• Protecting Water and Farmland in Simcoe County

John McCallum, Ward 3 – Candidate for Councillor

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In Bradford West Gwillimbury
Sep 11th, 2010
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By Miriam King Bradford Times September 10 2010
John McCallum admits that his term in office has been a “whirlwind experience… from day one” – starting with initial discussions on Development Charges and the decision to expand the wastewater treatment plant “to build-out”, to the flurry of infrastructure stimulus projects in BWG, and the Holland Marsh Drainage improvement project.
“The marsh project is one of the biggest projects this municipality will ever have,” McCallum notes – and he’s been in the thick of things, as the Town’s representative on the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, and as chair of the Joint Municipal Services Board that is overseeing the Marsh project.
“Saving the Marsh from flooding is a very important thing, not only from a farming aspect, and a safety aspect, and an economic aspect, but also it’s common sense.” At the end of the day, he says, the Board will not only be able to preserve, but improve the resource that is the Holland Marsh.
He calls the last term in Council one of transition, and defends Council’s decision to move forward with projects like the wastewater treatment plant expansion. Had the Town not built when it did, “everything would have come to a standstill,” once the Lake Simcoe Protection Act was enacted, he says.
Similarly, he supports moving forward with the 8th Line-Dissette St. road widening, taking advantage of infrastructure funding. “Yes, it’s really inconvenient. Yes, it’s overwhelming,” McCallum says of the roadwork, but had the Town waited, and done the work “piecemeal,” the construction period could have dragged on for years, and costs gone even higher.
“The important thing is that we get the building blocks in place,” McCallum says, pointing out that growth is mandated by the province. “We need to partner with that growth, and try to get the best benefit for the community.”
As for the Bradford Bypass: “We knocked at a door that didn’t open.”
What’s ahead? Securing a greater share of the town’s water supply from Innisfil’s lake-based water treatment plant – reducing the Town’s reliance on wells; completing the marsh drainage project; and completing the Library project, by ensuring that a medical clinic goes into the old Library building.
Although the Town’s most recent health application was turned down by the province, “we will make that a successful clinic, one way or another,” McCallum says. “We still are an underserviced community, which we were four years ago.”
He calls for more sustainable industrial/commercial development, jobs and transportation. “We’ve got our destiny set out for us… What is it about? Making sure the next generation gets the benefits of what we’re trying to put in place.”
“I’ve enjoyed it, enjoyed the challenges,” he says of his time in Council – but he makes it clear where he stands: “I am from agriculture, I am still in agriculture, and I represent the largest agricultural dollar community in our municipality” – a community that he wants to continue to “protect, and strengthen.”

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