North Frontenac Municipal Election Candidates

Jeff Green | Oct 12, 2022

There are three wards in North Frontenac, and two council members are elected from each ward. The mayor is elected through a vote among all of the eligible electors in the township. There are three unique aspects of North Frontenac Township among Frontenac County townships, all relating to its location.

It is the only township ‘north of 7’ located entirely on the Canadian Shield. Most North Frontenac residents live closer to Ottawa and/or to Algonquin Park than to Kingston, but Kingston is where the social services for North Frontenac are based. North Frontenac’s land base is mostly comprised of Crown Land, a severe limitation on economic growth within the township, although the township has been able to to create and successfully promote the Frontenac Parklands camping experience for local residents, and visitors alike. As well, North Frontenac is a township that contains more houses (2800) than it has permanent residents (2300). This is because there are substantially more seasonal residents in North Frontenac than there are permanent residents. as well as Mayor Higgins,

When it comes to municipal elections, seasonal residents have an ex- tremely low turnout rate. This is partially because many seasonal residents are not even aware that, in municipal elections they can vote in two places, in the jurisdictions of both their seasonal and permanent homes.

In the 2018 election, the mayor and all of the council members, who were elected in 2014, ran for reelection, and no one else ran. There was no election in the township except for a school board election, and the same council was in place for 8 years. The only thing that altered that, was the unfortunate death of long serving Councillor Fred Perry earlier this year. All of the rest of the 2014, and 2018 councillors are running again this time around.

But this time other candidates have stepped forward in each of the three wards, and for mayor. Gerry Lichty is challenging Ron Higgins for mayor. In Ward 1, where there is only one incumbent, Wayne Good, there are two new candidates; Mike Hage and Stephanie Regent. In Ward 2, Roy Huetl is contesting the election along with incumbents Gerry Martin and Vernon Hermer. And in Ward 3 Kevin McCann is running as are incumbents John Inglis and Fred Fowler.

In interviews with all 11 candidates conducted over the past week, a few issues have emerged; including septic re inspection, short term rentals, land use planning, and whether the township is active enough in promoting local initiatives. And, as people who have attended the all candidates meetings that have been held so far, will attest, the new candidates have already brought new personalities to North Frontenac township politics.

The final all candidates meeting in North Frontenac is for Ward 2 and mayoralty candidates. It will be held at the Clar-Mil Hall in suburban Plevna on October 13 at 7pm.

Mayor - Ron Higgins

In his working career, Ron Higgins rose the corporate ladder to become a senior quality manager at Nortel. He travelled far and wide implementing procedures and guidelines for their supply chain. After 30 years with Nortel, he started his own consulting firm. A key contract with the Ottawa Senators led the way to working for the federal government setting standards and best practices for the Caribbean Community.

Ten years later he closed up shop and retired in North Frontenac

He joined the board and later served as and the served as the Chair of the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (now know as Frontenac Business Services) and volunteered his services to the township, where he met Bud Clayton and key staff members.

“Bud convinced me to run as a Councillor for Ward 2, but after his passing I was ended up running for Mayor instead,” he said,

He was elected in the fall of 2014.

He said there were a lot of issues that were concerns for him when he first took office, that have since been addressed.

“The township has seen substantial improvement in a number of areas, including improvements to the fire service, making sure that the township’s community halls are well maintained, and can effectively address emergency issues such as floods, windstorms, etc.

“We hold table top exercises once, or twice a year to improve the response process, and that served us well in dealing with the pandemic and the wind storm in the spring,” he said.

Both as township Mayor and in his role as a member, and warden for two years, at Frontenac County, he said that he has built solid relations with the province, service providers and other municipalities in Eastern Ontario.

“Knowing who to call is key to getting things done as quickly as possible – or at the least getting to the top of someone’s ‘to do’ list. Sometimes being the squeaky wheel is Job #1”.

The issues that he hopes to address in this next term, and which convinced him to seek a third term, including addressing the land use planning process.

