My personal picks for council

RICK CONROY

Note: The following endorsements are mine alone—not those of this newspaper or its publisher. My choices favour candidates who demonstrate financial discipline, scrutinize major infrastructure commitments and bring relevant experience to council. I also value independent judgment and a willingness to explain difficult trade-offs.

WARD 1
Jane Lesslie has earned the right to represent Picton on the next term of council. During her tenure, the County’s audit committee became a more influential voice in Council’s decision-making. It needs to grow.

Lesslie brings a solid background in money management to Council. These skills and insights will serve her well in an organization that now regularly spends more than $100 million per year.

Kate MacNaughton remains a vocal conscience on council for those she sees as overlooked and marginalized in our community. She reliably promotes local government as a driver of social change here and beyond.

She nevertheless voted twice to endorse a regional water plan that would have put an immense financial hardship on all Picton residents. She also voted against a motion to put guardrails around a developer in Wellington at a critical 2024 Council meeting. It has been tougher to square her stated convictions with her votes over the past two terms.

To her credit, MacNaughton is candid about her belief that local government should do more in the community—and that property taxpayers should foot the bill.

St-Jean’s time at council has surely run its course. St-Jean too often treated disagreement as a failure by his colleagues to do the right thing. His support for major development and infrastructure spending was forceful; his scrutiny of the financial and environmental risks was less convincing. Much of his belligerence was in aid of clearing the path for big developers and promoting massive infrastructure spending. He angrily rebuked residents for not showing enough reverence for the beauty and truth of big developers’ generosity.

He should have been a loud defender of the Waring’s Creek watershed. He’s been around long enough to know that the County prom promised to protect this land. Instead, he backed the Cold Creek development, defended the developer’s promises and challenged environmental objections concerning the Waring’s Creek watershed.

Emery Niles did not attend last week’s candidate meeting, missing an important opportunity to make his case to voters. On the evidence available to me, I cannot recommend him.

Jane Lesslie will be a good councillor for Picton. Kate MacNaughton will continue to march to her own drum. Two seats. Two picks. These are mine.

WARD 2
Mark Henry is a proven builder and community promoter. He is a pioneer in agri-tourism in Prince Edward County, creating and developing the iconic Big Red Barn venue just east of Wellington.

He overcame council indifference—and casual resistance—to establish and run Fields on West Lake, a venue that blends the community’s rural character with the changing needs of its visitor economy. Henry, along with Lynne Ellis, also founded the County Marathon—a signature event that continues to draw thousands of participants on the first Sunday of October for 23 years.

He has an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

Mark’s priorities are protecting agricultural land and supporting local farming. He wants to apply more rigour to the County’s finances and budgets.

Mark Henry will be a strong addition to the next term of Council.

Rutgers brings the perspective of a working farmer raising a family in the County—a perspective council needs

With Phil Prinzen choosing not to run again, Council will miss an important ag voice at the table. Rutgers and his family have deep agricultural roots in this community.

Prince Edward County is, and always has been, an agricultural community first. Agriculture is changing and evolving. Council needs Rutgers’s perspective as a young person earning his livelihood on the family farm. It is essential.

Victor Lind appears to be a capable candidate for Bloomfield–Hallowell. He is a retired urban planner. He has said he wants to improve municipal finances and encourage more judicious use of tax dollars. He cofounded and served as director of Save Picton Bay, an advocacy group that challenged multiple levels of government to defend the bay from the environmental risks posed by Picton Terminals.

Single-issue candidates, however, don’t tend to fare well on council. The term is a long four years. It is tough to sustain energy and enthusiasm when a handful of issues animate your purpose. On the other hand, Lind demonstrates a sound understanding of growth, land use, the environment, healthcare, and the need to reduce Council’s size.

Geoff Heinricks, Mark Hopper, Joanne Fralick and Erryn Ahern have not emerged from the crowded field of candidates in Ward 2. Kyle Mayne met this test with sheer persistence. He is an entertaining character in a business that can be dry and colourless; we look forward to seeing him again in four years.

