Greg Seguin
Greg Seguin may call Sudbury home, but his heart lies in Killarney where he is a seasonal resident. The married father of two said that his platform is based on bringing fairness to the council table.
“I want to establish fairness in the municipality,” he said. “There has been a lot of turmoil in the community, a lot of us versus them mentality, particularly in Ward 1.”
The issue lies in the differing interests of cottagers and the permanent residents and Mr. Seguin said that he believes that a fairer balance can be found between those interests.
“We need to look at the economic development of the municipality and promote the municipality as a whole,” he said. Mr. Seguin said he believes that the French River region of the municipality is “somewhat overlooked for tourism, both French River and the Key River.”
Mr. Seguin said that while keeping costs down for everyone is a key priority for him, he also understands the importance of maintaining services that year round residents depend upon.
“The challenge is to realize that the taxpayers in the isolated areas of the municipality receive very little and to maintain responsible spending,” he said. “Making decisions in the interests of the municipality as a whole, not just for the nucleus of the village.”
While the cleavages between summer and permanent residents might seem difficult to overcome, many of the real challenges facing the entire community are presented by provincial downloading. “The ever increasing provincial downloading require us to push back wherever possible,” he said. “The downloading from the province down to the municipal taxpayer.”
Mr. Seguin said that he wanted it to be clear that his campaign is not a continuation of the “them versus us” mentality that he said has appeared to be a hallmark of the approach to recent issues facing the municipality. “We need to work together,” he said. “We have to empower the mayor to go and do his or her thing at the province and with work together with other municipalities to push back against the provincial downloading of costs.”
“Things can be harmonious for everyone,” said Mr. Seguin, “but they have to have a level of fairness. Not cutting services just to cut costs.” But to be cogent of the impact of where the service benefits are and who is paying for those services.
The single tax rate across the entire municipality presents a challenge when trying to find the balance of fairness, but Mr. Seguin feels that he is the best candidate to seek and negotiate that balance at the council table.
