Linda Farquhar
“Behind every great man there stands a great woman,” the old saying goes, and for Big Lake’s Linda Farquhar, who was ‘that woman’ for many years when her husband, the late Tom Farquhar, held the position of reeve of Mindemoya, it’s her time to jump into the ring, representing Ward 3 in Central Manitoulin.
Ms. Farquhar noted that she married into a family with a long history in municipal politics, but this is her first time on the scene.
“I have been a landowner and a taxpayer for 40 years and during that time I’ve seen taxes rise steadily,” she told The Expositor. “It’s time to hold the line on taxes.”
She said the increases to assessment have been particularly hard on waterfront landowners, of whom there are many in the municipality.
“Residents don’t feel it’s right,” Ms. Farquhar said, noting that Toronto bureaucrats are making assessments for rural Ontario.
“I think we have a great municipal road system, which is better maintained than the province’s, a competent fire department and police presence and we should work toward maintaining the status quo,” the Ward 3 candidate said.
As a senior citizen herself, Ms. Farquhar said she would like to see more in the municipality for that segment of the population, including a place to gather for seniors of all three wards, free of charge.
Ms. Farquhar is busy in the community as president of the Mindemoya seniors’ group and vice president of the Big Lake Women’s Institute.
“Mindemoya desperately needs a stoplight at our main intersection before someone is killed,” she said.
Ms. Farquhar also has the idea of opening a second north-south road that could join the highway near the hospital that could help to alleviate the traffic seen at that intersection.
“If elected, I would try to solve the problems of the residents of Ward 3,” she said, asking taxpayers to call or visit her with their concerns if elected.
“Thank you to voters in anticipation of their October 27 vote.”
