Owen-sound Council-meeting Meeting Transcript — October 13, 2026

00:00:01 SPEAKER_001: Good morning.

00:00:02 SPEAKER_002: Welcome to the 2026 Owen Sound mayoral candidate discussion.

00:00:06 SPEAKER_002: I'm Claire McCormack.

00:00:08 SPEAKER_002: We are here in the CFOS studio in Owen Sound.

00:00:12 SPEAKER_002: I have five candidates of the six with me for mayor of Owen Sound, going around the table.

00:00:21 SPEAKER_002: Starting here, we have Ray Botten, Richard Thomas, Jodi King, Andres Borgon, and Carol Merton.

00:00:27 Claire McCormack: We have between ten and twelve questions today for candidates.

00:00:33 Claire McCormack: Each candidate will get a minute and thirty seconds, and then we'll go around the table afterwards with an opportunity for a thirty-second follow-up.

00:00:42 Claire McCormack: I'm going to jump right in and start with question number one, and we're starting with Ray Botten for question number one.

00:00:48 Claire McCormack: Why are you running?

00:00:51 Ray Botten: First of all, I want to thank Bayshore Broadcasting CFOS for being here today.

00:00:56 Ray Botten: It's a wonderful place, and the people that the mayoral candidates are wonderful too.

00:01:03 Ray Botten: The reason why I'm running for the office of mayor is to directly deal with our drug pandemic here in Owen Sound.

00:01:11 Ray Botten: It is my calling and mission God has given me.

00:01:14 Ray Botten: It is a rescue and supportive mission that involves every age, every group of our society, and it is to save lives.

00:01:23 Ray Botten: I especially desire to lift up and encourage our next generation, setting an example by serving and listening to them.

00:01:31 Ray Botten: Our youth, it is so important to celebrate them by reinforcing their positive steps in life.

00:01:39 Ray Botten: Serving as mayor, if elected, it will be a consistent and constant supportive role that I'll play, empowering the youth to meet personal goals by supporting and encouraging them each step of their way.

00:01:53 Ray Botten: And I count this to be a great privilege, and my mandate again is to save lives.

00:01:58 Ray Botten: Thank you.

00:01:59 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

00:02:01 Claire McCormack: Next we have Richard Thomas, and I will reset my stopwatch here and ask you question one: Why are you running?

00:02:12 Richard Thomas: Well, thanks for the question, Claire.

00:02:13 Richard Thomas: You know, I moved to Owen Sound forty years ago to stay for a year, and I'm not sure whether Owen Sound chose me or I chose it, but it's probably some combination of the two.

00:02:23 Richard Thomas: People always told me nothing ever happens in Owen Sound.

00:02:26 Richard Thomas: Nothing ever did happen.

00:02:27 Richard Thomas: Nothing ever will happen.

00:02:28 Richard Thomas: And I challenge that assumption.

00:02:30 Richard Thomas: I challenged initially through my historical writings about Owen Sound, proving that lots has happened in Owen Sound over the years.

00:02:37 Richard Thomas: And I think Owen Sound has a bright future.

00:02:40 Richard Thomas: I decided to run for mayor because I like to be involved, and I think that my approach to things like this are always to leave things better than I found them,

00:02:50 Richard Thomas: and that's my goal as the mayor of Owen Sound.

00:02:54 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

00:02:56 Claire McCormack: Next, we have Jodi King.

00:03:00 Claire McCormack: So the first question is, why are you running?

00:03:04 Jodi King: Good morning.

00:03:04 Jodi King: I just want to let you know that the reason why I'm running for mayor is because I've been in Owen Sound all my life, and in the last twelve years,

00:03:13 Jodi King: I've lived not too far from Owen Sound, and I have seen Owen Sound fall apart.

00:03:19 Jodi King: I have seen people scared to walk downtown.

00:03:23 Jodi King: I have seen little old ladies coming out of their car shopping, rushing to their store, and then running or quickly going back in their cars because they're afraid.

00:03:38 Jodi King: But I have at least 30 homeless people who we have a good rapport with each other, and they're concerned.

00:03:48 Jodi King: Their concerns are not being heard, and I would like to see Owen Sound come together as one community to help each other.

00:03:59 Jodi King: And I believe that we cannot fix Owen Sound without fixing the homeless situation first.

00:04:07 Jodi King: Thank you.

00:04:07 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Jodi King.

00:04:09 Claire McCormack: Next, we have Andrii Zvorygin.

00:04:11 Claire McCormack: The question is: Why are you running?

00:04:14 Andrii Zvorygin: I'm Andrii Zvorygin, and I'm running for mayor because Owen Sound families deserve safer streets, homes they can afford, and a real voice in city decisions.

00:04:25 Andrii Zvorygin: My fully costed plan makes the future more reachable.

00:04:29 Andrii Zvorygin: My draft 2027 budget is more than a quarter million dollars below the 2026 budget, while improving services.

00:04:38 Andrii Zvorygin: Better government can lower taxes.

00:04:40 Andrii Zvorygin: Affordable construction and a vacant home tax can add homes within reach and return empty homes to use.

00:04:48 Andrii Zvorygin: The community safety plan connects residents, city services, civilian responders, and police leadership.

00:04:55 Andrii Zvorygin: I participate in Owen Sound and Grey County Council, run two profitable businesses, and serve as treasurer.

00:05:03 Andrii Zvorygin: HelpOS.CA lets residents follow proposals, council decisions, spending, and service results.

00:05:11 Andrii Zvorygin: As mayor, I will work with residents and council, represent Owen Sound at Grey County and advocate to provincial and federal governments.

00:05:21 Andrii Zvorygin: For more information, visit mayorofowensound.ca.

00:05:25 Andrii Zvorygin: Families can feel safe, find a home within reach, and help shape the community where they build their future.

00:05:33 Andrii Zvorygin: Thank you, Andres Vorden.

00:05:35 Claire McCormack: Next, we have Carol Merton.

00:05:37 Claire McCormack: The question is: Why are you running?

00:05:42 Carol Merton: Good morning, everyone.

00:05:43 Claire McCormack: Thank you very much for the question.

00:05:44 Carol Merton: I call Owen Sound home.

00:05:48 Carol Merton: I've raised my family here, and I choose to stay here.

00:05:54 Carol Merton: As an experienced counselor for eight years, I'm ready to hit the ground running in the position of mayor.

00:06:02 Carol Merton: I want this city to be a better place.

00:06:05 Carol Merton: There is no doubt that we are in shifting times, and we are in an affordability crisis that is impacting every level of our community.

00:06:15 Carol Merton: I want Owen Sound to be clean, welcoming, safe, affordable, with roofs for everyone.

00:06:24 Carol Merton: We need to have a place where seniors are not afraid to come downtown to get their hair done,

00:06:32 Carol Merton: where parents are not afraid to have their children walk the streets and pick up paraphernalia that they shouldn't be handling,

00:06:40 Carol Merton: where our business people do not have to clean up the excrement that's outside their doorways.

00:06:47 Carol Merton: I believe that we need to restore the civic pride that we have in Owen Sound and imagine a better place.

00:06:55 Carol Merton: We can do this together.

00:06:58 Carol Merton: Thank you.

00:06:59 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:07:01 Claire McCormack: Would anybody like to offer a 30-second follow-up to question one?

00:07:08 Carol Merton: Okay, I should mention just for our listeners as well.

00:07:11 Carol Merton: I have five of the six candidates for mayor of Owen Sound.

00:07:14 Carol Merton: Not in attendance is Mike Seiler.

00:07:17 Carol Merton: So here today is Ray Botten, Richard Thomas, Jodi King, Andrii Zvorygin, and Carol Merton.

00:07:24 Carol Merton: We're moving on to question two.

00:07:26 Claire McCormack: Each candidate gets a minute and thirty seconds to respond to the question, and then there's an opportunity for a 30-second follow-up.

00:07:34 Claire McCormack: This time, we'll be starting with Richard Thomas.

00:07:38 Richard Thomas: Question two is: What current or past experience do you have that you believe applies to the job of mayor of Owen Sound?

00:07:49 Richard Thomas: Thanks, Claire.

00:07:50 Richard Thomas: As a news reporter, when I came to Owen Sound 40 years ago, I covered city council for 13 years and learned a lot about municipal governments from both Ovid Jackson and Stu Taylor,

00:07:59 Richard Thomas: two great mayors we had.

00:08:01 Richard Thomas: With the exception of one three-year term, I've been on the board of the Owen Sound and North Grey County Public Library for 24 years now, and for most of those,

00:08:11 Richard Thomas: I've been the chair of the board.

00:08:13 Richard Thomas: I was a city councillor, of course, from 2014 to 2022, and sat on all of the city's standing committees, including operations, community services, and corporate services.

00:08:24 Richard Thomas: I also chaired the Economic Development, Tourism, and Culture Committee for four years, and I chaired the Tom Thompson Art Gallery Advisory Committee.

00:08:31 Richard Thomas: I was a member of the Owen Sound Hospital Foundation Board for many years, and I did lead a citizens group which saved the Owen Sound Marine and Rail Museum,

00:08:41 Richard Thomas: and became the founding president of the Community Waterfront Heritage Centre.

00:08:45 Richard Thomas: So I've had lots of leadership experience and lots of experience in the municipal sphere, and I think it really qualifies me for this job.

00:08:53 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

00:08:55 Claire McCormack: Next, we have Jodi King.

00:08:59 Claire McCormack: The question is: What current or past experience do you have that you believe applies to the job of mayor of Owen Sound?

00:09:07 Jodi King: Thank you for that question.

00:09:09 Jodi King: I've been a retired security guard for 12 years, and I have dealt with all sorts of situations, tough situations, scary situations.

00:09:20 Jodi King: I had to separate people from arguments, fighting, and I am a very calm person, but I'm a very stern person.

00:09:34 Jodi King: With security, I worked in bars.

00:09:37 Jodi King: I worked at grocery stores.

00:09:38 Jodi King: I worked at banks.

00:09:40 Jodi King: I see everything all the time.

00:09:43 Jodi King: I see the problems that we face in Old Town, and I want to be able to have that opportunity to help change, help people react to each other,

00:09:58 Jodi King: and it's time to come together as a whole community and sort these big issues out one at a time.

00:10:11 Jodi King: We're not going to solve any of these problems on the first day or the second day.

00:10:16 Jodi King: It's going to take hard work to get these things done.

00:10:20 Jodi King: So I hope on October 26, people want change, and I'm willing to do my best to help change this.

00:10:27 Jodi King: Do my best to help change the city as a whole community.

00:10:31 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Jodi King.

00:10:33 Claire McCormack: Next, we have Andrii Zvorygin.

00:10:35 Claire McCormack: The question is: What current or past experience do you have that you believe applies to the job of mayor of Owen Sound?

00:10:43 Andrii Zvorygin: I have three kinds of experience that apply directly to being mayor: public work, business, and financial management.

00:10:50 Andrii Zvorygin: Together, they help me answer three questions: what it costs, who is responsible, and what results residents can expect.

00:11:00 Andrii Zvorygin: In public work, I participate in Owen Sound and Grey County Council, speak with city leaders and staff, communicate with all levels of government, and advocate for detailed proposals and funding options.

00:11:13 Andrii Zvorygin: HelpOS.ca makes public work easier to follow.

00:11:16 Andrii Zvorygin: In business, I run two profitable businesses, LiberIT and Leas Forestry.

00:11:22 Andrii Zvorygin: Give me daily experience with technology, costs, and local food.

00:11:26 Andrii Zvorygin: As treasurer, I work with budgets, records, and purchasing.

00:11:31 Andrii Zvorygin: I regularly meet scientists and engineers and interview urban planners, which adds long-term planning experience.

00:11:39 Andrii Zvorygin: As mayor, I will use that preparation to connect cost, responsibility, and results before decisions are made.

00:11:47 Andrii Zvorygin: Residents can understand city hall's choices and build confidence in the results.

00:11:53 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

00:11:55 Claire McCormack: Next, I have Carol Merton.

00:11:57 Claire McCormack: The question is: What current or past experience do you have that you believe applies to the job of mayor of Owen Sound?

00:12:05 Carol Merton: Thank you, Claire.

00:12:07 Carol Merton: I have been in senior leadership and management positions in both the public and the private sectors.

