Photo: All candidates meeting in Port Sydney. Pictured from left, incumbent councillor seeking election Jason FitzGerald and candidates Larry Horton, Wanda Lumley, Charles Wilson and Dione Schumacher.
It was a packed room at the Port Sydney Hall on Thursday evening as five candidates vying for one of two positions as Stisted, Stephenson and Port Sydney (Wards 3, 4 and 5) councillor, tried to win the support of voters.
The event was moderated by Port Sydney/Utterson and Area Chamber of Commerce President Kim Dubeau. Candidates fielded questions from the floor as well as those posed by Dubeau, who explained that the questions had been previously submitted by the community to the Chamber. Questions included topics such as the Patterson quarry, the proposed accommodation tax, affordable housing, the proposed merger between the Port Sydney/Utterson and Area Chamber of Commerce and the Bracebridge Chamber, roads, development and food vendors at the Port Sydney beach—a question about the Huntsville Soccer Club even made it in—and how much time the candidates would be able to devote to the job, if elected. Below are some of the questions and answers in the order they were asked. Stay tuned for more on this.
What they said about the proposed municipal accommodation tax:
Dione Schumacher said she’d like to look at the statistics in areas that have implemented the tax to see if it’s been effective. She said some areas are also looking at taxing Airbnbs. “I would really want to look at that and sort of assess it out, but I’m not opposed to it because I think it could bring some revenue back into the area,” she said.
Larry Horton said talk of any tax is difficult. “I’m not quite sure which way to go at this. As soon as you say the word tax, most people freak out and say ‘Oh God not more,’” he said. “But in this case I guess we have to look at how this is being handled in other communities. I’ve seen some things where the three per cent is supposed to go back to the Town and people don’t know where it goes thereafter. If it’s there to promote tourism in Muskoka, I think we pretty well got our summer covered. I’d really like to see the shoulder seasons looked after a little bit more, especially here in the Town of Huntsville. Port Sydney, I think we do a pretty good job down here but [the tax], it’s just a matter of how it’s going to be made out as far as planning stages go and management.”
Wanda Lumley said the current council and staff are doing a good job at studying and formulating the tax here. She said other areas are looking to Huntsville to see what the final model is going to be. “It looks like we’re going to move ahead and we’re going to be in the forefront.”
Charles Wilson said most of municipal revenue comes from property tax, which he referred to as regressive. He said those visiting the area should contribute but not be taxed so much that it would prevent people from visiting.
Jason FitzGerald said he’s excited about what he referred to as a great financial tool “to increase tourism, increase the amount of money we have to put back into other capital… needs, because this tax will provide all our current tourism costs. So, there’s going to be a great relief for most of the taxpayers in this regard.”
What they said about decommissioning the Patterson quarry in Utterson:
Jason FitzGerald said he knows the quarry is controversial. “There’s been wells going dry in the area, the traffic is horrendous on 141, there’s parking issues and safety issues. This unfortunately isn’t regulated by the municipality but we can certainly lobby and we can petition to have this looked at and possibly get it closed down,” he said. FitzGerald added that the quarry is advantageous to the south but did not see many advantages to the community as a result of the quarry so he would support trying to close it down.
Larry Horton said he put an election sign up by the quarry and had to try not to get hit by a truck. He said he feels sorry for the residents in the area. “I just wonder how many pits do we need here in Muskoka? I think our biggest problem is we’re trying to supply everything to the south and we’re not taking into consideration those who live here and try to enjoy life up here. Myself, I know it’s one pit and there’s other pits that I think should be closed down, but it’s something that I think our Town can motion towards something like that [closing the pit], but I think it’s a provincial mandated situation and I would be there fighting to see this taken out, period.”
Lumley apologized to those present. She said she did not have enough information about the pit or its history. “Obviously people are for it being closed, unfortunately I would have to look into that before I would give an answer,” she said.
Wilson also said he is not fully up-to-date on the quarry. “I would look at whether it fits into the neighbourhood structure and whether it fits into the commercial land uses around and I would make a decision based on that,” he said, adding that discussions would then have to take place with the province.
Schumacher said, “I would be in favour of looking at the decommissioning of it.” She said she lives off Hwy 141, and “those trucks you can hear,” she said, also adding that the quarry benefits those living in communities to the south. She also said the amount of truck traffic is an issue and the tonnage they carry is impacting area roads.
