Ted Taylor
Ted Taylor lives in the municipality of Central Manitoulin on Big Lake Dam Road and had let his name stand for council three years ago when Adam Smith vacated his seat due to business pressures. Mr. Taylor was chosen to fill the vacancy and has really enjoyed his time spent on council and will run in the upcoming election.
“I really enjoy working with staff and with the road crews,” Mr. Taylor remarked, “they are both excellent and the roads crew is doing a whale of a job here.”
There are several accomplishments achieved by council that Mr. Taylor is especially proud of, including the addition to the council building, the new addition to Mindemoya’s hospital, the installation of a new boat ramp on the west end of Mindemoya Lake and the fact that the Mindemoya Drain work has been done.
“The Anglin subdivision had a problem with water just sitting there as it is a flat piece of land so to get that done is good as well as the new paving and sidewalks. Now we just have to do the regular maintenance of the farm drains.”
Mr. Taylor is proud of the activity in Central Manitoulin saying, “There has been a lot of growth in this part of the Island.” However, he stated that he is quite concerned that some of the other towns outside Mindemoya are losing services. “We have done things for the beach and interpretive centre in Providence Bay,” he said, “but gas stations and stores have been lost.”
Something that Mr. Taylor would like to see used in the future would be to hold meetings of committees and council electronically instead of having a stack of paper that continues to grow all the time. Mr. Taylor says that this would not only allow for ease when discussing a particular agenda, but also to go back in time if needed.
Mr. Taylor was born and raised on Manitoulin Island and attended the Mindemoya Continuation School. He worked for Waggs Creamery for thirteen-and-a-half years, starting in 1953. “I made ice cream the whole time I was there,” Mr. Taylor noted as he went on to explain that he has seen a lot of changes on the Island such as a switch in focus from agriculture.
In 1966 the family moved to Elliot Lake and Mr. Taylor worked in the Rio Algom power plant. He took courses at night school and worked his way up to chief power engineer and held this position at different mines.
Upon retirement, Mr. Taylor moved back to Manitoulin and expanded his cottage on Big Lake to a permanent home. Retirement has not slowed Mr. Taylor down as he is the president of the Central Manitoulin Historical Society, has helped with the roads crew, is on the volunteer fire department and is involved with the Anglican Church. He has been encouraged to run in the upcoming election and would welcome the chance to be part of Central Manitoulin’s council once again.