00:12:14 Carol Merton: I have handled, developed, administered multi-million-dollar budgets for large multi-site corporations, and I had the responsibility of making sure that operations and projects stayed on budget.

00:12:27 Carol Merton: I have led organizational staff reviews and flattened organizational management levels.

00:12:33 Carol Merton: I've been involved in unionized environments and negotiated union contracts.

00:12:38 Carol Merton: I have built high-performance teams.

00:12:42 Carol Merton: I understand the difference between governance and operational municipal activities, and the importance of having a business mind to bring those things to the table.

00:12:56 Carol Merton: I have served on the Grey Bruce Poverty Task Force, Owen Sound Police Services Board, Municipal Nonprofit Housing Corporation, and helped to build houses.

00:13:06 Carol Merton: And I have also been a member of the local Housing Affordability Task Force for the Institution of Southern Georgian Bay.

00:13:17 Carol Merton: I've been part of our city committees.

00:13:19 Carol Merton: I know what it takes to draw people together, and I have a strong network in place to be a resource.

00:13:25 Carol Merton: As mayor, I will use that network, hit the ground running, and get things moving for the betterment of our city.

00:13:32 Carol Merton: Thank you.

00:13:33 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:13:35 Claire McCormack: Next, Ray Botten.

00:13:38 Claire McCormack: What current or past experience do you have that you believe applies to the job of mayor of Owen Sound?

00:13:45 Claire McCormack: Go ahead, Ray.

00:13:46 Ray Botten: Thank you.

00:13:47 Ray Botten: My life has been a mystery to me and to others because I've served for over, really almost thirty years, in the public sector as far as a chef; I'm a certified Red Seal chef.

00:14:03 Ray Botten: I trained under Uli Reber, who served Ronald Reagan in office.

00:14:08 Ray Botten: I've been at the highest levels.

00:14:10 Ray Botten: I can do anything that I put my mind to if I'm supposed to.

00:14:15 Ray Botten: And what I'm supposed to do is follow my heart, and that's what I've been doing for the last 30 years as a missionary here and abroad.

00:14:24 Ray Botten: What I bring to the table is really a hands-on understanding.

00:14:32 Ray Botten: And in Nigeria, I served in nine different distinct missions.

00:14:38 Ray Botten: And as many people know, the civil unrest that is always going on in Africa, I've been right where issues have happened,

00:14:48 Ray Botten: and I've seen things and been a part of things that I can say has changed my life forever.

00:14:55 Ray Botten: Because people are suffering here in Owen Sound, I'm here to serve.

00:15:01 Ray Botten: I'm not here to tell people what to do.

00:15:04 Ray Botten: I have a scripted response that'll be on the Bayshore Broadcasting website, but I just want to thank everyone for being here today.

00:15:16 Claire McCormack: Thank you very much, Ray Botten.

00:15:20 Claire McCormack: Would anybody like to add a 30-second follow-up to that question?

00:15:26 Ray Botten: Okay.

00:15:26 Ray Botten: So we'll get into some topics now.

00:15:28 Ray Botten: Some of the things we're going to cover today in our 2026 Owen Sound mayor candidates discussion include taxes, homelessness, housing, police services, growth, and more.

00:15:39 Ray Botten: We'll be starting with a new candidate starting off the questions here, so we're on to question three.

00:15:46 Claire McCormack: We're starting with Jodi King a minute and thirty seconds to answer.

00:15:51 Jodi King: Is there more the city can do to better address visible homelessness downtown and better support the homeless population?

00:16:02 Jodi King: Thank you for the question.

00:16:04 Jodi King: About twenty years ago, my husband and my five children and myself were homeless.

00:16:14 Jodi King: We ended up living in a motel room for almost a year.

00:16:19 Jodi King: At that time, there was no old share.

00:16:21 Jodi King: There was no Safe and Sound.

00:16:23 Jodi King: There was nothing that we could use to help us out.

00:16:25 Jodi King: So we had to make choices in order to come up with the money, food, and gas.

00:16:34 Jodi King: So we were paying almost three thousand dollars a month in a motel room.

00:16:37 Jodi King: I don't know.

00:16:37 Jodi King: Multi-room.

00:16:38 Jodi King: I don't know how we did it.

00:16:40 Jodi King: So when I see these homeless people, not all homeless people are without finances.

00:16:53 Jodi King: We had a friend who was evicted from her home because he was selling the house, and now she's living in a tent.

00:16:59 Jodi King: So what I want to see change, and the homeless solution, is offering incentives, grants, and a partnership with affordable housing development—less than twenty-five hundred dollars a month—that's unbelievable.

00:17:16 Jodi King: We want to offer tax breaks to reputable landlords to offer a percentage of their units at below-average rental rates, and we want to look at rezoning to accommodate suitable builds.

00:17:28 Jodi King: Again, less than twenty-five hundred dollars a month.

00:17:32 Jodi King: Right now, my husband and I and our children—we were renting.

00:17:34 Jodi King: We were renting less than a thousand dollars a month, so it needs to change.

00:17:39 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Jodi King.

00:17:41 Claire McCormack: Next, we have Andrii Zvorygin.

00:17:43 Andrii Zvorygin: We're on question three here.

00:17:45 Andrii Zvorygin: Is there more the city can do to better address visible homelessness downtown and better support the homeless population?

00:17:53 Andrii Zvorygin: People experiencing homelessness are neighbours.

00:17:56 Andrii Zvorygin: A meal and a respectful connection can help someone through a crisis.

00:18:00 Andrii Zvorygin: Residents also need clean, safe downtown spaces.

00:18:04 Andrii Zvorygin: They can use mobile meals at scheduled locations on the outskirts to bring food directly to unsheltered residents, connect them with housing and other support, and reduce the need to travel downtown for food.

00:18:18 Andrii Zvorygin: Shared equipment can help Golden Broom teams keep common spaces clean.

00:18:22 Andrii Zvorygin: Local representatives can help neighbours organise watches and bring concerns to a counselor, helping keep downtown welcoming for residents.

00:18:32 Andrii Zvorygin: A civilian dispatch pilot with a planning cap of about sixty thousand dollars would test routing lower-risk calls to trained civilian responders, with optional police backup.

00:18:44 Andrii Zvorygin: It would measure calls and police hours avoided, helping officers focus on theft and drug dealing.

00:18:51 Andrii Zvorygin: That means practical support for people in crisis and clean, welcoming public spaces residents can use.

00:18:58 Andrii Zvorygin: Together, we can make downtown safe and accessible while supporting people toward stability.

00:19:06 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

00:19:08 Claire McCormack: Next, we have Carol Merton.

00:19:09 Claire McCormack: The question is: Is there more the city can do to better address visible homelessness downtown and better support the homeless population?

00:19:21 Carol Merton: Yes, it's not what we can do; it's what we should be doing.

00:19:25 Carol Merton: We must do this.

00:19:27 Carol Merton: This is a crisis.

00:19:29 Carol Merton: We are facing a crisis, and no one is going to come to rescue us unless we help ourselves.

00:19:35 Carol Merton: There are many options that are short-term and immediate.

00:19:39 Carol Merton: If we don't want excrement on our streets, we need to look at public washroom access.

00:19:46 Carol Merton: We've had some success with expanding the farmers' market, but it is not enough.

00:19:51 Carol Merton: If we don't want our kids picking up syringes, we need extra syringe drop-off boxes downtown and incentive programmes.

00:19:56 Carol Merton: Town and incentive programmes to encourage those who use paraphernalia to be able to help us keep the city streets clean.

00:20:06 Carol Merton: If we don't want garbage on our streets,

00:20:08 Carol Merton: then why remove the garbage can from the very areas where the unhoused are and remove the options for them to help us keep our city clean by having appropriate disposals?

00:20:19 Carol Merton: We need more people downtown, not just for functions, but we need the neighbourhood response team reinitiated, and we need to be able to have neighbourhood watches as well.

00:20:29 Carol Merton: If we want our streets to smell better, we need better sanitation.

00:20:32 Carol Merton: I've certainly been in touch with public health for guidance about this.

00:20:36 Carol Merton: We need to speed up our encampment enforcement protocol.

00:20:40 Carol Merton: Not wait until two thousand and twenty-eight to respect the rights of those who are in encampments and also for others.

00:20:48 Carol Merton: And we need to look at affordable housing first.

00:20:50 Carol Merton: Thank you.

00:20:51 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:20:52 Claire McCormack: Next is Ray Botten.

00:20:54 Ray Botten: Is Ray Borden?

00:20:56 Ray Botten: Is there more the city can do to better address visible homelessness downtown and better support the homeless population?

00:21:04 Ray Botten: This question is absolutely number one.

00:21:10 Claire McCormack: What are we going to do?

00:21:12 Ray Botten: Everyone is saying that.

00:21:13 Ray Botten: I've had numerous people come to me in different avenues.

00:21:17 Ray Botten: Many who have lost somebody, grieving as they're crying in front of me.

00:21:22 Ray Botten: I don't even know them.

00:21:23 Ray Botten: They come up to me and share their grief, and their pain, and their torment.

00:21:28 Ray Botten: And then there's the ones who are my friends, on the street, daily trying to survive, and some not making it.

00:21:35 Ray Botten: Some on the way out.

00:21:37 Ray Botten: But as a city, what do we do?

00:21:39 Ray Botten: Do we just look to the mayor and the councillors?

00:21:41 Ray Botten: No, no. We need to support this leadership.

00:21:45 Ray Botten: We need to know that there are people who are doing their best.

00:21:49 Ray Botten: But what am I doing?

00:21:50 Ray Botten: That's why I'm running for mayor.

00:21:52 Ray Botten: Am I going to win?

00:21:53 Ray Botten: That's not the issue.

00:21:54 Ray Botten: The issue is what am I doing?

00:21:58 Ray Botten: And so what I am doing, and I have only been doing this for oh, 24 years plus here in Owen Sound, is to fight the good fight.

00:22:08 Ray Botten: If there are people dying today, and I know that, what am I doing?

00:22:14 Ray Botten: So I find myself in different places throughout the city every day, listening, sitting with them, and hearing their grief, hearing their sorrow, and becoming their friend.

00:22:25 Ray Botten: It's time to love one another.

00:22:27 Ray Botten: Thank you.

00:22:29 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

00:22:31 Claire McCormack: Next we have Richard Thomas.

00:22:34 Richard Thomas: Is there more the city can do to better address visible homelessness downtown and better support the homeless population?

00:22:42 Richard Thomas: I think there's a lot the city can do downtown that hasn't been done at this point.

00:22:46 Richard Thomas: You know, I've made the River District my number one item in this election.

00:22:51 Richard Thomas: I think that it's got to be job one for anyone who's elected mayor.

00:22:54 Richard Thomas: The River District should be a place where businesses can succeed, residents can feel secure, visitors want to return, and vulnerable people can get meaningful help.

00:23:04 Richard Thomas: And those are not contradictory aims.

00:23:06 Richard Thomas: It can all occur in downtown Owen Sound.

00:23:09 Richard Thomas: I've created a proposed ten-point plan for a safer, healthier downtown River District, which you can find on my website, thomasformayor.ca,

00:23:17 Richard Thomas: and what it includes are things like creating a River District action team to give store owners and downtown residents a one-stop place to get the information they need to deal with the crises they're dealing

00:23:28 Richard Thomas: with on their doorstep.

00:23:30 Richard Thomas: Number two is guaranteeing rapid downtown cleanup.

00:23:33 Richard Thomas: Allows the city to establish a rapid response cleanliness standard for the River District and transform public works to include a rapid response waste team.

00:23:42 Richard Thomas: The downtown has got to be kept cleaner, and that is on the city.

00:23:46 Richard Thomas: One of the other items that I've included is extending the neighbourhood response team, which was a team created by Safe and Sound that went out and helped vulnerable people in the downtown.

00:23:58 Richard Thomas: I think that you know, compassion shouldn't be at the expense of the businesses and residents in downtown Owen Sound, but compassion is a response we need to continue pushing forward.

00:24:09 Richard Thomas: Thank you.

00:24:10 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

00:24:12 Richard Thomas: That brings us to everybody for the questions.

00:24:14 Claire McCormack: For question three on homelessness, did anybody want to add a thirty-second follow-up?

00:24:18 Richard Thomas: Okay, I'll start with.

00:24:20 Claire McCormack: I guess I'll go this way for the thirty-second follow-up, if that makes sense.

