three minute overview of their platform, and take questions from the audience for the remainder of the hour. It is an ideal opportunity for our members, and other TBM residents, to gain an understanding of the various candidates for Council (9 declared), Deputy Mayor (4 declared, and 3 participating) and Mayor (3 candidates).

The candidates will share their perspectives of the top priorities facing the next Council, and what policies and programs they would pursue.

The first session was held on Sept 8th and was very well attended.

Attendees are requested to pre-register given venue capacity constraints.

Meet the Candidate Schedule & Registration

These sessions will be recorded and posted on our website a day or two after the session.

Link to Candidate Websites & Session Recordings

Other Debates

Other community organizations have scheduled candidate debates, which includes:

• Blue Mountain Village Association (BMVA) — Sunday Sept 27th
• Escarpment Corridor Alliance (ECA) — Monday September 28th
• Blue Mountain Chamber of Commerce — Tuesday October 6
  The Chamber will first provide access to their members, and if space permits, second to the public.

BMRA’s List of Other Candidate Debates

We will share more details on the debates over the coming weeks.

Questions to Candidates

The BMRA has identified a series of questions that we believe are relevant for the candidates. We will be pursuing answers through their campaign platform documents, and their comments at various campaign events.

Our questions to all candidates (Mayor, Deputy Mayor & Councillors):

1. There is a limit to the scope that a municipal Council can manage. What would be your list of the top 3–5 priorities that our new Council should attempt to address?
2. TBM’s capital reserves have been depleted over the last few years due to falling residential construction activity, and major infrastructure project cost overruns. The Town also has a greatly increased employee count from past levels. What would be your approach to try to get our financial house in order, and what revenue and cost containment measures would you pursue?
3. As stated, the Town has struggled to deliver major capital projects on time and on budget. Why do you think this has happened, and what changes in the Town’s capital management would you like to see occur?
4. TBM’s housing mix has long been skewed to single family homes with a lack of rental housing. This presents challenges for TBM businesses in hiring employees, and makes it difficult for younger residents to continue to live in TBM. What role, if any, do you think the Town should play in promoting the development of more market and affordable rental units? Which of the available tools would you envision being applied?

Additional to Deputy Mayoral Candidates:

5. TBM taxpayers send 40% of our property taxes to Grey County, and it is difficult to get a clear picture of the value that we receive in return. The recent Grey County / Municipalities road swap program seems an example of how the county can pose potential financial risk to TBM. What is your perspective of TBM’s relationship with Grey County, and how would you work to realize maximum return on TBM’s county tax levy?

Additional to Mayoral Candidates:

6. There remains much uncertainty regarding strong mayor powers — what they entail, and the risk and/or benefits they could provide to a municipality. How do you anticipate applying strong mayor powers if you are elected mayor of TBM?

We will share the insights we gain with our members throughout the campaign.

Election Resources

Our website has links to election resources including:

• Are you registered to vote?
• TBM’s Election Resource Page
• Candidate websites, “Meet the Candidate” schedule & recordings

Our Perspective

Lastly, we wanted to share our perspective on the set of capabilities, experience and characteristics that we believe are required to have an effective new Council.

Financial Acumen

The last few years have significantly changed our Town’s financial status, and not in a positive sense. Increasing operating costs, capital project cost overruns and dramatic reductions in Development Charges have all taken a toll on TBM finances. Our next Council must be able to make appropriate financial management decisions, and well considered spending tradeoffs.

Focus

The BMRA has long been asking Council — both the current and the prior one — to declare a set of top priorities and ensure that those priorities are well managed, with clear deliverables identified, tracked and reported. There is only so much money, and attention to go round. This also means that Council will have to be comfortable saying “no” when required. That is not easy for politicians, who are committed to meeting the expectations of their constituents, but it is critical to the future success of our town.

Collaboration

The general perception is that our current Council has at times struggled to move projects forward. We have also seen significant turnover of senior Town staff over the past couple of years. Our next Council must find ways to work effectively together, and build a positive and productive working relationship with key staff. It will be interesting to learn from the candidates what approach to relationship building and collaboration they follow.

We will continue to provide updates to our members as the campaign proceeds. If you have any questions, or would like to get more involved with the work of the association, please reach out to us at info@bmra.ca

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