Jamie McCulligh
Jamie McCulligh has decided it’s time to put his money where his mouth is. After years spent complaining, the Ward 4 candidate decided it was time to become proactive and add his name to the list of candidates running for the Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands council. “If I’m going to complain, I should run,” he said. Mr. McCulligh said he believes that the local residents of the municipality are being overlooked for the tourist population and that council should be putting the taxpayers, who are here 12 months of the year, first and foremost. He noted the multi-million dollar waterfront improvements in Little Current and observed that, “I pay more taxes and have to go to the dump than those with curbside pickup.” Mr. McCulligh said council needs to be more financially responsible with the high taxes residents pay, especially with the likelihood that MPAC (Municipal Property assessment Corporation) has hefty assessment spikes in store for property owners in the next few years. “That has to be sorted out and council needs to put a stop to it,” he added. Mr. McCulligh said he was “a good businessman” while he was an entrepreneur, is easy to talk to and approachable and would take every and all concerns of his constituents seriously. He said the current council is spending lots of money on things that “aren’t necessary. The whole Island over the years has spent over a billion dollars on tourism.” He believes there are many areas where council could tighten up the spending, giving the example of a public works regular-sized half-ton truck for the town’s public works crew when a crew cab (four doors) makes more sense as it can hold an entire crew. Mr. McCulligh said he believes that council did not spend enough time discussing the McLean’s Mountain wind farm before giving Northland Power the go-ahead. “I’m not saying they’re right or wrong, but not enough homework was done,” he said. The state of the roads and brush left by the contractors was inappropriate, he feels, and council should have done a better job of taking them to task for the “environmental impact.” Mr. McCulligh also thinks council should take a closer look at the senior population of the municipality and do what it can in getting more senior-friendly programming installed in the Northeast Town. “We need to start thinking about the old folks and what we can do for them,” he added.