00:24:23 Richard Thomas: Okay, so Ray, I will.

00:24:25 Claire McCormack: Ray Botten will start with your thirty seconds.

00:24:27 Claire McCormack: Why?

00:24:28 Ray Botten: I want to comment.

00:24:31 Ray Botten: Richard has the right heart.

00:24:33 Ray Botten: Richard has the right purpose.

00:24:36 Ray Botten: But let me just say this: no one is going to change a city by a bunch of rules.

00:24:43 Ray Botten: Forced rules will never ever change a heart.

00:24:48 Ray Botten: There's no one's going to change a person's heart, and that's what we're dealing with on the street level.

00:24:54 Ray Botten: You can tell people to not clean up or clean up.

00:25:00 Ray Botten: My time is short.

00:25:00 Ray Botten: Thank you.

00:25:02 Claire McCormack: Thank you very much for that, Ray Botten and Carol Merton.

00:25:05 Claire McCormack: I believe you wanted to add a thirty-second follow-up.

00:25:07 Claire McCormack: Go ahead.

00:25:09 Carol Merton: As mayor, my role would be to represent all of the city.

00:25:14 Carol Merton: There's been a lot of focus on downtown, but this is a whole city approach and a whole community approach.

00:25:20 Carol Merton: And this crisis affects everyone.

00:25:22 Carol Merton: Encampments are all over.

00:25:24 Carol Merton: Addicted individuals live in their own homes as well as without a roof.

00:25:28 Carol Merton: We need to apply the strategies overall, and rather than one particular target of focus, our city needs that whole focus.

00:25:36 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:25:37 Claire McCormack: Would anybody else?

00:25:39 Claire McCormack: Keep Carol Merton.

00:25:39 Claire McCormack: Would anybody else like to add a thirty-second follow-up before we take our first break?

00:25:45 Claire McCormack: Okay, we will take a break.

00:25:47 Claire McCormack: You are listening to the twenty twenty-six Owen Sound mayoral candidate discussion on eighty-nine point three CFOS FM.

00:25:54 Carol Merton: Okay.

00:25:59 Claire McCormack: How long is it?

00:26:01 Claire McCormack: Mics are off.

00:26:04 Claire McCormack: Feel free to speak off the record.

00:26:07 Carol Merton: Yeah, you're very welcome.

00:26:07 Carol Merton: Yeah, yeah, I can't.

00:26:09 Carol Merton: Thirty seconds, yeah, yeah, because I'm just hard to wind down, right?

00:26:19 Carol Merton: I'll just...

00:26:19 Carol Merton: I get going.

00:26:21 Carol Merton: I'm a...

00:26:21 Carol Merton: Oh my gosh!

00:26:22 Claire McCormack: We have more time.

00:26:23 Carol Merton: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:32 Carol Merton: One of those.

00:26:34 Carol Merton: Stopwatch.

00:26:36 Claire McCormack: What's the next question?

00:26:40 Carol Merton: Question for so, what's your view on the current tax rate?

00:26:43 Carol Merton: And we're going to be starting with Andre.

00:26:44 Carol Merton: Did we do the effective decision maker?

00:27:00 Carol Merton: We didn't, right?

00:27:02 Carol Merton: Okay, because that's why my number is off.

00:27:04 Carol Merton: I'm trying to move a little.

00:27:06 Carol Merton: Okay.

00:27:06 Carol Merton: All right.

00:27:07 Carol Merton: Those we are supposed to make sure we get to... that's the other place.

00:27:11 Carol Merton: Okay.

00:27:11 Carol Merton: Yeah, because my numbers don't correlate.

00:27:18 Carol Merton: No, I can't see.

00:27:19 Carol Merton: Um, what's what's uh?

00:27:21 Carol Merton: You said again.

00:27:22 Claire McCormack: What is it?

00:27:23 Claire McCormack: What's your view on the current tax?

00:27:25 Carol Merton: Thirty seconds.

00:27:26 Carol Merton: Can there be an intro?

00:27:29 Carol Merton: Here and I'll...

00:27:33 Carol Merton: Stories of our history, a new life.

00:27:36 Carol Merton: The explorer lives on through our website, ADXCR.

00:28:08 Carol Merton: Good morning.

00:28:09 Carol Merton: Welcome back to the 2026 Owen Sound mayoral candidates discussion.

00:28:13 Carol Merton: I'm Claire McCormack.

00:28:14 Carol Merton: I have five of six candidates for the mayor of Owen Sound with me today in downtown Owen Sound in the C.F.O.S. studio.

00:28:22 Carol Merton: I have Ray Botten, Richard Thomas, Jodi King, Andres Aborgin, and Carol Merton here today.

00:28:28 Claire McCormack: Each candidate gets a minute thirty seconds to answer a question, with an opportunity for a 30-second follow-up.

00:28:33 Carol Merton: We're covering things like taxes, homelessness, housing, policing, services, growth, and more.

00:28:40 Claire McCormack: We are on to the next question, and we are starting with Andrii Zvorygin.

00:28:44 Claire McCormack: What is your view on the current tax rate in Owen Sound?

00:28:49 Andrii Zvorygin: Owen Sound's tax burden is too high for local incomes, and better government can lower it while improving services.

00:28:56 Andrii Zvorygin: Over 12 years, property taxes rose more than twice as fast as incomes.

00:29:01 Andrii Zvorygin: In the latest eight-year comparison, they rose two and a half times faster.

00:29:07 Andrii Zvorygin: The effect is clear: seniors on fixed incomes are struggling.

00:29:11 Andrii Zvorygin: Higher taxes push rents upward, and businesses struggle to find workers at offered wages.

00:29:18 Andrii Zvorygin: My draft 2027 city budget maintains and improves services while targeting a one-quarter reduction in software maintenance costs.

00:29:26 Andrii Zvorygin: The path is better government, simpler software, clearer workflows, and better purchasing.

00:29:34 Andrii Zvorygin: As mayor, I will ask staff to publish complete financial records and review costs with residents.

00:29:41 Andrii Zvorygin: Reviews will connect each service to its purpose and cost, resident demand, and result.

00:29:48 Andrii Zvorygin: Residents can flag gaps and suggest better delivery.

00:29:51 Andrii Zvorygin: A savings ledger will show verified savings, service effects, and tax effects.

00:29:57 Andrii Zvorygin: Taxes should match local incomes and clear value of services.

00:30:03 Andrii Zvorygin: Careful spending gives families more room to breathe, keep their homes, and afford life in Owen Sound.

00:30:10 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

00:30:12 Claire McCormack: Next is Carol Merton.

00:30:14 Claire McCormack: What is your view on the current tax rate in Owen Sound?

00:30:19 Carol Merton: I'm hearing at the door and in the community when I'm speaking to people, they are struggling.

00:30:25 Carol Merton: It is far, far too much money residentially for people to be financially comfortable with the tax the way they are.

00:30:35 Carol Merton: We can't continue to place the load on our property and business owners and expect our city to flourish and survive.

00:30:42 Carol Merton: People are actually leaving our city because of the high taxes.

00:30:47 Carol Merton: As mayor, I would be asking council and staff to sit down, determine what are our core, essential, mandated services, and that's where we begin.

00:30:58 Carol Merton: Look at the needs to have versus nice to have, and it is time we have to roll up our sleeves and sharpen our pencils.

00:31:05 Carol Merton: The time is now.

00:31:06 Carol Merton: We're in a crisis.

00:31:07 Carol Merton: It's an affordability and a housing crisis, and we need to do this.

00:31:11 Carol Merton: The option is, of course, to add revenue.

00:31:15 Claire McCormack: How do we do that?

00:31:16 Carol Merton: Again, we look at building what we have, our tourism industry, link with our institute.

00:31:21 Carol Merton: Link with our institutions.

00:31:23 Carol Merton: Start to add, not just charge out taxes, but bring in revenue so that our community can survive.

00:31:32 Carol Merton: This is a big job.

00:31:33 Carol Merton: It's one we can't wait to do.

00:31:35 Carol Merton: It will face council right away and the mayor, and it has to be done.

00:31:40 Carol Merton: We need to also look to our community improvement plan, start to access regional opportunities to save money, and work with other municipalities for shared resources and regionalizing our services; it's critical.

00:31:57 Carol Merton: We can't do it alone.

00:31:58 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:32:00 Claire McCormack: Next, we have Ray Botten.

00:32:02 Claire McCormack: The question is: What is your view on the current tax rate in Owen Sound?

00:32:07 Ray Botten: Well, first of all, we all know everything is higher.

00:32:11 Ray Botten: So, what do we expect that our taxes are going to go down?

00:32:17 Ray Botten: No, because if we make sure that we have all the services we want,

00:32:22 Ray Botten: this is why the taxes the way it is because we can't sustain ourselves as a city because we don't have the money.

00:32:31 Ray Botten: But I have an answer, not an answer.

00:32:32 Ray Botten: I have the answer on the right question that's coming.

00:32:36 Ray Botten: I will be answering that.

00:32:38 Ray Botten: But I believe the current tax rate is in step with our overall budget.

00:32:42 Ray Botten: What I'm really, really mad about is our water bills.

00:32:48 Ray Botten: The facility that we have should have been absolutely paid for by the Ontario government, and so why are we paying water in, during, and after we turn the faucet on?

00:33:01 Claire McCormack: Why?

00:33:02 Ray Botten: It's because we're paying for something we shouldn't, and I would lobby.

00:33:07 Ray Botten: I hope the whole city hears this.

00:33:09 Claire McCormack: Let's lobby together and say the Ontario government needs to help and subsidize this.

00:33:15 Ray Botten: Thank you.

00:33:16 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

00:33:18 Claire McCormack: Next, Richard Thomas.

00:33:20 Claire McCormack: What is your view on the current tax rate in Owen Sound?

00:33:24 Richard Thomas: Well, I think it's clear that many taxpayers, myself included, feel that taxes are high in Owen Sound.

00:33:30 Richard Thomas: As mayor, I'm very creative, and I would bring a creative approach to solving this problem.

00:33:35 Richard Thomas: Really, there are two ways you can affect taxes: you can cut, or you can grow.

00:33:39 Richard Thomas: And I am an advocate for growth.

00:33:41 Richard Thomas: When I was on council in 2014 to 2018, I introduced the development charge holiday that the city brought forward.

00:33:49 Richard Thomas: It was an investment of $1.9 million in forgiven development charges, which created a half-million dollars annual tax roll assessment coming to the city in perpetuity.

00:34:01 Richard Thomas: I would bring an approach like that back to the city again to try to encourage growth, the kind of growth that we want.

00:34:07 Richard Thomas: I also brought in the municipal accommodation tax in the second term I was on council, and that's attached.

00:34:12 Richard Thomas: And that's a tax on short-term stays and rentals, and all in Owen Sound, which actually brings in half a million dollars to the city every year,

00:34:20 Richard Thomas: and half of that goes to a not-for-profit tourism organisation that grants to starting tourist operations that want to bring people to our city.

00:34:28 Claire McCormack: Where guess what?

00:34:29 Richard Thomas: They're going to spend their money at our local businesses.

00:34:32 Richard Thomas: So these are the kind of creative approaches that I would continue to pursue as mayor, and heavily focus on growth rather than service cuts.

00:34:42 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

00:34:44 Claire McCormack: Next is Jodi King.

00:34:46 Claire McCormack: What is your view on the current tax rate in Owen Sound?

00:34:52 Jodi King: I would like to see more transparency to where our tax money is going.

00:34:59 Jodi King: I believe that the public has an absolute right to know how, where, and whom our money is being spent.

00:35:07 Jodi King: I agree with my friend Carol that too many people are struggling to buy groceries and paying taxes.

00:35:14 Jodi King: I believe that whoever wins this race should perhaps offer a tax break to the taxpayers of Owen Sound.

00:35:28 Jodi King: We need to find out where the money is going at every office at City Hall.

00:35:34 Claire McCormack: Where is my money going when I pay my taxes in January?

00:35:39 Jodi King: So I would like to see a tax break so that our residents can afford more groceries, fuel in their car to get to work, in order to make the money to buy more food.

00:35:50 Jodi King: Thank you.

00:35:52 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Jodi King.

00:35:53 Jodi King: We now have...

00:35:54 Jodi King: I didn't miss anybody.

00:35:55 Claire McCormack: Okay, thirty-second opportunity.