My choice in Bloomfield Hallowell is Mark Henry and Kane Rutgers.

WARD 3
Corey Engelsdorfer was acclaimed to the Wellington seat. It will be his second term.

WARD 4
There is hardly a better argument for a smaller Council than in the race for three council seats in Ameliasburgh. Six candidates are running: Andreas Bolik, Dianne O’Brien, Janice Maynard, Sam Grosso, Paul Boyd and Doug Villeneuve. Beyond Bolik, it is difficult to recommend any of the other candidates. They are all good people, but it requires more than this to govern the County’s business for the next four years.

Paul Boyd enjoys running for office. He does it often. His last term on council ended in 1980. Doug Villeneuve offered little to inform residents of his qualifications at the candidate meeting in Consecon. It seems an exploratory exercise for Villeneuve.

That leaves four.

Janice Maynard is Council’s longest-serving member, seeking her fifth term representing the residents of Ameliasburgh. Maynard is adamant that Ameliasburgh residents shouldn’t bear the burden of infrastructure investment in Picton, Bloomfield and Wellington. She believes Ameliasburgh residents have paid for its four water systems: Peats Point, Rossmore-Fenwood Gardens, Ameliasburgh, and Carrying Place-Consecon.

Maynard also believes County residents should pay substantially more in property taxes, with most of the additional revenue going toward Ameliasburgh’s roads. In another election, that position alone might cost her my endorsement. That she retains it is a measure of the alternatives.

Dianne O’Brien served three mostly unremarkable terms on council. In 2022, she ran for mayor and finished third, behind Steve Ferguson and Terry Shortt.

She advocates a smaller role for local government— focused on the essentials, including roads, bridges, and waterworks. But over her time on council, the size and cost of government rose steadily. It is unclear how O’Brien’s fourth term will change this trajectory.

Andreas Bolik served on council from 2018 to 2022. He is a former aerospace engineer and lawyer. In his first term, he was a hardnosed, rational, and occasionally prickly advocate for Ameliasburgh. He has the skills, background, and experience to make a strong contribution in the next term.

Sam Grosso is personable, but his first term too often reflected greater alignment with major developers than with the interests of residents. He voted for massive infrastructure spending with insufficient scrutiny of the impact on Ameliasburgh residents. Most troubling, his music venue was rezoned while he sat on council. He recused himself from the key votes, but the optics were poor—and so was the example it set.

In Ameliasburgh, Andreas Bolik earns my endorsement. Janice Maynard and Diane O’Brien get my reluctant support—not a vote of confidence.

WARD 5
Four candidates are running to replace Sam Branderhorst on council representing Athol. Only one appears ready, with the experience and skills needed to contribute straightaway.

Anna Zak understands firsthand the challenges of navigating Prince Edward County’s planning processes. Her business, Lakecroft, came to Council last year seeking permission to convert a former campground in Cherry Valley into a wedding and tourist-accommodation venue.

Lakecroft secured its rezoning in August 2025, nearly six months after the proposal first came before Council. Her experience gives her firsthand insight into Prince Edward County’s planning process. It also makes her approach to development— and her ability to distinguish her business interests from the broader public interest—worth examining.

Rather than erecting more and steeper barriers, it must find new ways to protect the character of the place while helping those who want to invest here and make a life here.

One of Zak’s rival candidates noted during the campaign that for her “the County is home, not a business opportunity.’

Of course it can be both. It should be both. We cannot build a stronger economy by standing in the way of the people who live and work here. When residents are ready to build, invest and create jobs, they deserve a clear path forward—not months of roadblocks.

Emily Pickstock, Tyler Langmuir and Haley Woods are keen, interested and energetic young people seeking to give back to their community. Pickstock believes in residents first in Prince Edward County. She worries about the lack of jobs in Prince Edward County.

