This article has been edited from a previous version.
One of Collingwood council’s newest faces will be drawing on her curling experience and a career in media for her new role at town hall.
Mariane McLeod left a career in broadcast journalism at 97.7 The Beach (now Max FM) and soon after entered politics by submitting nomination papers to run for a spot on council.
McLeod was elected with the most votes of all the councillor candidates (4,683).
“I’m still kind of surprised,” said McLeod. “I’m thrilled and elated, but I did not expect to take the top spot. I feel it comes with a pretty big responsibility … so I’m looking forward to living up to the challenge.”
She spent many days during the campaign season going door-to-door, and brought a notebook with her to jot down questions and ideas as residents brought them up.
“I think listening was pretty helpful, I can’t tell you how much I learned,” said McLeod. “A lot of people are concerned with the quality of life on their street and the traffic on their street. I was happy and surprised by how engaged people were.”
McLeod said her note taking was a habit from her career in broadcast journalism.
“I think that journalists work for the public and politicians also – on their good days – they’re working for the public too,” said McLeod. “I don’t see that the two roles are as divergent as one might be able to imagine.”
She also said the public has a role to play in local government, and it starts with voting.
“I would be happier if it had been more than 40-per-cent turnout,” she said. “The role of the citizen is to remain informed and also not to let things get so hard that they end up having to take to the streets, which is not to say there isn’t a place for protest, obviously there is.”
McLeod was born and raised near Collingwood in Glen Huron. Her father was a farmer, and worked at the Collingwood Terminals building during a couple lean winters.
“My heart is in them staying,” said McLeod of the Terminals. “Because we’re at the very, very beginning of this conversation, we can blue sky at this point … We don’t have all the facts yet, but I think there’s a real opportunity there to do something magnificent while honouring what was there.”
McLeod has been curling since she was a student at Collingwood Collegiate Institute, and has drawn lessons from her time in the sport.
Firstly, the Collingwood Curling Club, to her, represents a successful partnership between the town and the experts (the curlers). The building is town-owned, but the club is run by the membership.
“It’s passionate people and the politicians getting out of the way,” said McLeod. “It’s a magnificent relationship, I think. Or at least the results have been magnificent.”
When it comes to being on council, McLeod is looking at it like being part of a team.
“[Curling] is a true team sport, if you do your job well and everyone does their job well, there’s success,” said McLeod. “We’re all pulling in the same direction. At the end of the day, you want to do good work with your community You want to win your end.”
But when it comes to wins, there’s a “sweet spot” McLeod said council needs to find.
“When decisions are made too quickly, they tend to be bad decisions,” she said. “At the same time, we’ve had some decisions that took too long and we missed out on opportunities. So I think that a council that genuinely listens but is also willing to make up its mind would be that sweet spot.”
McLeod and the rest of the 2018-2022 council will have their first meeting Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. in the town hall council chambers.
