BWG candidates a study in contrasts

By Kate Harries AWARE Simcoe October 11 2010
Curiously, it was mayoral candidate Jim Corneau’s mention of the number of new vehicles being driven by Bradford West Gwillimbury staff that was interrupted by spontaneous applause from the crowd at last week’s all-candidates’ meeting in Bradford.
Other spontaneous reactions: murmurs when Mayor Doug White attacked deputy mayoral candidate Rob Keffer for having taken the town to the Ontario Municipal Board on the Highway 400 employment lands re-designation, and outright dissent from the crowd when he said Corneau and Keffer have contempt for town staff.
All of which indicates that sprawling development, a burgeoning municipal debt and expanding town payroll are among the hot-button issues in this municipal election. The men who propose to lead the town into a brighter future are a study in contrasts.

White, a Canada Post employee, is a polished and articulate speaker. First elected councillor in 2002, mayor in 2006, he stands on a record that has brought dramatic change to the town’s landscape and he’s pinning his hopes for the future on the promised move from Vaughan of heavy-equipment manufacturer Toromont.
Corneau, a businessman, has a genial and conciliatory manner. He has years of experience on council and as a community volunteer. He says he’ll control “run-amok spending” by managing the managers. He wants to build on the town’s heritage and agricultural industry while taking advantage of the creative energies of newcomers to expand the commercial and industrial sectors.
Keffer, a farmer, is passionate in his advocacy for the town agricultural community, a group for whom change has bought more challenges than benefits. A details man with a strong grasp of the town’s fiscal situation, he’s been running pointed advertisements in the local media focusing on tax issues.
Dennis Roughley, a retired police officer and the incumbent deputy mayor, is an old-fashioned politician, head of the Simcoe-Muskoka health board, past warden of Simcoe County and diligent member of countless committees and boards.
He’s been hard at work and he has the documentation to prove it. He held it up at the meeting – a 16-page publication showcasing the “achievements” of the 2006-2010 county council (mayors and deputy mayors). Focusing on the positive – there’s no mention, for instance, of controversial issues like Site 41 or the county’s agreement to sell off of a scenic portion of a county road on the Niagara Escarpment to Walker Aggregates – it was produced (four months before the council’s term end) by county communications staff and is viewed by challengers as an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars to b used as campaign material in support of incumbents.
AWARE Simcoe, outraged at the amount of business conducted behind closed doors at the local and county level, has made openness and transparency a key election issue. Now, everyone’s in favour. But with openness and transparency cloaking the county, it seemed strange that there was no clarity at the meeting on when or if Toromont is moving to Bradford. The question was asked: “Given that the mayor has made Toromont a key in his election campaign, does the town have a written commitment or letter of intent from the company as to whether they are going to be here or whether they are going to remain in Vaughan?”
Keffer replied. “I understand that Toromont has purchased land in Vaughan just recently and I understand that the subway extension is going to be delayed so there’s not going to be as much of a hurry to move out of their present locations.”
He noted that no Toromont representative has ever come to a BWG council meeting to say that they are coming. The only information has come from the spokesperson for a land acquisition company.
“We have to place some trust in these people,” Roughley replied. “I don’t have any knowledge personally of any understanding that we have with Toromont… Excepting that we have an understanding on a plan that’s been provided for by the developing company that has the understanding with that company in doing the EA predevelopment charges.”
Unfortunately the question was directed only at the deputy mayors and White was not allowed to answer. If he has a written commitment or letter of intent, we will be glad to post it here (email aware.simcoe@gmail.com) .
The Toromont issue underlies the last council’s focus on the 400 employment lands. Gaining approval for the development on agricultural land outside the designated settlement area required political intervention from the McGuinty government, going against its own Places to Grow policy.
(The province’s senior planner, Victor Doyle, argued forcefully and unsuccessfully against the policy change. Link )
Corneau and Keffer told the meeting that the effort the council put into pressuring the government on the issue would have been better spent lobbying for the Highway 400-404 link, desperately needed for revitalization of the downtown by removing through traffic. It would also have been sound from the planning point of view, because that’s where industrial lands have been designated – close to the sewage treatment plant and other infrastructure.
White agreed the link is critical. But, he said, council decided it did not want to fight a war on two fronts with the province, and the 400 employment lands re-designation offered certainty.
“What makes more sense,” he asked, “having employment lands on an existing highway where our destiny is in our own hands, or a future highway where we don’t have any idea when it’s going to be built and our destiny is in the hands of the province.”
Toromont and the business that will follow, he said, will be “our casino,” and “for a man running for deputy mayor to take us to the Ontario Municipal Board to try and shut down our future like that – I take great exception to that.”
That’s when the crowd got restive.
Keffer did not pick up on the issue.
His argument to the OMB was based on the fact that the town’s Official Plan stresses the importance of protecting agriculture in BWG. The OP amendment to allow the 400 employment lands development takes 1,800 acres of prime agriculture land out of production.
And, it’s expensive. It covers 265 acres of flood plain that cannot be developed, but will have to be traversed by roads, water pipes and sewer pipes. Keffer estimated the infrastructure costs at $150 million, to be up-fronted by developers at a time when there’s land already serviced elsewhere in the GTA that will be cheaper.
The view that employment-related development should go to the areas already designated in the OP had obvious merit. Had Keffer been successful at the OMB – opposed by lawyers representing the developer, the town, the county and the province, he was not – the province would have had a much harder time ignoring the need for the 400-404 link.