Vote for Jane Lesslie

Late last week another survey from Paul Allen dropped into my mailbox.

The preamble was an extensive list of County documents on the topics covered by this survey – a helpful invitation to read and understand … following which I was requested to offer my thoughts by ‘rating’ each of eight strategic initiatives.

• By-law and policy review
• Downtown revitalization
• Healthcare initiatives
• Municipal Accommodation Tax
• PEC Affordable Housing Corp.
• Short-Term Accommodations
• Tourism management
• Understanding Growth and Water/wastewater infrastructure

Respondents were asked to ‘Please rate your overall progress/satisfaction with each initiative using the following values:’

• Very dissatisfied
• Dissatisfied
• Neither dissatisfied or satisfied
• Satisfied
• Very satisfied

I voted neither dissatisfied or satisfied across the board and provided my rationale as follows:

My concern does not lie with the individual initiatives (thus my neutral rating on all of them) but the lack of joined up thinking! The question for each initiative is how does it further the strategic priorities, identified at the beginning? Only Tourism management identifies the strategic initiatives that it supports. To illustrate: As each bylaw is reviewed it should be tested against the seven strategic priorities – does it further them? And we need to consider how they interact with one another! Our Short Term Accommodation and Municipal Accommodation Tax policies must be viewed in the context of our affordable housing shortage. Since STAs have pressured our local housing affordability and supply, the MAT tax should go to supporting the development of affordable housing. This will require an activist Council demanding this change from Queens’ Park which dictates all funds go to tourism. I don’t think the County lacks for tourism?

The survey concluded by asking that I ‘Please outline one County-wide strategic initiative that is missing from the above and should be adopted by Council’. My answer was that there is no strategic initiative that directly addresses the risks and costs we face from climate change and other environmental risks. Peterborough has budgeted $4 million to cope with the affects of Emerald Ash Borer, Kingston $6 million. The County spent $1.7 mil on flooding impacts on municipal property alone in 2017. Heat waves will affect both the crops we are able to grow. French vineyards have seen their entire production wiped out due to high temperatures. Are our wineries not facing the same risks? What are the threats to our agriculture community from environmental sources? Bylaw and policy reviews should pass through a climate impact lens.

And while we’re at it, why does the “stable and diversified economy” priority speak only of tourism? We need to diversify our economy and bring year-round full time jobs to the County which in turn will support our business community. Look at the effect COVID had on our tourism industry. Full time work will help people with the cost of living here.

The good news is this is far from a finished process. It was disappointing to see Council defer the next stage of the strategic planning process until the next Council. And it was ironic as the next stage was to consult with us in the community! Why defer that? It could only help the incoming council.

The Gazette contacts ‘everybody’ who is running for office offering to print a 500-word structured response to focus on three specific matters that are important in terms of informing voters:

• Tell us a little about yourself
• Why Are You Running
• Priorities

Mine was submitted as requested. If you missed the Gazette issue, then you can see exactly what I submitted in response to their offer by clicking here [34 kb Adobe pdf].

About Me deals with the question posed although my professional experience has far more financial depth than in my response to the Gazette’s ‘about me’ question.

Why am I Running and Priorities questions are answered in the more detailed discussion of my thoughts which can be found in the Objectives section accessible from the ‘Objectives’ tab of the main menu (top of page). Separately, the discussions/responses to the various Paul Allen questions for candidates present more commentary on the priorities issue.

Having listened to the Committee of the Whole meeting of June 23rd discussing council remuneration, I’m concerned that someone can say they are working 16-18 hours a day at their regular job and then say they can adequately carry out their responsibilities as a Councillor on a part time basis for a County with a $65 million annual budget and contemplating a $100 million capital spending plan for Wellington ALONE. There were references by the “part timers” that Council work only took 5-6 hours a week.

As a taxpayer, this is not reassuring. One Councillor said his job was only to do “policy”. Funny, I would have thought (detailed) oversight would have been a fair part of the job.

And that’s how I would approach it!

Whew! I had no idea when I decided to run for Council that I would be asked to complete so many surveys. They are filling my email inbox (that’s janeforpecpictonward1@gmail.com in case you have your own questions for me!).

A fellow County resident, Paul Allen, has asked me to take part in his regular survey for candidates. Paul wants to see the 43% voter turnout rate in our county increase. Among the things I care most deeply about is our democracy so I share that goal with him. I also respect Paul’s willingness to dig for data!! And hats off to his willingness to do research.

But I have struggled out of the gate with some of his initial questions. So I thought it might be useful to illustrate that. Here’s my exchange with Paul from his first question which dealt with newcomers to the county versus long standing residents.

Hello. My name’s Jane Lesslie and I’m running for Councillor in Ward 1 (Picton).

This web site is intended to inform potential voters and state my reasons for running and hopes for the future.

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