“I keep hearing from constituents that the bureaucracy, red tape, and costs make it very difficult to build in our township. I will be looking at all of the factors, from our building department and the committee of adjustment, planning services which we currently contract out to Frontenac County, and the work of the Conservation Authority, to improve the process,” he said.

He would also line to promote more activist agenda at the township regarding business recruitment and support for business initiatives.

“I have been disappointed with the outcomes a few times on occasion. While we supported hiring an Economic Development Officer for a trial period, Council have been reluctant to support implementing programs to see results. Council voted against going forward with projects that had already been approved in the budget. This a source of frustration for me. We have to move forward. “

He also thinks that the township needs to address climate change, both in terms of doing the limited things it can do as far as prevention is concerned, and through adaptation efforts.

“Continuing to strengthen relations with indigenous community stakeholders is another goal of mine, including the Shabot Obaadjiwan, Snimikobe and the Ardoch Algonquins.”

Although he was the founder of the North Frontenac Lake Association Alliance, he takes a bit of a wait and see approach to at least two of the issues that the Alliance has been promoting during this election campaign.

“I am not convinced that a mandatory septic inspection program is something that North Frontenac needs to get involved with. I do not see the evidence that faulty septic systems are a threat to the heath of our lakes, and most people in the township do not favour government intervention unless there is a problem that needs to be addressed,” he said.

He said he is pleased that North Frontenac Council took the lead in preparing a report that provides the basis for a bylaw regarding short term rentals, but does not see a need to implement one just yet.

“I think we should be ready, which we are now that we have a template. I have received some complaints through phone calls and emails about noise and littering, and I tell people that the township will not register or act on their complaint if it is not submitted as a written complaint to the township. And we had one written complaint in 2021, and none in 2022.”

Mayor - Gerry Lichty

Gerry Lichty has lived in North Frontenac on a full-time basis, in the Snow Road area, since 2014, and has been involved in public life as president of the Snow Road Community Centre Association, and as a member of the Committee of Adjustment for the township.

Because the Community Centre is a township facility and the committee of adjustment deals with zoning patterns that are referred to by the township as well, he has been exposed to some of the inner workings of North Frontenac.

Over the past few years, I gradually became more and more disenchanted with the way that the mayor was conducting business. I finally decided that I had to either stop complaining or put my name forward and run for the position of Mayor. I selected option 2.

Lichty said that his own background makes him qualified for the role of mayor. He graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1972, and worked building bridges for over a decade before changing his career path by taking a job as the chief designer with Toronto Community Housing.

He spent the rest of his career working on public housing projects in Toronto, and later for the Ontario Ministry of Housing.

One of his career highlights was supervising a $100 million project to repair social housing facilities across the province. He left the province during the Mike Harris era and went to work for the Region of Waterloo as facilities manager. Later in his career, he worked on energy management projects, and opened a consulting business, Northwind Management Consultants, in 2009. . He also worked with Conestoga College as a part time instructor in their continuing education program.

“I do my best to be an objective thinker,” he said. “If you listen to someone from the other side of an issue, you may learn something that you don’t know.”

In terms of the issues that Council will be dealing with during the coming term of office, he thinks that finances will be challenged by inflation and other economic factors, but said that “the township’s finances appear to be well managed, and from my own interaction with staff over the years, the level of commitment and the skill level is high, so hopefully we will be able to manage”.

He does not favour setting up a mandatory septic inspection system, but thinks the township should track when residents have their systems pumped out.

“We can create a database and then inform residents when it is time for another pump out, and ask them to let us know when they have done so. If they don’t do the pump out, then the township could take action, if necessary,” he said. “That is just an idea, which would need to be worked out, but a full reinspection system does not seem necessary, or affordable.”

He also said that affordability is an issue when it comes to a short-term rental bylaw.

