If Stephen Aldred is elected as councillor, and his four years doesn’t end with a multi-use recreational facility, he will consider it an unsuccessful term.
Aldred is running for councillor and he thinks the multi-use rec facility is key for the town.
“If I am fortunate to be elected and we are not able to provide that for the townspeople, I would view my term as a failure,” said Aldred. “It is that important to our community.”
Aldred was raised in Barrie and graduated from Sault College specializing in Geographical Information Systems. He’s worked in municipal land use for 15 years as a municipal employee with the City of Edmonton and as a consultant working with municipalities across Ontario. He now lives in Collingwood with his family.
Eight years ago, he helped on the Jeff Lehman campaign (current mayor of Barrie).
“I have always been interested in municipal politics as it is the level of government that affects our day-to-day life the most,” said Aldred. “I feel that now is the right time for me to be on council as I have four children growing way too fast and I want their environment to be the best.”
The councillor hopeful was inspired by his time living in Edmonton where he said the city aspired to be the best in the world at everything they did.
“I like to think big, why not be the best?” he said. “My dream is for Collingwood to also be well-known as the best town in Canada to raise a family … this will require a huge shift in council’s vision and priorities. We need a new vision and a new voice in council.”
But it might be a long road to national glory. Aldred thinks the work starts with rebuilding trust.
“The biggest challenge is rebuilding the trust of all of the elected officials,” he said. “In the short-term, we need to move beyond the constant controversies dogging council … Long-term, we need to implement policies that deal with the total lack of transparency on council. The perception is that council’s business is done behind closed doors and that needs to change.”
Acording to Aldred, Collingwood’s greatest attribute is its people, and he proposes the town become better partners to local clubs and improve facilities to better serve them. And speaking of service, he sees “very little value” for Collingwood’s “high taxes,” and said he intends to change it.
“My financial priority is to provide acceptable value for the high taxes that we as homeowners pay,” he said. “If I am being asked to pay these high taxes, then I also look to get good value for what I am paying for.”
If he’s elected, Aldred promises to be a hardworking councillor who brings new initiatives to the town.
“I will not be attending functions for the usual photo-ops,” he said. “I will be actively working alongside those bringing these functions and festivals to you.”
Aldred is one of 19 candidates for councillor in the Oct. 22 municipal election. Voters may choose up to seven candidates on their ballots for councillor.
The Collingwood Chamber of Commerce is hosting a meet-the-candidates event for councillor candidates on Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Collingwood Legion. Doors open at 6 p.m. The last event was at capacity and some residents were turned away from the meeting.
The chamber will be posing questions received by members of the public to each of the candidates during the meeting. Click here if you have a question you’d like included.