00:35:58 Claire McCormack: If you would like for a follow-up, Audrey, go ahead.

00:36:01 Andrii Zvorygin: Yep, I'd like to mention I'm the only candidate that has a fully costed plan to both lower taxes and improve services, and you can see it at helpos.ca/tax.

00:36:10 Andrii Zvorygin: Over the last 12 years, there's been so much bloat in the system, and residents can see it.

00:36:16 Andrii Zvorygin: And so we have many opportunities to both save taxes and help our fellow neighbour.

00:36:23 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

00:36:24 Claire McCormack: Carol Merton, go ahead with your follow-up.

00:36:28 Carol Merton: The city will be having new committee structures.

00:36:31 Carol Merton: I have a strong concern that the very committee that will be looking at budget has absolutely no public membership as part of it.

00:36:41 Carol Merton: I voted against this, and if mayor, I will bring this back to the table.

00:36:45 Carol Merton: Who else should be at the table discussing their dollars and cents than the public who are paying these taxes?

00:36:52 Carol Merton: I support public representation in all of our committees.

00:36:57 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:36:58 Claire McCormack: Ray Botten, go ahead with your follow-up.

00:37:03 Ray Botten: This is an analysis.

00:37:03 Ray Botten: This is an announcement for the city, for every property owner.

00:37:07 Ray Botten: Get ready.

00:37:08 Ray Botten: I'm going to give back to you $1,200 a year, every year.

00:37:15 Ray Botten: Once we opt out of Grey County, that will be something I'll be discussing with the right questions that are ahead.

00:37:23 Ray Botten: So don't turn that dial.

00:37:26 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

00:37:27 Claire McCormack: Next is Richard Thomas.

00:37:30 Richard Thomas: Yeah, I'd like to start by agreeing completely with Carol.

00:37:32 Richard Thomas: Public.

00:37:32 Richard Thomas: Completely with Carroll, public representation is essential when it comes to budget and all city services.

00:37:38 Richard Thomas: As mayor, I'll turn back my strong mayor powers, and I will actually transform the mayor's budget back into the public-facing budget process that we always had.

00:37:48 Richard Thomas: That will then be adopted as the mayor's budget after the public and council have thoroughly vetted it.

00:37:54 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

00:37:57 Claire McCormack: Jodi King, would you like to add a thirty-second rebuttal?

00:38:00 Claire McCormack: Okay, so that's everybody on their follow-ups.

00:38:02 Claire McCormack: Let's move on to question five.

00:38:06 Claire McCormack: We're talking about population and growth in this one, and we're starting with Carol Merton.

00:38:12 Claire McCormack: The question is: Owen Sound's population is essentially unchanged since the early 1990s.

00:38:20 Claire McCormack: What is your plan to achieve growth?

00:38:23 Claire McCormack: Go ahead, Carol.

00:38:24 Carol Merton: Thank you, Claire.

00:38:26 Carol Merton: You know, data can give you competing and confusing messages around growth.

00:38:32 Carol Merton: I'm looking forward to the next Statistics Canada report on our stats.

00:38:37 Carol Merton: Environment Canada indicates we have grown a little, but we're not growing enough to meet the requirements that we currently have.

00:38:46 Carol Merton: We need to aggressively target economic development opportunities like tourism, clean energy, medical isotope opportunities.

00:38:55 Carol Merton: If we want growth and we want workers, we have to go out, and we have to aggressively target it.

00:39:02 Carol Merton: We need to link with Georgian College around the training opportunities for our skills development aspects, and we also need to build deeply affordable housing for the median income of sixty-three thousand dollars,

00:39:16 Carol Merton: so we can get the workers here that support them.

00:39:19 Carol Merton: They're the very glue of our city, our retail workers, our PSWs, and those who are here every day to support us in all aspects.

00:39:29 Carol Merton: So, create the opportunities, create the environment, and invite people to come and be part of the city as we grow and expand.

00:39:38 Carol Merton: Thank you.

00:39:40 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:39:41 Claire McCormack: Next is Ray Botten.

00:39:44 Ray Botten: Owen Sound's population is essentially unchanged since the early 1990s.

00:39:49 Claire McCormack: What is your plan to achieve growth?

00:39:53 Ray Botten: My plan is greater than anyone has understood, because what is about to happen in possibly 2029 is the water storage facility that's going to be built in Meaford.

00:40:13 Ray Botten: It's a nine-billion-dollar project.

00:40:15 Ray Botten: It's a green energy project.

00:40:18 Ray Botten: This will be the spinoff and the catalyst that we need not just to expand to grow, but to become the only city in this whole region that we're to be.

00:40:32 Claire McCormack: We're going to opt out of Grey County.

00:40:34 Ray Botten: Twenty-three percent of your property tax goes to them.

00:40:39 Ray Botten: That's about a seventeen-and-a-half-million dollars.

00:40:41 Ray Botten: So that will help cover the twelve hundred dollars that I told you you will have back if we together move out and become the city that we are, and I believe—I just don't believe it.

00:40:55 Ray Botten: I know it.

00:40:57 Ray Botten: Owen Sound and Meaford will become one city.

00:40:59 Ray Botten: We're working on that right now.

00:41:02 Ray Botten: Thank you.

00:41:04 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

00:41:05 Claire McCormack: Next is Richard Thomas.

00:41:07 Richard Thomas: Owen Sound's population is essentially unchanged since the early 1990s.

00:41:12 Claire McCormack: What is your plan to achieve growth?

00:41:15 Richard Thomas: Well, I think we need to stop waiting for growth and actually start pursuing it.

00:41:19 Richard Thomas: I mentioned the 2015-2019 development charge holiday, which was highly successful in bringing money back into our tax base.

00:41:27 Richard Thomas: I will ask council to use targeted development charge incentives to get projects built.

00:41:32 Richard Thomas: Restore.

00:41:32 Richard Thomas: I will also restore a dedicated economic development function to actively recruit investment.

00:41:38 Richard Thomas: In 2016, we sent economic development up to Grey County, and I think it's time to bring it back because we need more focus on the city of Owen Sound.

00:41:52 Richard Thomas: The other thing I'd like to do is transform our tourism department into an economic development business that brings new money into Owen Sound.

00:41:59 Richard Thomas: You know, all around us, soggy shores, calling with Thornbury, Meaford, tourism is the biggest business going,

00:42:07 Richard Thomas: and Owen Sound has never been able to effectively capitalize on the possibilities that that creates for us as a regional centre.

00:42:14 Richard Thomas: So there's going to be a change there.

00:42:16 Richard Thomas: Every decision that's made will have the same objective: more investment, more jobs, more housing, and a larger assessment base to help ease the burden on our existing taxpayers.

00:42:26 Richard Thomas: That's why growth is important.

00:42:28 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

00:42:30 Claire McCormack: Next is Jodi King.

00:42:32 Jodi King: Owen Sound's population is essentially unchanged since the early 90s.

00:42:36 Claire McCormack: What is your plan to achieve growth?

00:42:39 Jodi King: Thank you for that question.

00:42:42 Jodi King: I believe, in my opinion, that we cannot grow the city unless we deal with the homeless situation first, and the crime that we have in Alton Sound.

00:42:51 Jodi King: I also, when we look after the homeless and the problems that we face downtown, then we can look after housing to build a better city.

00:43:04 Jodi King: I would like to offer incentives to new builds that will offer ten to twenty percent lower rates so that somebody can afford their home.

00:43:20 Jodi King: I like to look into grants and low accommodations.

00:43:25 Jodi King: For instance, if we're going to attract new doctors downtown, which we need a walk-in clinic downtown, let's offer them housing.

00:43:33 Claire McCormack: Let's offer them incentives.

00:43:34 Claire McCormack: Let's offer them grants.

00:43:36 Jodi King: But going back to my first statement, we do not see Owen Sound grow unless we deal with the bigger issue, which I believe is the homeless situation downtown.

00:43:45 Jodi King: Thank you.

00:43:47 Jodi King: Thank you, Jodi.

00:43:48 Claire McCormack: Next is Andrii Zvorygin.

00:43:50 Andrii Zvorygin: Owen Sound's population is essentially unchanged since the early 90s.

00:43:54 Claire McCormack: What is your plan to achieve growth?

00:43:58 Andrii Zvorygin: My growth plan starts with economic growth that improves quality of life, local jobs, business opportunities, and reliable services.

00:44:06 Andrii Zvorygin: Since 1991, Owen Sound's population has stayed near 21,500.

00:44:12 Andrii Zvorygin: We can value our community, care for residents, and create opportunities.

00:44:18 Andrii Zvorygin: Families can stay connected, find jobs, or start businesses.

00:44:23 Andrii Zvorygin: Tourism can bring spending to local shops, restaurants, and attractions.

00:44:28 Andrii Zvorygin: Business growth creates jobs and adds to the tax base.

00:44:32 Andrii Zvorygin: I know the mayors and deputy mayors of surrounding municipalities, and I will work with them on services, tourism, workforce, and local opportunities.

00:44:43 Andrii Zvorygin: City staff can make permit steps and costs clear.

00:44:47 Andrii Zvorygin: Publishing recurring purchases lets local suppliers see what the city buys and where they could compete.

00:44:53 Andrii Zvorygin: Training can prepare local workers for those jobs, keeping more spending here.

00:44:59 Andrii Zvorygin: At Grey County, I will coordinate with regional partners.

00:45:04 Andrii Zvorygin: We can judge growth by local jobs, visitor spending, and business activity.

00:45:08 Andrii Zvorygin: And business activity—that is how Owen Sound can grow its economy while improving daily life here.

00:45:15 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

00:45:17 Andrii Zvorygin: That concludes our round of the table for question five.

00:45:20 Claire McCormack: Would anybody like to offer a thirty-second follow-up?

00:45:24 Claire McCormack: Ray, Bob, you go ahead.

00:45:26 Andrii Zvorygin: You know, build it, and they will come.

00:45:30 Andrii Zvorygin: You know, if we don't have any faith, nothing's going to move forward.

00:45:34 Andrii Zvorygin: We have to do something like Richard says.

00:45:36 Andrii Zvorygin: You know, these development charges wipe them away; invest in the people.

00:45:44 Andrii Zvorygin: The developers will pass it on if they don't; we'll know who they are; they'll pass it on to the people who are paying the taxes.

00:45:53 Andrii Zvorygin: So if we don't build greater than we are, we're never going to go anywhere.

00:45:58 Andrii Zvorygin: Thank you, Ray.

00:46:00 Claire McCormack: Let's go to Andrii.

00:46:02 Claire McCormack: First, for a thirty-second follow-up.

00:46:04 Claire McCormack: Go ahead.

00:46:05 Andrii Zvorygin: I just wanted to say that giving the development charge forgiveness hasn't been working.

00:46:11 Andrii Zvorygin: Our Harbor West homes are two thousand dollars a unit, and it's not affordable except for the top quarter of people in Owen Sound.

00:46:20 Andrii Zvorygin: And so we have to pursue economic growth and helping the people that live here.

00:46:25 Andrii Zvorygin: We have to care about the actual residents of Owen Sound.

00:46:29 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

00:46:30 Claire McCormack: Next, go ahead, Carol Merton.

00:46:33 Carol Merton: We have many more municipal tools in our toolkit that we have not even addressed.

00:46:40 Carol Merton: There are options that we can use.

00:46:43 Carol Merton: We've recently started to use things like building permit fee forgiveness to allow our nonprofit housing to get to the finish line to start to put shovels in the ground.

00:46:54 Carol Merton: We can explore community bonds where we lend, spend, and invest locally to grow our local community, land trusts, and using the community development corporation for local housing under the community foundation.

00:47:07 Carol Merton: Grey Bruce, thank you.

00:47:08 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:47:10 Carol Merton: We will move on to the next question.

00:47:13 Claire McCormack: We are starting again with Ray Botten, and Ray, I can—I'll read this to you a couple times.

00:47:20 Ray Botten: I know you may not have it in front of you.

00:47:23 Ray Botten: So we have: How would you address the city's need to maintain municipal services and infrastructure without high tax increases for residents?

00:47:35 Ray Botten: I'll read that to you one more time here while you're looking through your notes.

00:47:39 Claire McCormack: How would you address the city's need to maintain municipal services and infrastructure without high tax increases for residents?