“I read the report that was presented to Council last month and found it well thought out and well written. The problem is not in writing the bylaw but in enforcing it. Right now, it can take up to three days for bylaw services, which are based in Kingston, to answer a call. Further, the OPP are frequently busy with other business and are unable to respond within a suitable time. So, how do we enforce such a bylaw? In my opinion, we need to continue to work with our neighbours to generate cost-effective solutions to make this happen.

He thinks that Council’s decision to opt out of the Frontenac County Communal Servicing corporation was short-sighted.

“We might not have a project at this time that would benefit from Communal Servicing, but one day we might, and we might not be able to make that happen. I don’t think the one-time cost of $100,000 was that high, and it was to be spread over five years, I believe,” he said.

More than specific issues, he thinks that having an open mind, a commitment to developing a strong working relationship with other levels of government, and to They're pretty available at Grocery stores like Loblaws, Costco also has them, and another brand, also really good, and they come in boxes of 2 there...and are less expensive. listening to residents' concerns, are the qualities he intends to bring to the role of mayor.

“I am not a politician,” he said at one of the all candidates’ meetings, “I am an engineer. I look for practical solutions to problems, by looking at all of the implications of the decisions that we make on council. And as mayor I only have one vote, so I need to be able to bring the rest of council with me, if I want to take the township in a certain direction.”

Ward 1 - Wayne Good

Wayne Good is the dean of North Frontenac council members.

He was appointed to council a few months after his good friend, the late Fred Perry, died early in 2006, and has been elected or acclaimed 4 times since then.

“I think I've done a good job for the township,” he said, when asked why he decided to run again in 2022, “I think I can do more.”

He has continued to work throughout his municipal career, seasonally in recent years, but he said this might be his last seasonal contract, which runs out in November.

He said that what he has been adamant about, throughout his municipal career, is the need to spend where necessary, but to control spending, as much as possible, in order to keep taxes in check while building up the capacity of the township to deal with capital expenditures when they arise.

“The only thing that we borrowed money for was the renovation and additions to our township office building. That was necessary for health and safety reasons and for our staff to be productive at work,” he said. “Other than that, when we need a truck or some emergency road work, we have the money available. That has taken a long time to accomplish.”

He is worried about the impact of inflation on more vulnerable people in the township, especially this coming winter.

“This winter is going to be hard on people, and we don’t really have the tools to help them. People working for minimum wage, or living on a pension will have trouble paying their taxes. We can look at deferring taxes for people, but that only creates more debt, so we need to at least keep from raising taxes, even with the extra cost of fuel and other supplies.”

Cell and internet service continues to be a challenge for many in North Frontenac, including his own family home.

As a councillor in Ward 1, he has been a member of the joint fire board with councillors from Addington Highlands, and he said that the working relationship between the two townships has been moving in the right direction for years, but it was not always the case.

“When I first came on council, we had some issues, but over the years we have worked them out really well. We run our own township and they run theirs, but wherever we can work together, we do.”

He opposes mandatory septic re-inspection, and said that invasive species are a bigger concern on local lakes than septic systems.

“We have a voluntary septic inspection system that goes from lake to lake, and that works well. But problems like Asian Milfoil, which has hit Malcolm and Ardoch Lake in particular, is a difficult problem. We are also dealing with Phragmites, but there is more you can do about that problem.

“Invasives are a big issue for us, much more than problems with septic systems.”

Ward 1 - Mike Hage

With his wife Nawar, Mike Hage moved to North Frontenac after they purchased Myers Cave Resort two years ago.

“We knew no one when we came here,” he said.

That has changed, not through the business, as their guests are mostly not from the area, but by the couple’s involvement in the community, particularly the Land O'Lakes Lion's Club.

Mike comes from a Civil Engineering background, having run a large construction firm in Dubai as well as businesses in the Vancouver area, and previously his hometown Beirut, Lebanon..

Since renovating and re-launching Myers Cave Resort, the Hage's have also opened The Red Barn Zone, a food truck located on Road 506 across from the resort, which is at the foot of Marble Lake.