Should the Town continue to fund the Port Sydney visitor information centre as the Port Sydney/Utterson and Area Chamber of Commerce contemplates a merger with the Bracebridge Chamber?
FitzGerald said the municipality’s stance has always been that “we pay chambers of commerce a fee for service. So the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce is given a fee for tourism services. The Utterson/Port Sydney Chamber of Commerce was given money for tourism services. I think there’s value in those services and the municipality sees that and we see that around the table… but I think that you’ll find that funds for this in the future will come from the municipal tax that will be implemented shortly for accommodation.”
Horton said he was involved with the chamber in the past and also said it’s always difficult when you run an organization with volunteers. “We’re losing our volunteer base. I think if people came back as Port Sydney/Utterson proud, it probably could be still standing. I’m not a definite on the affiliation with Bracebridge because I feel that as a community, Port Sydney/Utterson, we are part of the Town of Huntsville and I just wish somehow that may be something that may be worked out.”
Lumley said although it is not a “done deal” yet, she said if the merger does happen she hopes that Huntsville will still provide its support. “I don’t know if Stisted gets left out in the cold or what happens to them. I guess they’ll just be… the Huntsville people will be looking after Stisted. But hopefully, hopefully it works out to the way that they want and hopefully Huntsville can still support it,” she said.
Wilson said having been involved with the first visitor information centre in that area he has seen first-hand the value the centre brings to the community and local businesses. “Whether or not the chamber is associated with Bracebridge, it is a fee for service for our location… if that remains, I will be supporting it,” he said.
Schumacher said she would hope that Huntsville would continue to support the visitor centre. She said a visitor centre is important in any community. “It is key that we keep our visitor and information centre open here in Port Sydney and Utterson and I would be involved in that,” she said, adding that the Town of Huntsville should support it regardless of whether the chamber merges with Bracebridge’s chamber.
Would you support the soccer club to build stronger relationships and meet its goals?
Schumacher said she was a member of the soccer club in the past, understands that proper lighting is an issue and noted that Bracebridge has a soccer club and “I’m wondering how they make that work and I’d like to see if we can research that and be able to come up with some sort of solution. It’s nice for visiting communities to be able to have a clubhouse to change in for the U18 girls to have something to change in,” she said, adding that she has also seen great soccer clubs flourish down south with a dome. “I’ve been to the proposals about mixing a lot of the clubs together and the curling club would be for their space, and I would definitely be supportive of the soccer club.”
Wilson said anything that will contribute to the wellbeing of young people in the community “is amazing. I do think we need to look at how our recreational services are funded. And we need to ensure we have world class facilities for our world class players in Huntsville.”
Lumley said she agrees that the soccer club needs support from the municipality, but so does every sports club. “And when they come to the table with money, yes let’s look at it. Let’s see what we can do for them. Their problem was that it was not them paying the whole bit, it was them asking from the Town for some of it… come to the table, take a look and then the decision will be made but no one sports club will stand out above any other one,” she said.
Horton: “I must say this club is very persistent and persistence sometimes wins over I guess in this case individuals within the council,” he said, adding that the amount of money the club raised was phenomenal. “I think somehow we’ve got to try to put some of these facilities more together. I know they’re in for a big project out of the baseball diamonds as well. I don’t know if there’s a way of trying to get this all together so it works and the money could be spend to accommodate soccer, baseball and whatever else at the same time.”
Jason FitzGerald said he knew the question was coming and said he thinks it is imperative that the municipality supports all its sports groups. “We need to keep our kids, our adults, healthy and active and what better way to do it than through sport.” He said he’d like to see all the groups get together and try to help one another with a multi-use facility. “Some clubs have money, some clubs do not. That shouldn’t really affect how well they can work together and come to a goal of achieving a new facility for all the groups and hopefully in one spot. That would be my ultimate goal but council always has an open ear at the table, deputations are made and we do support the clubs.”
What would their top three priorities be over the next four years, if they were elected?
Schumacher said ensuring the area maintains two acute care hospital sites; looking at development into the future and ensuring environmental impact is considered while also “keeping the quaintness that is Huntsville and of course the surrounding areas.” She said third on her list would be roads and infrastructure. “I’d like to see some capital spending put back into the area. I know there’s ways that we can sort of make things work a little better. There are local contractors,” she said and cited the Hughes Road project that was done with local contractors.