00:47:49 Ray Botten: Well, I believe to support the housing supply, we must amend our current bylaws regarding zoning.

00:47:56 Ray Botten: You know, we're so over-regulated.

00:47:58 Ray Botten: Regulated that we have no room to grow, even if we were to grow.

00:48:06 Ray Botten: We're not going to grow until we have the plan, and the plan is again to grow exponentially.

00:48:13 Ray Botten: If you, if we're going to do increments, it's just a band-aid solution.

00:48:17 Ray Botten: The generation that's coming up is not going to be able to afford anything.

00:48:21 Ray Botten: They can't now, so we have to build this infrastructure by using some.

00:48:28 Ray Botten: Using something that is coming our way, we have to be ready for it.

00:48:32 Ray Botten: Prosperity is not something you just have once.

00:48:36 Ray Botten: You have to continue to cultivate your fields and grow the harvest.

00:48:41 Ray Botten: You don't keep it in one ballpark.

00:48:43 Ray Botten: You have to keep going, and prosperity is something that a lot of people need.

00:48:49 Ray Botten: But unless we do it together, well, that's even that doesn't work unless we have a plan.

00:48:55 Ray Botten: Thank you.

00:48:56 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

00:48:57 Claire McCormack: Next is Richard Thomas.

00:49:00 Claire McCormack: How would you address the city's need to maintain municipal services and infrastructure without high tax increases for residents?

00:49:08 Richard Thomas: Well, the answer to this question is almost similar to the question before.

00:49:11 Richard Thomas: I think that growth is the only way that we're going to address that.

00:49:15 Richard Thomas: We need to use targeted development charges, incentive charges to get the kind of development we want, and of course affordability is the area that we want to focus on now.

00:49:25 Richard Thomas: But we also want to bring new businesses to the community, new industries to the community.

00:49:29 Richard Thomas: I certainly am supportive of the work the past council has done to bring some of those things, but I think we need to work a little bit harder.

00:49:37 Richard Thomas: Again, everything to me circles back to the problems in the downtown river district,

00:49:41 Richard Thomas: and I find it hard to imagine anyone will invest in this community or come to this community until we sort out the problems down there.

00:49:49 Richard Thomas: To use a real estate term, when your curbside appeal is so bad, it's hard to imagine anyone.

00:49:53 Richard Thomas: Bad.

00:49:53 Richard Thomas: It's hard to imagine anyone's going to want to buy.

00:49:55 Richard Thomas: So I, you know, to me, the two issues are connected: cleaning up the downtown river district and using development charges and other economic development tools to bring businesses, industries, and new people to Owen Sound.

00:50:09 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

00:50:10 Claire McCormack: Next is Jodi King.

00:50:12 Claire McCormack: The question is: How would you address the city's need to maintain municipal services and infrastructure without high tax increases for residents?

00:50:22 Jodi King: I would also agree with my friend here, Richard.

00:50:26 Jodi King: When my husband and I, we have a snow removal company that we shovel snow downtown at about twenty storefronts,

00:50:35 Jodi King: and we've lost six contracts because of the issues we face downtown with the littering and the garbage and the feces and so on and so forth.

00:50:43 Jodi King: So, I would also like to lobby for intergovernmental grants to attract more infrastructure and new builds.

00:50:49 Jodi King: More infrastructure, new builds, new businesses that come that are wanting to come downtown.

00:50:56 Jodi King: But as Richard had stated, we need to clean up and make downtown more presentable and safer in order for other people to come and set up shop.

00:51:10 Jodi King: Thank you.

00:51:11 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Jodi King.

00:51:13 Claire McCormack: Andres of Oregon, how would you address the city's need to maintain municipal services and infrastructure without high tax increases for residents?

00:51:22 Andrii Zvorygin: Keep what we have working.

00:51:24 Andrii Zvorygin: That is how we maintain reliable services and manage tax pressure.

00:51:28 Andrii Zvorygin: The asset management plan estimates overall infrastructure needs close to three times current funding.

00:51:35 Andrii Zvorygin: Residents rely on roads, sewers, and public services every day, so they need clear priorities for the work.

00:51:43 Andrii Zvorygin: Local representatives can help residents flag repairs and join a.

00:51:47 Andrii Zvorygin: Repairs and join approved minor maintenance.

00:51:49 Andrii Zvorygin: Preventative maintenance can extend asset life.

00:51:53 Andrii Zvorygin: For roads, I will match paved tar and chip or other surfaces to traffic and full cost over time.

00:52:01 Andrii Zvorygin: Keeping what we have working also means finding wastewater problems early.

00:52:06 Andrii Zvorygin: A screening test costing five thousand dollars can find destructive pollutants early and help recover costs.

00:52:13 Andrii Zvorygin: I will propose sewer separation and prompt incident operation and prompt incident reporting to help staff trace problems sooner.

00:52:19 Andrii Zvorygin: Staff can publish priorities, asset risks, debt, rate effects, and progress, so residents can see what is fixed and when.

00:52:29 Andrii Zvorygin: Steady maintenance keeps neighbourhood services dependable for people who rely on them every day.

00:52:36 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

00:52:38 Claire McCormack: Next, Carol Merton.

00:52:39 Claire McCormack: How would you address the city's need to maintain municipal services and infrastructure without high tax increases for residents?

00:52:47 Carol Merton: We are in a crisis.

00:52:50 Carol Merton: We are in an affordability and housing crisis.

00:52:53 Carol Merton: I challenge the word "maintain."

00:52:56 Carol Merton: When you're in a crisis, you need to review what's happening, with the response dealing with the crisis situation.

00:53:05 Carol Merton: As as mayor, I would ask council to look, along with staff, at what services we are doing.

00:53:12 Claire McCormack: What do we need to keep doing?

00:53:13 Carol Merton: and what do we need to either put aside or not continue to fund at this point in time?

00:53:21 Carol Merton: Business as usual is not how we move forward in a crisis situation.

00:53:25 Carol Merton: We also need to look at economies of scale.

00:53:28 Carol Merton: We need to look at regional opportunities, things like waste management, road resurfacing.

00:53:35 Carol Merton: How do we link with others for regional purchasing so that together we're able to save and work as many as And work as municipalities.

00:53:42 Carol Merton: We also need to look at our organizational operational efficiency.

00:53:47 Carol Merton: Do we continue with the operational structure that we currently have, or are there opportunities to share resources and staffing?

00:53:56 Carol Merton: We've already done this with sharing with municipalities, building inspector fire inspections.

00:54:02 Carol Merton: The path is there for us to follow.

00:54:04 Carol Merton: We need to definitely take that bold step forward.

00:54:08 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

00:54:10 Claire McCormack: Would anybody like to offer a thirty-second follow-up to that question before we take our next break?

00:54:17 Carol Merton: Okay, we will take another break.

00:54:19 Claire McCormack: We have five of the six Owen Sound mayor candidates here in the studio in Owen Sound.

00:54:25 Carol Merton: You're listening to 89.3 CFOS FM, and if you want to watch this discussion, it is also streaming on Bayshore Broadcasting's YouTube.

00:54:33 Carol Merton: I'm Claire McCormack.

00:54:34 Carol Merton: We'll be right back.

00:54:38 Carol Merton: Okay.

00:54:38 Carol Merton: Now my questions here that I printed from that are in a completely different order from the order you're using.

00:54:46 Carol Merton: So where are you going next?

00:54:47 Carol Merton: Yeah, mine too.

00:54:49 Carol Merton: Mine are also okay.

00:54:51 Carol Merton: Next is people crossing.

00:54:54 Carol Merton: Okay, great.

00:54:56 Carol Merton: I didn't.

00:54:56 Claire McCormack: What's people's just in case?

00:54:58 Carol Merton: But yeah, I can't.

00:55:02 Carol Merton: They're not in order.

00:55:03 Carol Merton: Well, the question seven.

00:55:08 Carol Merton: Are we starting with just?

00:55:10 Carol Merton: So we're gonna we're gonna go on succession.

00:55:12 Carol Merton: I'm gonna run to the bathroom.

00:55:14 Carol Merton: Is anybody else?

00:55:18 Carol Merton: Is it?

00:55:20 Carol Merton: Yeah, you got two.

00:55:20 Carol Merton: Is it YouTube?

00:55:21 Carol Merton: We're on YouTube.

00:55:24 Carol Merton: We're on the dot ca.

00:55:27 Carol Merton: Oh, all right.

00:55:29 Carol Merton: Funding department of standards Ontario.

00:55:30 Carol Merton: Federal provincial territorial initiative.

00:55:34 Carol Merton: Yeah, sorry, right.

00:55:41 Carol Merton: But we're just going around and around and around, so I didn't mean to catch you off guard there.

00:55:45 Carol Merton: No, well, you you covered me.

00:55:47 Carol Merton: That's okay.

00:55:47 Carol Merton: Okay, so then after that one, after OPP, it's housing.

00:55:55 Carol Merton: So we are going to your list, right?

00:55:58 Carol Merton: Yes.

00:55:58 Carol Merton: Yeah, that's the only list I have.

00:56:00 Carol Merton: Okay, all right.

00:56:02 Carol Merton: That's the one.

00:56:03 Carol Merton: Because I answered that question that you're going to do.

00:56:12 Carol Merton: Because I was trying.

00:56:12 Carol Merton: Anyways.

00:56:13 Carol Merton: Yeah.

00:56:14 Carol Merton: Yeah.

00:56:31 Carol Merton: Yeah.

00:56:32 Carol Merton: Might get to it.

00:56:38 Carol Merton: Depends on the response after, right?

00:56:41 Carol Merton: Well, yeah, about like not everybody is using it.

00:56:44 Claire McCormack: So we're starting with Richard Thomas.

00:57:00 Richard Thomas: When would we get the next break after that?

00:57:07 Claire McCormack: How long?

00:57:08 Richard Thomas: Ten.

00:57:08 Richard Thomas: I don't know.

00:57:09 Richard Thomas: Fifteen minutes.

00:57:11 Richard Thomas: Okay.

00:57:12 Richard Thomas: If I leave, it's going to be Washington, and then if you skip me, just say it's going to Washington.

00:57:43 Richard Thomas: Welcome back.

00:57:43 Richard Thomas: I'm Claire McCormack.

00:57:44 Claire McCormack: You are listening to the 2026 Owen Sound mayoral candidate discussion on 89.3 CFOS FM.

00:57:52 Richard Thomas: We are also streaming on Bayshore Broadcasting's YouTube channel as well as CFOs' Facebook page.

00:58:00 Richard Thomas: If you would like to see a video, you can do that there.

00:58:02 Richard Thomas: And of course, you can stream online at CFOs.ca as well.

00:58:06 Richard Thomas: We are on to our next question here with five of the six mayoral candidates in studio today.

00:58:12 Richard Thomas: We're starting this round of questions with Richard Thomas.

00:58:15 Richard Thomas: Will be the first to answer.

00:58:17 Claire McCormack: The question is: Owen Sound completed an OPP costing process a decade ago and stuck with its municipal police service.

00:58:26 Claire McCormack: Do you believe?

00:58:27 Claire McCormack: this is an issue that needs to be revisited?

00:58:32 Richard Thomas: Well, let me just say I'm always interested in exploring ways to save money for the taxpayers of Owen Sound.

00:58:38 Richard Thomas: In this case, however, my answer is no. I would not support that, and the reason is fairly straightforward.

00:58:44 Richard Thomas: I was the one who moved the motion back in 2015 to create an OPP costing.

00:58:49 Richard Thomas: When it came back to council, we unanimously agreed not to move forward with it because we just couldn't believe the figures that we were getting,

00:58:56 Richard Thomas: it was going to cost less than city police in the ten-year contract proposal.

00:59:02 Richard Thomas: However, historically, in year what would have been year eight, if we'd said yes, OPP costs across the province went up between ten and twenty-five percent, and that was not predicted in that ten-year proposal.

00:59:14 Richard Thomas: That would have cost us more in that year eight than our city police cost us presently.

00:59:19 Richard Thomas: It's important to understand as well that if we were thinking of getting rid of our city police,

00:59:23 Richard Thomas: if we move forward. it costs us between 12 and 17 million dollars just to wrap up the police headquarters, pay the severance to the officers and civilian staff.

00:59:33 Richard Thomas: On top of that, the OPP will cost about 12 million dollars a year, and we have to build them a new OPP station.