Nawar, an event planner by profession, had since owning the resort organized events on holidays, free of charge, for the community, such as Christmas tree lighting, Easter Egg Hunts, and more.

“I have had a perfect relationship with the Township of North Frontenac from a business planning perspective. They have been helpful, courteous, and professional every step of the way,” he said.

His run for council was triggered by a decision, or rather a non-decision of council about a year ago.

“The Mayor held workshops with local business owners last year about coming out of the pandemic, and one of the ideas the workshop adopted was my idea to organise events at a number of locations along Hwy 506, be it in one day, or a weekend, culminating in an early evening event at River Hill Farm with some food, vendor booths and the display of lights there. We wanted the township to approve the event and provide some administrative support, no funding was required, but they turned it down 6 to 1!

This gave me the incentive that something has to change at council level.”

He said that he sees major change coming to the area in the next decade or so.

“In the last two years, prices of land and property increased by around 60%. People, especially young professionals, are moving into this area, working from home. The township needs to be aware of these changes and be ready to manage and administer this in the direction most suitable for the population, otherwise we'll have chaos.”

He said that he knows that a number of issues at the township level are on the table, such as mandatory septic inspection, as well as short term rentals bylaw, and while he currently does not favour a mandatory septic inspection bylaw, Mike has his views about short term rentals: he said that “while curbing STRs helps his personal business”, he knows a lot of people who rely on STR to help them mitigate mortgage and other costs. He insists that this needs to be well researched and discussed prior to any decision being adopted.

Like any new task he takes upon himself, making it to council means there are many aspects of the township that he will need to learn about, “that's part of the challenge and the drive to serve the community in yet another manner.  If I don't know about something, I will not claim that I do. But I will learn, I will do my research, and then I will take a position, but not until then,” he said.

Ward 1 - Stephanie Regent

Stephanie Regent grew up in Belleville, and spent a lot of time each summer at her grandparent's cottage on Little Marble Lake, near Cloyne.

She used to go to the General Store in Cloyne for treats. Now, she owns that store, but it has taken while to get to there.

After High School she went to Ryerson (now called Toronto Metro) for nursing, and worked at Toronto Sick Kids hospital in the burn unit before getting into long term care in a management capacity, where she spent 25 years overseeing business and staffing operations in several locations. More recently, she returned to acute care and worked at Hamilton Health Sciences Centre.

During that time, she always came up to the cottage on little Marble Lake, and eventually purchased a house two doors down the road.

“I came up to check on my house in the fall of 2019, saw the for-sale sign on Grand's Store, and pretty soon after that I decided to retire from healthcare and moved back to Cloyne.”

She made the permanent move to Cloyne, to fix up the house and the store, on March 1st, 2020.

The store opened, as Finnegan's, on April 17, 2020, a month into the COVID lockdown.

And she hasn't looked back.

“Opening at that time, when the store was more important to people than ever, was a blessing for me, in a way. I really got to know the community.”

She has since joined the Kaladar-Barrie Fire department, specialising in medical calls. “I told Casey (the chief of the department) that if I'm not working, I'm available. I was working a lot for the first while, but now that I have two excellent employees who can run the store when I'm not there, I'm pretty much available.”

And last month she was recruited to join the board of the Friends of Bon Echo

Commitment to the local community, is what motivates her run for council as well.

“I'm not running because I have any complaints about the way the township runs. People keep talking to me about issues, such as short-term rentals, and I often talk with people in business and with my customers about what we need to make the community more complete. That's what I plan to bring to council, the perspective from all of my interactions with people that I meet at the store and in the community.”

She is also concerned about senior's issues, housing, and many other things.

“There are a lot of needs in the community and I know the township can only do so much, but I can bring their concerns to council.”

She said that she knows she has a lot to learn about the way the township operates, and promises to “be open and honest and bring all my energy and integrity to council, if elected.”

