Serve All Residents—Not Just a Few

City Council recently approved over $100,000 in consulting fees to explore a $25 million expansion of the Art Gallery—a facility that sees relatively low use. At the same time, they declined to fund a handful of portable washrooms that would bring basic dignity to unhoused residents downtown. We need leadership that prioritizes essential services and supports the most vulnerable members of our community—not just high-cost capital projects with narrow appeal.

Remove Barriers for 50% of Residents

Currently each councillor receives an annual compensation of $26,572, the mayor receives $58,780 and the Deputy Mayor 30,300. The problem with the current compensation is that it excludes the 50% of the households taking home less than $57,600. Wage earners in many of these households would have to give up one of their part-time jobs in order to run for city council which is not a viable option.  To address this inequity the next council needs to reduce the size of council from nine(9) to five(5). This would enable a remuneration increase for councillors to $57,259 without the need to increase the budget. This would effectively open the door for all Owen Sound residents to run for council.     . . . Read More