00:59:39 Richard Thomas: On top of that, it is a very expensive proposal.

00:59:43 Richard Thomas: A 10-year OPP arrangement will cost between 104 and 130 million.

00:59:47 Richard Thomas: City Police, 109 to 120 million.

00:59:49 Richard Thomas: I think we get better service from the city police; they're more responsive to us.

00:59:54 Richard Thomas: And I think there's a big gap between city police and the city council right now that we need to solve, and I will solve as mayor.

01:00:02 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

01:00:04 Claire McCormack: Next is Jodi King.

01:00:06 Jodi King: Owen Sound completed an OPP costing process a decade ago and stuck with its municipal police service.

01:00:13 Claire McCormack: Do you believe this is an issue that needs to be revisited?

01:00:18 Jodi King: Personally, I would like to see high numbers.

01:00:20 Jodi King: The numbers, but I have done some research that our current budget for the Onsound Police is $10 million, and I did a comparison with the Orangeville OPP, with the population double Onsound approximately,

01:00:36 Jodi King: and their budget was $6.1.

01:00:38 Jodi King: So if we move forward to the OPP costing and we save two and a half, three million dollars,

01:00:44 Jodi King: that extra money can go into the community to serve better targets like the homeless and street city streets repair.

01:00:55 Jodi King: So I also do believe, being downtown and talking to the homeless people and the residents around me and the storefront owners downtown, that the Onslow Police have done an amazing job so far.

01:01:08 Jodi King: But I also believe that there's a few of them that have favorites when it comes to here we go drug trafficking people, and I believe that the OPP officers, because they rotate,

01:01:21 Claire McCormack: they would not be biased, and it would actually go ahead and charge, for example, a drug trafficker that is causing more trouble at this time.

01:01:34 Jodi King: So I would, I would like to see the OPP come to Owen Sound.

01:01:38 Jodi King: Thank you.

01:01:40 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Jodi King.

01:01:40 Claire McCormack: Next is Andrii Zvorygin.

01:01:42 Andrii Zvorygin: Owen Sound completed an OPP costing process a decade ago and stuck with its municipal police service.

01:01:49 Claire McCormack: Do you believe this is an issue that needs to be revisited?

01:01:53 Andrii Zvorygin: I'm open to reviewing the OPP option because residents have raised concerns about drug dealing, theft, and the visible response.

01:02:03 Andrii Zvorygin: I will bring those concerns to the police service board and chief and request privacy-safe public reporting so residents can see how calls are handled and what results follow.

01:02:15 Andrii Zvorygin: Local representatives can bring concerns forward.

01:02:18 Andrii Zvorygin: A civilian pilot can support police through multi-response dispatch.

01:02:23 Andrii Zvorygin: Lower-risk calls could go to trained civilian or mental health responders, with optional police backup, helping officers focus on serious crime.

01:02:33 Andrii Zvorygin: If needed, I will support an official OPP costing through the proper process.

01:02:40 Andrii Zvorygin: I will ask staff to use city records for a first comparison, followed by an outside review, the planning estimate is about eight thousand dollars.

01:02:50 Andrii Zvorygin: That gives residents a factual basis for the decision.

01:02:54 Andrii Zvorygin: Before any change, residents and council can compare cost and service accountability and transition.

01:03:02 Andrii Zvorygin: Any change must preserve or improve service.

01:03:06 Andrii Zvorygin: A careful review can give residents confidence in both the service and the decision.

01:03:13 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:03:15 Claire McCormack: Next is Carol Merton.

01:03:16 Carol Merton: Excuse me.

01:03:17 Carol Merton: Owen Sound completed an OPP costing process a decade ago and stuck with its municipal police service.

01:03:23 Claire McCormack: Do you believe this is an issue that needs to be revisited?

01:03:28 Carol Merton: Thank you, Claire.

01:03:30 Carol Merton: I sit on the Owen Sound Police Services Board.

01:03:32 Carol Merton: I've seen their budget.

01:03:34 Carol Merton: I've seen the comments that have come in from the public.

01:03:38 Carol Merton: As mayor, one of the first rules that the council would need to do is to sit down and fully understand first before we seek any OPP costing, the budgeting process, the revenue generating,

01:03:50 Carol Merton: and all of the aspects of community policing that may or may not be provided by OPP or would need to be provided at a cost.

01:03:58 Carol Merton: We know the stats are showing that our crime severity index and also our calls for service are rising, and when OPP costing is part considered,

01:04:08 Carol Merton: the Considered those rising demands for service also become part of the bottom line.

01:04:14 Carol Merton: We reached out to the Solicitor General through the Counselor, and the Solicitor General has emphasized the importance of understanding the revenue generating activities and cost recovery operations opportunities that our current policing service offers,

01:04:30 Carol Merton: not offered by OPP.

01:04:32 Carol Merton: That includes our dispatch, our records management, and any other offset expense.

01:04:38 Carol Merton: If we're going to compare, and information is power, we need to compare apples to apples, and we need to be very clear that what's in our budget lines matches other municipality budget lines,

01:04:50 Carol Merton: because not always do they include the same things.

01:04:54 Carol Merton: Thank you.

01:04:55 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

01:04:56 Claire McCormack: Next is Ray Botten.

01:04:58 Ray Botten: Owen Sound completed an OPP costing process a decade ago and stuck with its municipal police service.

01:05:05 Claire McCormack: Do you believe?

01:05:06 Claire McCormack: this is an issue that needs to be revisited?

01:05:09 Ray Botten: Yes, it does need to be revisited.

01:05:11 Ray Botten: First, I'd like to say Carol Merton is on the On Sound Police Services Board, as she says, and I've watched her in action.

01:05:19 Ray Botten: I've watched her on YouTube.

01:05:21 Ray Botten: You should see how she supports our city.

01:05:24 Ray Botten: Absolutely, she knows what she's doing.

01:05:27 Ray Botten: Secondly, Chief Ambrose, I had a meeting with him just when I was first nominated, and asked him what what he thought about what's going on.

01:05:37 Ray Botten: He he's actually for a Gray County police service, and so does that take away from maybe an OPP designate?

01:05:48 Ray Botten: Possibly.

01:05:50 Ray Botten: We're not keeping up.

01:05:53 Ray Botten: The police are not able to keep up to the calls, and the police officers that come, they come then they leave.

01:06:00 Ray Botten: We're going.

01:06:01 Ray Botten: We're only going to have one more police officer, according to Chief Ambrose, by next May.

01:06:08 Ray Botten: One, so the burnout and the the push to do what each officer has to do.

01:06:14 Ray Botten: We need to get behind the officers and their families.

01:06:18 Ray Botten: We need to not call 9-1-1 if it's not a necessity.

01:06:24 Ray Botten: But if it is, make sure you do.

01:06:27 Ray Botten: And by the way, everything that we do together should be with the heart of thinking of others, and that's why we're here as potential mayors.

01:06:38 Ray Botten: If we don't think of others first, then it's not going to work.

01:06:41 Ray Botten: Thank you.

01:06:42 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

01:06:45 Ray Botten: Next, actually, I think that's that's it for the first round going around.

01:06:49 Claire McCormack: But anybody like to offer a thirty-second follow-up?

01:06:54 Ray Botten: Okay, Ray.

01:06:55 Ray Botten: I just want to fact-check you.

01:06:56 Ray Botten: When you said there would be one officer left, could you clarify that for us?

01:07:00 Ray Botten: Yeah, Chief Ambrose told me there's a recruiting process, and there's one officer in Elmer at the police college right now, who is signed up to when he finishes to come to Owen Sound.

01:07:14 Ray Botten: Okay, I see what you're saying.

01:07:15 Ray Botten: Yeah.

01:07:15 Ray Botten: Okay, great.

01:07:16 Ray Botten: Okay, thank you.

01:07:16 Ray Botten: I just wanted to make sure we understood what point you were making there.

01:07:19 Ray Botten: Okay, let's move on to the next question then.

01:07:21 Claire McCormack: If everybody's ready for the next one, we're starting with Jodi King.

01:07:27 Claire McCormack: What specific municipal actions would you try to advance to help increase Owen Sound's housing supply across the affordability spectrum?

01:07:39 Jodi King: I think that any future promised affordable housing commitments should be legally enforced, and I say that because if a developer fails to make good on its promise to deliver affordable housing or units,

01:07:58 Jodi King: they should be habitable.

01:08:00 Jodi King: It will also help prevent developers backing out in the future, especially after receiving zoning variances and accommodations, public lands, and tax breaks.

01:08:12 Claire McCormack: Thank you, thank you, Jodi King.

01:08:14 Claire McCormack: Next is Andrii Zvorygin.

01:08:17 Claire McCormack: What specific municipal actions would you try to advance to help increase Owen Sound's housing supply across the affordability spectrum?

01:08:26 Andrii Zvorygin: Families need more housing choices they can afford.

01:08:30 Andrii Zvorygin: Owen Sound has more than enough luxury units under construction for the wealthiest quarter of residents.

01:08:36 Andrii Zvorygin: At Harbour West, apartments start around two thousand dollars a month.

01:08:41 Andrii Zvorygin: Conventional townhouses, multiplexes, and apartments add market housing, while affordable construction opens another path.

01:08:51 Andrii Zvorygin: I will propose a vacant home tax to return empty homes to use, increase supply, and help lower rents.

01:08:59 Andrii Zvorygin: Building fee deferrals would go only to projects with commitments to deliver affordable units, with the benefit recovered if promised homes are not delivered.

01:09:10 Andrii Zvorygin: Affordable construction makes room for lower-cost, livable home designs and can help re-activate stalled projects.

01:09:18 Andrii Zvorygin: Suitable surplus sites can add homes, keeping parks for residents to enjoy.

01:09:23 Andrii Zvorygin: At Grey County, I will propose a home with land pathway.

01:09:28 Andrii Zvorygin: With residents could own a warm home and lease productive land for a total of about seven hundred dollars a month.

01:09:35 Andrii Zvorygin: I will report affordable homes promised and delivered, along with homes returned to use.

01:09:41 Andrii Zvorygin: These steps can give more families a real chance to find a home they can afford.

01:09:48 Andrii Zvorygin: Thank you, Andres of Oregon.

01:09:49 Claire McCormack: Next, Carol Merton.

01:09:51 Claire McCormack: What specific municipal actions would you try to advance to help increase Owen Sound's housing supply across the affordability spectrum?

01:10:01 Carol Merton: Thank you, Claire.

01:10:03 Carol Merton: I think whenever we say housing, we need to also think of economic development, growth, and sustainability.

01:10:09 Carol Merton: One can't be with one without the other.

01:10:12 Carol Merton: Housing and rental availability and affordability are strong economic drivers for growth and development.

01:10:18 Carol Merton: Employers need workers.

01:10:20 Carol Merton: Workers need houses, and workers spend money in our local community.

01:10:24 Carol Merton: I've been part of an affordable housing working group with the Institute of Southern Georgian Bay, linking with developers, planners, and social finance experts on what more we can add to the pot.

01:10:36 Carol Merton: What we can do is to apply an affordable housing first, prioritizing policy, for anything that comes forward in the future.

01:10:46 Carol Merton: Deeply affordable housing for those median income workers of 63,000 or less.

01:10:52 Carol Merton: We can ensure that affordable buildings are part of the first phase of multi-unit and multi-apartment builds in the future.

01:11:01 Carol Merton: We learn as we go.

01:11:02 Carol Merton: We learn as we grow.

01:11:04 Carol Merton: Municipally owned surplus lands and facilities could be reviewed by council and redirected to be affordable housing repurposed through the community development corporation for local housing.

01:11:17 Carol Merton: We can work with our nonprofit developers to find out what they need to fast-track those affordable housing.

01:11:24 Carol Merton: We've started to do this, and we can do more.

01:11:27 Carol Merton: Thank you, Claire.

01:11:29 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

01:11:31 Claire McCormack: Next, Ray Botten.

01:11:32 Claire McCormack: What specific municipal actions would you try to advance to help increase Owen Sound's housing supply across the affordability spectrum?

01:11:43 Ray Botten: Thank you for this great question.

01:11:46 Ray Botten: I have to go back to what I was sharing earlier.

01:11:49 Ray Botten: Is that, and others are saying the same thing.

01:11:53 Ray Botten: Unless we grow, we're not going anywhere.