Ward 2 - Vernon Hermer

Vernon Hermer has been a member of council since 2014.

In his 8 years on council he has never shied away from opposing measures that he feels are not in the interest of township residents, particularly those in his ward.

“At times it’s disappointing being on council, and at other times it can be quite rewarding,” he said. People run into problems with the township, sometimes for planning or building issues, sometimes for other issues, and ask me what I can do about it. When they can be helped, it is satisfying, and it’s nice when people call me back to say they appreciate the help, even if it doesn’t always go their way.”

He thinks that the township can do a lot more for local residents than it has been doing.

“Land O’Lakes Community Services, for example, are coordinating services, such as lawn maintenance and housekeeping, for seniors in Ward 1, and into Ward 2, and they came to our council and said they could extend that to the entire township, but the Mayor wanted to talk to Rural Frontenac Community Services, who were not interested for a couple of reasons. That slowed the whole process.”

He said that the township’s asset management plan should be reviewed, pushing back replacement of pick-up trucks, for example, from 7 to 10 years, or more if they are in good condition.

He thinks that the township might see a slow down in development because of inflation and recession pressures.

“What I’m going to propose is that Council offer a limited time offer to reduce or eliminate building fees that fall under our building bylaw, the result would be immediate employment, more homes and an increase in the tax base, and support for the local economy.”

He would also like to see a freeze on creating new staff positions for the time being.

He also thinks the township should change some of its road construction practices.

“If they get away from tarring and chipping, which doesn’t work in this climate, and extend the life of the roads until we can refinish them properly, they would be better roads, which would last longer and save on maintenance down the line. But they seem to like to tar and chip right now.”

Hermer lives in the Plevna area. He is retired. He was born and raised in the area, worked in various Eastern Ontario communities in engineering and road construction for the government and in the private sector, living at home when he could.

Ward 2 - Roy Huetl

Roy Huetl loves municipal government

“It is the only government that directly deals with the people. I love the interaction over issues that matter to them. That’s why running for council has always been in my 5-year plan after I retired, and after I recently completed a Masters in Public Administration at Dalhousie University. So here we are,” he said.

The story of how he, and his wife Glenda, came to live in North Frontenac started with a family camping trip to Bon Echo 17 or 18 years ago.

“After camping, we spent a couple of days visiting a friend’s cottage on Gull Lake. We fell in love with the area, and eventually found a property on Buckshot Lake. We were going to build a three-season cottage, but our builder, Glen Manion, said we might as well put in a basement and make it a year round home. That made it easier to retire here.”

Since moving to the area, Huetl has become the president of the Buckshot Lake Association and has become involved with the North Frontenac Lake Association Alliance (NFLAA) as well. He is also a member of the Mississippi-Rideau Source Water Protection Committee (part of the MVCA).

He started his working career as an electrician, and worked his way into management, eventually becoming the director of water and wastewater in York Region, where the massive $5.3 billion water infrastructure serves over 1.1 million residents.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given his background, he said that the idea of mandatory septic inspections is something that he “agrees with in principle. I see the concern about cost for people who are on fixed incomes if a system needs to be replaced, and we need to take that into account, but to me it's like a furnace or a roof. They need to be maintained, and sometimes they need to be replaced. Inspections don’t create problems, they identify them.”

While he said that he appreciates the way the township operates, and said that he has “no reason to speculate that township is overstaffed, I do feel from going door to door talking to people, that they want a council that listens to them, and feel they have not had that over the last 4 years.”

He thinks that some decisions of Council, including some regarding economic development, have resulted in missed opportunities.

“The decision to reject a funding request to set up a farmers market was short-sighted,” he said.

In his role with the NFLAA, he has been working to inform seasonal residents that they do have a vote, and said that he hopes to see a higher percentage of residents voting in this election.

“I think we were down to about 18% in the last election. I hope to see it go up, maybe even just to 25%, this time.”