Tyler Langmuir believes he can put the County back on the right track—by restoring residents’ voices in Picton. Haley Woods is concerned about overtourism and overdevelopment in Prince Edward. She promises to push for natural growth.

I commend all Athol candidates for their contributions to this election cycle. The next council will face difficult decisions about the cost of maintaining and replacing municipal infrastructure. Experience will be especially valuable as they navigate those choices.

Anna Zak gets my nod in Athol.

WARD 6
The first candidate meeting in Sophiasburgh is getting underway this evening. We haven’t had a chance to hear the candidates’ pitches firsthand.

Bill Roberts signalled earlier this year that three terms on council would be enough. He has since decided to seek a fourth.

Roberts began with a promise to help revitalize the County’s economy. Over 12 years, that ambition narrowed into an enthusiasm for large-scale housing development around Picton—and the costly waterworks needed to support it. The promise of growth captured his imagination. The risks and the bill deserved more of his attention.

Rachel Prinzen caused quite a stir on the public school board last term. Prinzen was twice barred from board and committee meetings for disclosing confidential board information to provincial officials—disclosures she defended as whistleblowing.

Through the ordeal, Prinzen was steadfastly supported by fellow trustee, Ernie Parsons, a former MPP from 1999 to 2007.

“This board thrives on secrets,” said Parsons on its decision to censure Prinzen. “I think this board should be far more accountable to the public than it is.”

All elected boards and councils must answer to the people, not just to themselves. We need voices at that table willing to ask tough questions, challenge complacency and demand accountability from within.

Prinzen could be a positive force on the next term—or merely a disruptive one. Parsons’ support for her during that dispute weighs in her favour.

Megan Hutton is running to give Sophiasburgh a fresh option. Based on her profile in these pages, she is asking good questions about the County’s finances and the risks of major infrastructure spending.

“Existing residents—especially people already struggling with water and wastewater rates—shouldn’t be left holding the bag,” said Hutton to the Times.

I know very little about Les Chapman, and even less about his qualifications or why he’s seeking a council seat.

I cautiously endorse Rachael Prinzen in Sophiasburgh. Council could use a little disruption.

WARD 7
Chris Braney was elected by acclamation to the Hillier ward.

WARD 8
Three candidates with distinct backgrounds and perspectives are vying to succeed David Harrison in North Marysburgh.

Siobahn Harrison cut her teeth working for famed money manager and investor Stephen Jarislowsky. Stephen Jarislowsky was respected—and, in some Canadian boardrooms, feared—for his relentless scrutiny of corporate management. He made complacent directors uncomfortable, and he had the stature and willingness to challenge them.

Harrison is no Jarislowsky, of course. She worked in the back office, administering trades and making sure the details were pinpoint accurate. But it is hard to imagine thriving in that culture without absorbing some of its rigour.

Such talent and experience may prove useful in the next term of council.

Ken Morton built a successful business in Trenton, creating jobs and livelihoods for dozens of people. He knows what it takes to build an enterprise, manage uncertainty and make difficult decisions when money is on the line. That judgment belongs at the council table.

Morton answered North Marysburgh residents’ questions directly and confidently at the Waupoos meeting. He showed a clear grasp of the waterworks challenges and understood that unchecked spending could become a County-wide burden, not just a cost to those connected to the system.

Tracey Steven seems sincere and earnest in her ambition to restore trust between ratepayers and Shire Hall. She has decades of experience leading telecommunications projects and business transformation.

She places great emphasis on consultation to gain public buy-in and validate change.

“Ask first, then decide,” she told The Times.

There is room, however, for Stevens to offer a clearer account of her thinking on the issues facing the community.

I believe North Marysburgh residents will be well served by either Siobahn Harrison or Ken Morton, but my choice is Ken Morton.

WARD 9
John Hirsch was acclaimed in South Marysburgh.