01:11:56 Ray Botten: It's like a spider in a web.

01:11:58 Ray Botten: He, he catches everything, and no one's going nowhere.

01:12:01 Ray Botten: I like the roadrunner effect.

01:12:03 Ray Botten: I'd rather get there before we even thought we got there.

01:12:08 Ray Botten: And this, this great opportunity that is coming, whether you believe me or not.

01:12:15 Ray Botten: It is the answer.

01:12:17 Ray Botten: When we have nine a nine billion dollar project, nine billion dollars is nine thousand million.

01:12:28 Ray Botten: So great jobs, great spinoffs, great entrepreneurial advances—not just to sustain while the project's being done, but it's again, it's a stimulus project that will help us municipally, and we're finished with Grey County,

01:12:47 Ray Botten: so let's become the city we are.

01:12:50 Ray Botten: Thank you.

01:12:52 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

01:12:54 Claire McCormack: Richard Thomas.

01:12:56 Claire McCormack: What specific municipal actions would you try to advance to help increase Owen Sound's housing supply across the affordability spectrum?

01:13:05 Richard Thomas: I think there's a few things we can do in Owen Sound to bring more affordability to our housing.

01:13:08 Richard Thomas: Due to our housing, recently this past summer, Saugeen Shores signed an agreement with a builder and a not-for-profit and the municipality to build affordable housing there as a team.

01:13:21 Richard Thomas: I think that's an approach that could work here.

01:13:23 Richard Thomas: Although their affordability level was four hundred thousand dollars was considered affordable, and I'm not really sure that's going to wash in Owen Sound.

01:13:30 Richard Thomas: I think something closer to half that, if we could achieve it, would be fantastic.

01:13:35 Richard Thomas: You know, if I'm elected mayor, the first thing I'm going to do, or maybe the second thing, is bring local developers and not-for-profits like Habitat for Humanity, the Owen Sound Housing Company, Lutheran Social Services,

01:13:46 Richard Thomas: and Grey County to the table.

01:13:48 Richard Thomas: See if we can together develop a local affordability solution made in Owen Sound.

01:13:55 Richard Thomas: I think there is available municipal land that the municipality could donate in a partnership arrangement.

01:14:01 Richard Thomas: And again, this is where targeted development charge incentives could work in our favour because we can, in fact,

01:14:07 Richard Thomas: use development charges to reward developers for adding in affordable units into anything they build by forgiving the development charges on those affordable units.

01:14:17 Richard Thomas: So I think there's a number of things we can do, and I think it's fairly, fairly high up there in priority.

01:14:23 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

01:14:25 Richard Thomas: That is everyone around the table for that question.

01:14:27 Claire McCormack: Would anybody like to add a thirty-second follow-up?

01:14:30 Claire McCormack: Go ahead, Ray Botten.

01:14:32 Ray Botten: Yeah, being part of a faith community, the victorious.

01:14:35 Ray Botten: The Victoria's Living Centre had a homeless shelter that I was the manager, and we did it with nothing.

01:14:43 Ray Botten: And I'm saying to everyone, you know, you can put all the faith groups together unless you're doing it, and not asking the government for the money, then you're really in faith.

01:14:55 Ray Botten: Thank you.

01:14:56 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

01:14:58 Claire McCormack: Would anybody else like to add a follow-up?

01:15:01 Claire McCormack: Go ahead, Carol Merton.

01:15:03 Carol Merton: I think one of the most important things is to be able to define the difference between affordable and deeply affordable housing.

01:15:12 Carol Merton: When we take our median age income of sixty three thousand, what's affordable to some may not be affordable to others.

01:15:21 Carol Merton: Our first job is to set a target.

01:15:24 Carol Merton: If you don't have a target, how can you work towards it?

01:15:27 Carol Merton: And a target for deeply affordable: how many units, how many homes do we need to get built, and then bring people together and make it happen.

01:15:36 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

01:15:37 Claire McCormack: Go ahead, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:15:39 Claire McCormack: Yep, I'd just like to follow up.

01:15:41 Andrii Zvorygin: That that's exactly what I did.

01:15:43 Andrii Zvorygin: Is I looked at what can people afford, and I made a home design that people can afford, and it costs between eighty to ninety thousand,

01:15:53 Andrii Zvorygin: and the mortgage works out at current mortgage rates at around four hundred dollars a month, and this is a type of affordable construction that's two building code.

01:16:00 Andrii Zvorygin: That's to building code that people can live in that we can allow both into the city and around Grey County.

01:16:06 Andrii Zvorygin: Thank you.

01:16:07 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:16:10 Claire McCormack: If there are no more follow-ups, we'll move on to the next question, and for that question, we'll be starting with Andrii Zvorygin, and the question is:

01:16:18 Andrii Zvorygin: Is there an existing area of municipal service provision you believe has a significant gap that Residents need a clear route from a neighbourhood concern to city follow-through.

01:16:36 Andrii Zvorygin: I propose keeping at-large elections while each councillor serves a ward they choose.

01:16:42 Andrii Zvorygin: About 70 local representatives, each connected to roughly 150 households in a ward, would cost about $53,000 a year, including annual neighbourhood gatherings.

01:16:52 Andrii Zvorygin: Local representatives can help neighbours or can help neighbours organise watches, traffic calming, cleanups, and approved small tasks.

01:17:04 Andrii Zvorygin: A public neighbourhood task list would let residents flag work they value.

01:17:09 Andrii Zvorygin: City staff or residents could complete approved tasks, and residents could see who is responsible, when the work is expected, and what was completed.

01:17:19 Andrii Zvorygin: Residents can bring a concern to their local representative, who can help connect them with a counsellor and follow the request.

01:17:27 Andrii Zvorygin: We can measure response times, completed tasks, and resident feedback.

01:17:34 Andrii Zvorygin: Neighbours can see their concerns become completed work and take part in shaping the place they call home.

01:17:41 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:17:43 Claire McCormack: Next, Carol Merton.

01:17:45 Carol Merton: Is there an existing area of municipal service provision you believe has a significant gap that needs to be addressed?

01:17:54 Carol Merton: Yes, transit.

01:17:55 Carol Merton: Our city is growing.

01:17:57 Carol Merton: We have new rental units being built, a high school on the outskirts of town being built, and 43% of our city are renters who need transit for everyday living activities.

01:18:09 Carol Merton: The timing to address this is now.

01:18:11 Carol Merton: We also, I have been successful working with community organisations to get an affordability transit pass.

01:18:18 Carol Merton: We need to expand that and consider family rate passes, free rates for those under 12, but we also need a transit traffic flow and transportation working group.

01:18:31 Carol Merton: If we expect our buses to be on time and our lights aren't synchronized to get travellers across town, and I've certainly heard that many, many times at the door and through emails,

01:18:41 Carol Merton: then we need to get people sitting together.

01:18:44 Carol Merton: And I'm not talking about a big study.

01:18:46 Carol Merton: I want the people who live here, who go across our town on a regular basis, to sit down and let's figure out how to make it work.

01:18:54 Carol Merton: We need to think about: Are we serving our people?

01:18:57 Carol Merton: We don't have Sunday service.

01:18:59 Carol Merton: Our workers need expanded hours for transit.

01:19:02 Carol Merton: It's time for us to consider.

01:19:04 Carol Merton: We've done a pilot project before.

01:19:06 Carol Merton: It's time to consider pilot projects, and if the ridership can support it, then before we sign the contract, which is coming up for transit, to review this and say: How are we serving our people?

01:19:18 Carol Merton: And how are we serving our community?

01:19:19 Carol Merton: Thank you, Claire.

01:19:21 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

01:19:22 Claire McCormack: Next, Ray Botten.

01:19:24 Ray Botten: Is there an existing area of municipal service provision you believe has a significant gap that needs to be addressed?

01:19:32 Ray Botten: I've been waiting for this question to be asked publicly.

01:19:37 Ray Botten: I'm an amputee.

01:19:39 Ray Botten: I'm a heart patient.

01:19:40 Ray Botten: I have kidney disease.

01:19:41 Ray Botten: I have a few other health challenges.

01:19:44 Ray Botten: So I'm in a wheelchair.

01:19:45 Ray Botten: I'm learning to walk.

01:19:48 Ray Botten: Let everyone know that.

01:19:48 Ray Botten: Let everyone know the taxis don't pick me up.

01:19:51 Claire McCormack: Why?

01:19:52 Ray Botten: Because I'm a liability.

01:19:53 Ray Botten: I have a fold-out wheelchair, and why is this not a major news item?

01:19:58 Ray Botten: Because the AODA supports by law that I have transportation, and I don't.

01:20:04 Ray Botten: If I were elected mayor, how am I going to get to the committees?

01:20:10 Claire McCormack: How am I going to get to the events?

01:20:13 Ray Botten: That's just me.

01:20:14 Ray Botten: How about the other friends that I know personally who are amputees or elderly who are in a wheelchair won't get a taxi because we're a liability.

01:20:24 Ray Botten: Listen, I'm not just furious.

01:20:26 Ray Botten: Listen, I'm holding myself back with this microphone.

01:20:31 Ray Botten: The transportation issue is not just a big issue; it is an issue with everyone who is coming to Canada, and they serve in wages that can't even afford them to get back and forth.

01:20:49 Ray Botten: If we don't get transportation, hands down, I don't care what it costs.

01:20:56 Ray Botten: It's going to cost.

01:20:57 Ray Botten: It's going to be a lost leader, and we're going to change that.

01:21:00 Ray Botten: And whether I'm in mayor or not, we're going to change this.

01:21:04 Ray Botten: We are.

01:21:05 Ray Botten: Thank you.

01:21:06 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

01:21:07 Claire McCormack: Next, Richard Thomas.

01:21:10 Richard Thomas: Is there an existing area of municipal service provision you believe has a significant gap that needs to be addressed?

01:21:18 Richard Thomas: You know, I think if you have a car, you own sound, you don't worry too much about transit.

01:21:22 Richard Thomas: But there's a lot of people who don't have cars and they worry about transit.

01:21:27 Richard Thomas: Here we have a service we're present and playing $1.3 million a year for, and nobody that uses it seems to like it.

01:21:35 Richard Thomas: They don't find it efficient.

01:21:36 Richard Thomas: They don't find it useful.

01:21:38 Richard Thomas: I've always said there's a difference between providing the service you want to provide and providing the service that people need, and we've been providing the service we want to provide,

01:21:47 Richard Thomas: and I think it's time now to provide the service that people need.

01:21:50 Richard Thomas: There are a number of interesting experiments going on out there in the world, and Inesville is the one I always draw people's attention to,

01:21:58 Richard Thomas: where Inesville has chosen to use ride sharing instead of city buses and subsidize each ride to take people from destination to destination, door-to-door service, basically.

01:22:08 Richard Thomas: I'm not suggesting that that's what I think we need in Owen Sound,

01:22:11 Richard Thomas: but I think some combination of city transit and rideshare to augment the service in the off hours can make a more efficient service that's really more useful for the people that use it.

01:22:21 Richard Thomas: And I'm willing to turn every stone to try and find the solution to that.

01:22:26 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

01:22:27 Claire McCormack: Next, Jodi King.

01:22:29 Jodi King: Is there an existing area of municipal service provision you believe has a significant gap that needs to be addressed?

01:22:37 Jodi King: I think we can all agree that it's transit right now that people are facing issues with my friend here, Ray Botten, and there's other people who have mobility issues.

01:22:49 Jodi King: I would like to see the city accommodate at least one bus that can accommodate people that are in wheelchairs and other mobility issues.

01:23:03 Jodi King: And I also like to see the city buses run longer.

01:23:07 Jodi King: My husband had issue.

01:23:07 Jodi King: Has been an issue in council and even current council debates recently that we need to focus on longer hours of the buses for those who are working or those who are visiting from one side

01:23:21 Jodi King: to the town to the other.

01:23:22 Jodi King: But I would like to see that change if possible.

01:23:27 Jodi King: Thank you.

01:23:28 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Jodi King.

01:23:30 Claire McCormack: That takes us around the table, and now we have an opportunity for 30-second follow-up.

01:23:34 Jodi King: I'm just going to go clockwise as usual.

01:23:37 Jodi King: If that's okay with everybody.

01:23:38 Claire McCormack: So we're going to start here with Ray Botten.

01:23:40 Claire McCormack: Go ahead.