Ward 2 - Gerry Martin

Gerry Martin is now a senior member of North Frontenac Council, having been at the table since 2010. He said that he is running again this year because “I like it. Since my wife passed away it really gives me purpose.”

He also thinks that the experience as a member, and now the chair, of the township's Personnel and Audit Committee, has given him a valuable perspective on the township's finances.

“We started working on developing what I call a business plan back when Bud Clayton was Mayor. Now we are calling in an asset management plan, but it is really the same thing. We look at capital costs over 10 years and longer, and develop reserves, which you have to do in a small township like ours. An $80,000 extra cost in North Frontenac is a 1% increase in the budget, and $80,000 doesn't go that far when you need to build a road or buy a truck.”

He said that when MPAC (The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation) releases the next reassessment of property values, the values could triple for waterfront properties and go up about 50% for rural properties.

“I think we are going to have to look at variable tax rates to address that. Everyone uses the same amount of service, and for the burden to shift even further to the waterfront properties is not fair,” he said.

He does not support a mandatory septic inspection program, but supports the idea of a mandatory inspection when a property is sold. He supports the report on a Short-Term Rentals Bylaw that he helped out with.

He has been the North Frontenac representative to Frontenac County for the last 4 years, and is thinking about not seeking that post again if he is re-elected. On one issue at Frontenac County where North Frontenac has differed from the county, Communal Servicing, he said “I don't see why developers should not just post a bond for the value of the system for the township to hold onto in case something happens. That's the way things stand, and I think that is fair and less complicated for everyone.”

He also sits on the board of the Lakelands Family Health Team, and said that North Frontenac and Addington Highlands may have to put more money into doctor recruitment as efforts ramp up to bring a new doctor on board.

“We each put in $20,000 per year, but may need to come up with more.”

On another healthcare matter, he said that the paramedicine programs from Frontenac County Paramedics for wards 2 and 3, and Lennox and Addington Paramedics in Ward 1 are now in place and have been very successful.

“It's an important service for our seniors.”

Ward 3 - Fred Fowler

“I'm still new to council, Fred Fowler said of his decision to run for a second term, “I feel there's much more for me to do.”

Fowler is active with the township in his official role on council, and with other groups as well. He sits on the SALT (Seniors and Law Enforcement Together) organising and just resigned his position as president of the Rideau Lakes Artists Association, a role he has held for six years in an organisation that he remains committed to. He is a painter as well, and has exhibited his work regularly over many years.

He retired from the Toronto Police in 2000. He has owned property in Snow Road since 1999. He has

worked as a paralegal for a long time after that.

He said that he thinks that North Frontenac Council made a mistake recently when it opted out of the Frontenac County communal servicing corporation.

“I think that is something that we will regret. It might not work out right now, but we need to think 20 years ahead. If we don't do that, after time passes you end up with nothing, while others are moving forward.”

While he supports the efforts of the township, in recent years, to build up a solid portfolio of reserve funds, he thinks that there is a limit.

“I look at the township as a not-for-profit corporation. At some point you have to ask why it is taking so much profit, and whether some of that money should go back into circulation.

“There are some projects that could benefit from some of that money we are holding on to. I think the township should take a lead in supporting the projects that would move the community forward.”

There are also a couple of initiatives that he would like to explore, in the next term of council, should he be re-elected.

“I'm quite concerned about the welfare of seniors, and we have been working on a seniors’ housing project for years without success. There is an old motel near Ompah that is for sale. I've looked at the building and while it needs a lot of work, it is still in pretty solid shape. It could be turned into emergency housing for seniors, or others in need, something that is not available anywhere near here. I'd like us to look at that.”

If he is re-elected, Fowler is considering seeking the role as the second North Frontenac representative on Frontenac County Council. He is currently the alternative member from the township. A vote to select the representative will be one of the first items of business when the new council convenes in late November.

Ward 3 - John Inglis

When John Inglis ran for council, successfully, in 2010, one of his goals was to see if the Kingston Frontenac Public Library would reinstate the Ompah branch. That never happened, but the community library in Ompah is still in operation.

