The issue of youth homelessness in Collingwood has spurred a former councillor to run again in his third local election with a campaign focused on affordability.
Cam Ecclestone is running for one of seven Collingwood councillor seats in the upcoming election.
He said the moment he learned about youth spending their days at the library with only a couch to surf, or no place to go at night, has stuck with him. He was part of the group who helped get the start-up funding for what later became Barbara Weider House, now operated by Home Horizon.
He’d like to see more support for the house, which offers transitional housing for youth at-risk of homelessness in Collingwood.
“I have a soft spot for Home Horizon and I’d like to see them given a little more town money,” said Ecclestone. He wants a line item in the annual town budget to allocate $150,000 to Home Horizon’s youth transitional housing program.
Ecclestone was elected as a Collingwood councillor for the 2014 term, and in the late 1990s, he was acclaimed reeve of Lutterworth Township for a three-year term. His career was in sales in the business forms industry and later as an entrepreneur in a family DIY winemaking business called Winecraft. Ecclestone and his wife, Sue, moved to Collingwood in 2000 and he became a financial advisor.
His priorities mainly centre around affordability in town. His goal is for annual tax increases not to exceed two per cent, and for stricter commitments between the town and developers to make sure 20 to 30 per cent of all new homes built are smaller and more affordable.
“I think we have to play kind of tough,” said Ecclestone.
Rental prices in Collingwood are also on Ecclestone’s list of items to tackle. He’d like to see a cap put on the amount of rent that can be charged for accessory apartments that received a county grant.
The County of Simcoe’s secondary suites program provides funding up to $30,000 per unit toward the creation of a secondary or garden suite as a means to increase supply of affordable housing in the county.
While the former councillor would like to see the town’s annual tax levy increase stay between zero and a two per cent increase.
"I'm good at the financial stuff, so I know we can't go more than one or two per cent per year, but we probably don't need to because the population growth has been pretty spectacular," said Ecclestone, who calls himself the "common sense guy."
"If it makes sense, you do it," he said.
He also thinks there should be a specific levy of less than one per cent dedicated to a recreation centre fund.
“The rec centre would be a swimming pool, hockey arena, tennis and pickleball courts, and it’s probably like a 10-year project,” said Ecclestone.
In the last couple of years, Ecclestone has been curious about the overflow events at the Collingwood wastewater treatment plant. An overflow event occurs when too much water hits the plant at once, and untreated water overflows into the bay. This can also be a “partial overflow” sending partially treated wastewater into Georgian Bay.
Ecclestone said he’d like to see an independent review of the wastewater treatment plant operations to make sure the town’s system is not compromised.
Ecclestone did apply for the vacant council seat in April 2021, and ran for a council seat in the 2018 election. He finished ninth of the 19 council candidates and only the top seven are elected.
There are 12 candidates running for the seven available councillor seats for Collingwood in the 2022 municipal election taking place Oct. 24. The candidates include: Christopher Baines, Steve Berman, Ian Chadwick, George Dickenson, Deb Doherty, Cam Ecclestone, Brandon Houston, Kathy Jeffery, Steve Johns, Steve Perry, Chris Potts, and Rob Ring.
You can find out if you’re on the voter list by visiting the town website here.
Advance voting started Oct. 8 with internet or paper ballot voting options available. You can vote at the library in-person starting Oct. 8, or online anytime after Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. Library voting will take place Saturday and Wednesday, Oct. 8-22 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voting will close on election day, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m.
