FERGUS — The three candidates for mayor of Centre Wellington made persuasive pitches at an all-candidates meeting on Tuesday.
Shawn Watters, Neil Dunsmore and Bob Foster all spoke at the event, held at the Royal Canadian Legion in Fergus. Council candidates also had their chance to mingle with constituents and make short speeches to the packed room.
Watters went first. He started by talking about his place in and love for the community.
“Hello. I look around this room and I see a lot of friendly faces and friends that I’ve developed over the years of being in here in this community. Deb and I came to Fergus-Elora area about 30 years ago and we love this place. We’ve raised two children here. Deb has taught in the school board. I’ve been fortunate to work in this community. I’m a landscape architect.” Watters said.
Watters spoke out against the lack of appropriate housing and specifically the lack of rentals that people can use to live and work in the local community.
“We need to work with staff and as council to work together to get those rentals out there because it doesn’t matter if we have an industrial park if we don’t have people to work in that industrial park.” Watters said.
Dunsmore spoke after Watters and started his pitch by talking about leadership in this current political climate.
“My name is Neil Dunsmore and I want to talk to you tonight about leadership. Because to me, this election is about leadership. It’s about leadership you can rely on. So what can you rely on me to do?” Dunsmore asked.
Dunsmore went on to talk about his support for the Asset Management Plan to maintain infrastructure and reduce excessive tax increases.
The Asset Management Plan is a process of documenting the town’s infrastructure assets and which assets need immediate repair and then allocating funds effectively.
“Well, you can rely on me to implement the Asset Management Plan that Dan Wilson just won an award for, in a manner that stabilizes taxes over the next 25 years so we can stabilize the infrastructure you all used to come here tonight.” Dunsmore said.
Dan Wilson is the Chief Administrative Officer for the township.
Foster spoke last. He briefly touched on his education background and experience working with the government.
“I believe in strong financial management and better spending. And I am the only candidate for mayor with a masters degree in accounting and 15 years experience managing government budgets,” Foster said.
Then Foster addressed the issues he is focused on. One of which he describes as an absence of cooperation on the town council. He then explains how he’ll fix that if elected mayor.
“Second, we have had eight years of divisive leadership on council. Where three councillors have been ignored and three have been favoured. My friends, you cannot win lacrosse games by benching half your team. And you will never have a good council if you play favourites with your yes men but silence and squelch other members of council. As mayor, I will ensure that all councillors will speak their minds. That is how you build consensus. That is how good decisions get made. And that is how you build a strong and cohesive council,” Foster said.
Advance polls begin at 10 a.m., Oct. 14. Election day is Oct. 24
Jesse Gault is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
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