After three terms, he still enjoys being a member of township council, and said that there are some ongoing issues he would like to see addressed.

One of them is climate change

“I think the fact that our council does not seem inclined to even acknowledge climate change, as a driver of change, is hard for me to accept. I would like to see us take some action, even if it is symbolic, on climate change. It could be a level 3 charger in Cloyne, or at the Shamrock Bakery in Plevna. Or at least incorporating the impacts of climate change in our emergency planning, something to show that we recognise what is going on,” he said.

Of the major issues he sees coming to the next council, he said that development will likely be the most important.

“I'd like to see a lake density measure brought in when it comes to allowing severances. No body wants North Frontenac to undergo the kind of development that lakes in places like the Muskokas have had to endure.

He has been involved in the township’s economic development task force for a number of years, and while he thinks that it is hard to quantify the success of economic development efforts, they end up paying off sometimes in unexpected ways.

“We started a mural project, years ago now, and it has continued. I wouldn’t say that the murals bring new businesses to the township, but the fact the murals are still being made and people see them when they visit here, promotes the area. Maybe that is all that we can do. That, and making it easier for business owners to set up shop here when they can.”

The kinds of businesses that he appreciates the most are I'd also appreciate it if you mention are small specialty businesses that locate here for lifestyle reasons. I run one myself, and have for a long time.

He said that the township is well managed financially, making it easier when budgeting comes around each year.

“I’m generally in favour of extending services, promoting recreation, providing home support, all of the initiatives that we can afford. I think there is more to township politics than roads, even though that is where most of the money goes. I also think we need to start looking at a post-landfill reality. We have 30 years left in our waste sites, which seems like a long time, but it isn’t.”

In the next term,, if re-elected, he said that he may put his name forward to be the second Frontenac County representative from North Frontenac, along with the Mayor. He served in that role between 2014 and 2018, and did not seek the position in 2018.

The representative will be chosen at the first meeting of the new council, in late November.

Ward 3 - Kevin McCann

Kevin McCann is a relatively new full-time resident, living on River Road, but he’s “been here his entire life”

That’s because his family has owned the farm property where he lives now for about 60 years, and he spent a lot of time at the property, which they used as a a family cottage when he was a child.

His mother moved back a few years ago, and he was working as a floor manager in a Toronto wine bar when COVID hit and the entire industry shut down. That pushed him to move back to North Frontenac earlier than he had originally planned, in order to help his mother manage the property. It is an old 300-acre farm, with mostly hay fields and brush, but they are raising chickens and re-establishing it as a homestead.

Almost a year ago, he began working at North of 7 restaurant, where he said he “does a bit of everything”.

His decision to run for council came out of the job at North of 7, in a way.

“At the restaurant, I meet a lot of people, and we talk about this community, its potential, and about the township as well. I love this township. I think it is run really well, and I think that the council could really benefit from some new blood,” he said.

One of the personal assets he is offering to council is the perspective of someone who is concerned about employment and business opportunities, in the township, and is involved in the workforce, and about making sure that the essential strengths of the local community and the environment are protected.

“Our lakes, our wilderness, has to be our greatest asset, and as a township anything that we can do to protect them for the future should be our priority,” he said.

For that reason, he thinks the township should look carefully at mandatory septic reinspection as an option, noting that it is in place in two neighbouring municipalities without resulting in hardship for lower income residents.

He is also concerned about what he said he calls “rural discrimination” when it comes to cell phone and internet service.

“We’ve been told over and over again that internet service is coming, at least to the villages, but we are still waiting for reliable service. I know it is not in the purview of council, but even if it is only writing letters, or organising the citizenry, Council should be doing what it can.”

He knows that, if elected, he will be much younger than most of Council, since he is 38.

“I feel this is a good time to get involved,” he said, “I am young, compared to others, but I have picked up some wisdom along the way.”