Rob Keffer launches campaign for Mayor

By Miriam King Bradford Times

Rob Keffer launched his Mayoral campaign in front of a packed auditorium at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford, on September 12.

It was standing room only, as supporters enjoyed a free BBQ, horse-drawn wagon rides, and listened to speeches by the candidate and supporters. “I’m very proud to be part of this campaign,” said Jim Walker, BWG Citizen of the Year. “I’ve rarely seen enthusiasm as I’ve seen it for our candidate here, Rob Keffer – a friend, a candidate, and a born leader… He wants controlled growth, he wants controlled change, he wants fiscal responsibility.”

Keffer said that his campaign was “based on a simple goal, that together we can ensure smart growth and build a better Town.” He said he entered politics four years ago “because I was worried – worried about out-of-control spending and high taxes that always go up, worried about the loss of agricultural land and losing our community to big development, worried about harming our environment, worried about the debt we are leaving our children.”

He particularly identified “poor budgeting and bad priorities” for higher taxes. “We have to stop the wastefulness and poor financial planning… Make developers pay their fair share.”

Keffer spoke of repairing roads and bridges, building more affordable housing “especially for seniors”, and creating “new well-paying local jobs,” repeating his slogan, “Build a better Town, not just a bigger Town.”

He concluded, “I have the experience, vision and thoughtful policies to ensure smart growth” – to a standing ovation.

Keffer accused incumbent Doug White of “promising to continue increasing your taxes,” a reference to a promise on White’s website, to “Keep tax increases at or below our average of 1.48% over past 5 years.”

White has responded. “The past 4 years, our average property tax increase was a modest 1.2% (1.48% over the past 5 years)… How is it Mr. Keffer is attacking me for this, when he supported all 4 of those budgets? Further, we managed to keep tax increases low while building a new Leisure Centre, a new library, a new medical centre, establishing public transit and vastly improving our parks, sports fields, trails and green space.

“If Mr. Keffer believes he can deliver a budget below 1.2%, he must be open, honest and transparent about what current services he would eliminate. Our homeowners see their insurance, electric, cable, telephone, natural gas and gasoline bills increase every year. The Town must deal with these same external operating cost increases.”

Mayoral Candidate Hernan Burgos pointed out, “The Average Inflation in Canada has been fluctuating between 1% and 2% for the last decade. We must maintain a tax increase close to this inflation rate, otherwise we will be deflating our system.

“We also have to remember that we are in a process of growth. We must be creative with the resources that we presently have. We must think outside the box. We are not a small village any more – we now compete at a global level. Manufacturing, Food, Information and Technology are keys to the future.”