On the issues

A rainy night in Demorestville

Why should we believe you?” asked Sophiasburgh resident Jeff Rosborough of his councillors sitting on the stage at the Demorestville hall on Monday night. “We voted for a smaller council, but you didn’t do it. We sent you with a mandate. You didn’t follow through.”

It was a tough question—particularly for Councillor Terry Shortt, who consistently voted to defer discussion of the issue and ultimately helped defeat the recommendation proposed by the Citizens’ Assembly to reduce the size of council.

“There is a reason they have rules that say ballot questions aren’t binding if fewer than 50 per cent of eligible voters don’t show up,” said Shortt.

Yet Shortt added that his position has softened in recent weeks, suggesting he wouldn’t block efforts to reduce the number of councillors if that was the wish of council.

Kevin Gale said he wasn’t to blame, that he has been pushing for a smaller council since 2003.

Challenging the incumbents, Bill Roberts said council’s inaction has provoked cynicism among the electorate who are now unsure why they should vote.

“They say ‘I’ve done that before and nothing happened,’” recounted Roberts from his visits to Sophiasburgh doorsteps in recent weeks. “Rarely have we seen the will of 80 per cent of the population thwarted. We did it twice.”

Roberts also challenged Gale and Shortt for not doing more to support the County hospital, pointing to their lack of attendance at council’s Health Care Advisory committee.

All candidates bemoaned the state of County roads. Kevin Gale described the roads as deplorable and in some cases undrivable. He said the money must be found to fix them.

“I get more calls about roads than any other issue,” said Gale. “They [the electorate] don’t care as much about museums and libraries.”

Shortt agreed that roads are in bad shape and said that we will all have to reach deep into our pockets to fix them. “Our tax base is too low,” said Shortt. But he warned against digging deeper into debt—cautioning against putting the obligation of today’s road needs on the backs of the next generation.

“That’s not acceptable,” said Shortt.

Bill Roberts agreed roads needed repairs but said any increase in road spending had to be kept in line with the consumer price index.

“We have the highest number of seniors living on fixed income,” said Roberts. “We must think hard before we add to their tax burden.”

He said that highways 49 and 33 are shared responsibilities with the province, that council must persuade Queen’s Park to take back part of the job of maintaining these expensive roadways.

Gale’s response to the roads question prompted a question about the candidates’ commitment to museums and libraries.

All candidates said they support these community facilities and resources.