Wilson said his top three would be ensuring health care. “Everyone is very passionate about the hospital sites but that’s not the end of healthcare. We need to really move to a community healthcare model.” He said his second priority would be looking at development. “We need to get things right. We in the next 20 years are going to define who we are for the next 120 years. So we need [to] get things right and we need to have the urban core… stay urban.” He said his third priority would be to look at infrastructure.
Lumley said two hospital sites is top on her list. “We definitely have to stay diligent in working with the province over the funding and then my second priority is the roads. I’m fortunate to work for a non-profit organization in the transportation department and I have travelled every road, everywhere so I do know how roads are and what needs help.” She said the third priority would be transportation. She said kids can’t take advantage of sports happening in Huntsville because there is no transportation. “Meanwhile they send a bus out to Dorset every week to bring people in from Dorset to go shopping but we haven’t got anything to bring our kids up to Huntsville.”
Horton said the hospital issue is top on his list as well and said development seems to be becoming one of the bigger issues, too. He said he can’t understand why the Town does not have a tree cutting bylaw. “And also we want to protect our lakes because that’s what makes us unique and then let’s get down to roads, culverts, bridges…I don’t have to tell you where we need work around here on that.”
FitzGerald said he thought everyone had already covered what he wanted to say. “The hospital is my first because I think we’ve gone far enough in the process with the hospital that what we need to do now is change the funding model. There’s just not enough money for our hospitals to run based under a medium-sized hospital. Our catchment area is huge and we need to have a funding model change, that’s what’s going to provide great healthcare in our community.” His second priority is to continue spending on roads. “It’s something that’s been done previously and I’d like to continue with that,” he said. He said his third priority would be to ensure the sustainability of the community halls and increase the programming in them.
Candidates were asked how they would advocate for that area against Huntsville’s “insular policies that are Huntsville-centered to spend money on recreation before core services.”
Horton called it a loaded question. “Sounds like us versus them again but I’m not going to get into that,” he said. Horton said he travels across the area and noted that work needs to be done in the wards he’s running for. “We’ve got to get somehow interest in our community, our immediate surrounding instead of everything being done in Huntsville and as far away as out towards Brunel which is nice, they did Brunel Road, which is great, it’s a very busy highway, but it’s disgusting to see some of the roads around here with pot hole, over pot hole over pot hole.”
FitzGerald tried to cool things down a bit. “I know everyone thinks their road is the worse,” he said, adding that he receives many phone calls and emails and suggestive hand motions from those upset over the roads. “When we talk about fiscal responsibility there’s varying practical formulas that are laid out for doing the roads. So, it’s based on dollars so if we want to go and fix all the roads that’s fine, but we need to put five more million dollars in our roads capital budget. That’s not possible so these formulas that are used are what stretches our dollar out. We get the maximum amount of return from every dollar with these formulas used and unfortunately that’s the way it is but we cannot increase the budgets any more than we have.”
Schumacher said she was quoting from her father (current councillor Det Schumacher) and said “what’s good for me is good for my neighbour. What’s good for my neighbour is good for me.” She agreed the roads are an issue but she said there is a priority sequence and the Town is looking at that. She said it would be a great opportunity to put more money into roads. “Again… it’s that trying to balance that us against them mentality, which I don’t like to see. I mean I know we need to draw people into the Town of Huntsville but there have been times in the past where they wanted to put taxes on us to pay for water and sewer when we have wells and our own septic tanks. I would not want to go and have to pay for Town structures that don’t exist for us,” she said.
Wilson said the reality is the road budget is what it is. He said community representation is key. “The Stephenson, Port Sydney and Stisted ward is about 40 to 50 per cent of… the area of the town. You have two councillors. I’m not convinced that meets the criteria of the community of interests,” he said, speaking of examples he observed in Saskatchewan. He said boards, town halls and more community consultation ought to be looked at “but the reality of the roads budget is what it is and there needs to be some really good and some really thoughtful use of that money and we need to realize that we have one town.”
Lumley said three of the difficult roads have already been addressed. She said the Town can’t do every road every year and “I think they’re doing an awesome job. With that being said, I don’t know if we could increase any of the money but they’re trying their best.”
Community members came out in great numbers to the Port Sydney Community Hall on September 27 to hear what the candidates running for that area in the October 22 municipal election had to say.
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