01:23:41 Ray Botten: Yeah, I would like to say how appreciative I'm so thankful for the Owen Sound mobility service that we have.

01:23:50 Ray Botten: If I didn't have that, I'd probably not make it.

01:23:53 Ray Botten: And I mean that.

01:23:54 Ray Botten: I get to appointments.

01:23:55 Ray Botten: I get to go somewhere until six o'clock.

01:24:00 Ray Botten: After six o'clock, no one goes anywhere in Owen Sound.

01:24:04 Ray Botten: But I can't get a taxi.

01:24:05 Ray Botten: I have to take an ambulance to the hospital.

01:24:08 Ray Botten: Okay, I've told the hospital.

01:24:10 Ray Botten: I've told the police services board.

01:24:12 Ray Botten: I told the council.

01:24:13 Ray Botten: I've told the taxi people.

01:24:15 Ray Botten: Now, if you don't change it, I'm going to have the AODA charge you fifty thousand dollars per day, and I don't want to do that.

01:24:21 Ray Botten: Thank you.

01:24:22 Claire McCormack: Thank you very much, Ray Botten.

01:24:25 Claire McCormack: Next for follow-up, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:24:27 Claire McCormack: Go ahead.

01:24:28 Andrii Zvorygin: I just want to say I have a fully costed four-year transit plan at HelpOwensoundBus.ws.ca/bus, and it includes evening service, Sunday service, as well as mobility transit and costing for that rideshare or on-demand service.

01:24:44 Andrii Zvorygin: And you can go see it and see the different options, what they'll cost, and how it can work for everyone in Owen Sound.

01:24:51 Andrii Zvorygin: Thank you.

01:24:52 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:24:54 Claire McCormack: Carol Merton, you go ahead.

01:24:57 Jodi King: I sat on the Owen Sound Police Services Board and heard a presentation from a rideshare company.

01:25:04 Jodi King: Currently, rideshare is being discussed at the provincial table for standardization.

01:25:11 Jodi King: This particular rideshare did not want to negotiate with 444 municipalities in Ontario to have separate contracts.

01:25:19 Jodi King: The opportunity for consideration, and Ray, I absolutely hear what you say.

01:25:24 Jodi King: It's for the public to say to the provincial government: we have to make sure rideshare will incorporate and include aspects of accessibility.

01:25:34 Jodi King: Yes.

01:25:35 Claire McCormack: Would anybody else like to add a follow-up before we take our break?

01:25:39 Jodi King: Okay, we will take another break here.

01:25:41 Jodi King: When we come back, we'll have a little under half an hour left with our Owen Sound mayoral candidates' discussion on 89.3 CFOS FM.

01:25:54 Jodi King: Right.

01:25:55 Jodi King: 98.3.

01:25:57 Jodi King: Should be a radio announcer.

01:25:58 Jodi King: Yes.

01:25:59 Jodi King: Yeah, you should get one, man.

01:26:00 Jodi King: I do.

01:26:01 Jodi King: Oh, thank you.

01:26:01 Jodi King: I'm on television in West Africa to 12 million people every week.

01:26:08 Jodi King: Yes, yeah, last night.

01:26:09 Jodi King: And I get the privilege, okay, okay, cool, great, okay, to use my skills there, but not here.

01:26:15 Jodi King: We're gonna do not here.

01:26:16 Jodi King: Matt's given us three questions, just so that our timing kind of works out well.

01:26:20 Jodi King: Timing.

01:26:20 Jodi King: So what we're gonna do is we're gonna do: What can a municipality do to help address cost of living concerns?

01:26:30 Jodi King: Say that again.

01:26:31 Jodi King: Is that going to be the next one?

01:26:33 Jodi King: Yes.

01:26:33 Jodi King: So that's your: What number?

01:26:35 Jodi King: Flip the page over, and it's extra questions.

01:26:38 Claire McCormack: What is it going to be again?

01:26:39 Jodi King: It will be the extra question one.

01:26:42 Jodi King: So, what can the municipality do to address the cost of living?

01:26:45 Jodi King: The top one there, and then we're going to do ten and eleven.

01:26:50 Jodi King: So it'll be number with the flipping one.

01:26:55 Jodi King: It was an extra one.

01:26:56 Jodi King: That's going to be at the end.

01:26:57 Jodi King: I think it was five.

01:26:58 Claire McCormack: What's our last one going to be?

01:26:59 Jodi King: So the next, so it'll go cost of living.

01:27:02 Jodi King: Then it'll go.

01:27:03 Claire McCormack: What's the number one issue facing Owen Sound?

01:27:06 Jodi King: Yep.

01:27:06 Jodi King: You're welcome.

01:27:07 Jodi King: That's the next one.

01:27:09 SPEAKER_101: That'll be the second.

01:27:10 SPEAKER_101: Oh, okay.

01:27:12 SPEAKER_101: Okay.

01:27:12 SPEAKER_101: And the first one is at the back, right?

01:27:14 SPEAKER_101: Yeah.

01:27:15 SPEAKER_101: Okay.

01:27:15 SPEAKER_101: So the first one's cost of living.

01:27:18 SPEAKER_002: The next one is the number one issue facing Owen Sound.

01:27:22 SPEAKER_102: And the last one is why do you think you'll be an effective mayor?

01:27:24 SPEAKER_102: You think you'll be an effectiveness?

01:27:25 SPEAKER_102: Oh, that's a good idea.

01:27:26 SPEAKER_102: That's a good one.

01:27:27 SPEAKER_102: Yeah, this really ties it up.

01:27:29 SPEAKER_103: And then we won't necessarily go right to eleven if we're done sooner.

01:27:32 SPEAKER_103: We're done.

01:27:33 SPEAKER_103: So we'll just...

01:27:34 SPEAKER_103: Those are the things.

01:27:35 SPEAKER_103: Then you'll sing.

01:27:35 SPEAKER_103: You'll do your song.

01:27:37 SPEAKER_103: Song.

01:27:38 SPEAKER_103: Yeah, I'll get the guitar.

01:27:39 SPEAKER_103: This is like a bad work anxiety.

01:27:41 SPEAKER_104: No, no. You just say because we have a good extra time.

01:27:44 SPEAKER_104: I want to be discovered.

01:27:45 SPEAKER_104: Here she is, ladies and gentlemen.

01:27:47 SPEAKER_104: Our favorite one here.

01:27:49 SPEAKER_104: Speak, speak.

01:27:49 Claire McCormack: How many years have you been here now?

01:27:51 SPEAKER_104: Eleven and a bit.

01:27:52 SPEAKER_104: Isn't it?

01:27:53 SPEAKER_104: Eleven and a bit.

01:27:53 SPEAKER_104: Is that right?

01:27:53 SPEAKER_104: No, it's great.

01:27:55 SPEAKER_104: It's great.

01:27:56 SPEAKER_104: It's great.

01:28:00 SPEAKER_104: Hey, for a motor car, please.

01:28:02 SPEAKER_104: Who did I start with?

01:28:04 SPEAKER_104: So I started with Andres.

01:28:05 Claire McCormack: Carol, I'm going to start with you.

01:28:08 Claire McCormack: Which is the cost of living one?

01:28:09 Carol Merton: Yes.

01:28:18 Carol Merton: Hmm.

01:28:20 Carol Merton: Just like this.

01:28:22 Carol Merton: I'll let you know soon.

01:28:31 Carol Merton: Welcome back to the 2026 Owen Sound candidate discussion, mayoral candidate discussion, I should say.

01:28:47 Carol Merton: I'm Claire McCormack.

01:28:48 Carol Merton: I have five of the six candidates here with me in the CFOS studio in downtown Owen Sound.

01:28:54 Carol Merton: With just a few more questions left to go, I've got Richard Thomas, Carol Merton, Jodi King, Andrii Zvorygin, and Ray Botten.

01:29:01 Claire McCormack: This question we will start with Carol Merton.

01:29:04 Claire McCormack: Everybody will get a minute thirty seconds, and then of course you'll have a thirty-second opportunity for a follow-up if you would like.

01:29:10 Claire McCormack: And the question is, what can a municipality do to help address cost of living concerns?

01:29:20 Carol Merton: Thank you.

01:29:20 Carol Merton: Immediately, Owen Sound can reconsider the cost and allocation of bag tags for households.

01:29:27 Carol Merton: It may not sound like a lot, but it's something we need all the time, every day.

01:29:33 Carol Merton: We can consider implementing transit fares with family rates and free for children under the age of twelve.

01:29:39 Carol Merton: Link with our educational institutions and our hospitals and other manufacturing sectors for worker rates to be able to support them.

01:29:48 Carol Merton: We can stabilize our water rates, expand the community improvement plan for community initiatives, support our nonprofit and support service agencies who are supporting our at-risk, marginalized populations, building fee forgiveness, development fee waiving.

01:30:06 Carol Merton: We can consider community bonds for affordable housing incentives, work with other municipalities on regional shared service initiatives, regional waste management programme, base management programme, regional snow removal programme,

01:30:19 Carol Merton: administrative HR functions start to save money that we can pass on to our taxpayers.

01:30:24 Carol Merton: Add our voice with Grey Bruce Poverty Task Force and Public Health Grey Bruce to say to the government we need social assistance rates, Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Programme rates increased.

01:30:38 Carol Merton: We are not offering a living wage and people are being living in enforced poverty.

01:30:44 Carol Merton: Thank you.

01:30:45 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Carol Merton.

01:30:46 Claire McCormack: Next is Ray Botten.

01:30:48 Claire McCormack: What can a municipality do to help address cost of living concerns?

01:30:55 Ray Botten: First of all, the municipality never had a mandate to help with cost of living.

01:31:01 Ray Botten: We're we're service.

01:31:02 Ray Botten: We're about a service for the people.

01:31:05 Ray Botten: But because of the cost of living, the services are killing us.

01:31:11 Ray Botten: So again, I have... the answer.

01:31:16 Ray Botten: This water storage facility needs to be capitalized on it, and we need, as a municipality,

01:31:24 Ray Botten: to make concessions and forward movement in our zoning and everything else to restructure our city so we can bring in the people that are going to be here, and hopefully, if we make it right,

01:31:43 Ray Botten: they'll stay and they'll create jobs, create jobs.

01:31:47 Ray Botten: And lastly, I believe in the great recreation.

01:31:51 Ray Botten: This is a bit off, but the Harrison Park campground is great.

01:31:55 Ray Botten: What we're missing, me and my girlfriend were talking about it.

01:31:59 Claire McCormack: Let's let's have a tux shop for the kids, and that'll take a little pressure off the parents, where they... the children can always come back every year to say, listen, you know, we I bought...

01:32:09 Ray Botten: See, listen.

01:32:09 Ray Botten: You know, we I bought this and I got this at the tux shop.

01:32:13 Ray Botten: You know, we forget the children in the midst of our problems.

01:32:17 Ray Botten: My dad always said, you know, we can make it.

01:32:20 Ray Botten: So don't give up, please.

01:32:22 Ray Botten: Don't ever give up.

01:32:24 Ray Botten: Thank you.

01:32:25 Ray Botten: Thank you, Dave Button.

01:32:26 Claire McCormack: Next, Richard Thomas.

01:32:28 Claire McCormack: What can a municipality do to help address cost of living concerns?

01:32:33 Richard Thomas: Well, I think Ray's right in the sense that we do provide services and really to affect cost of living.

01:32:38 Richard Thomas: All you can do is look at reducing those services, or as I suggested earlier, growth.

01:32:43 Richard Thomas: I think growth is the key to solving a lot of Owen Sound's problems.

01:32:47 Richard Thomas: Bag tags are an easy one to take a shot at.

01:32:49 Richard Thomas: People don't like bag tags, but the simple fact is, if you eliminate the bag tags, you're going to have to find that money somewhere else in your budget,

01:32:56 Richard Thomas: or maintain current service levels and increase taxes.

01:32:59 Richard Thomas: So, you know, I'm not going to make promises that we're going to drop stuff that's actually paying.

01:33:04 Richard Thomas: It's... you know, bag tags came in to try to limit the amount of garbage people put out and encourage them to recycle, and I think that that's valid.

01:33:14 Richard Thomas: I don't like paying for them any more than anyone else does, but I do, and I put out a lot less garbage every month.

01:33:20 Richard Thomas: Again, growth is the only way we can really, as a municipality, affect cost of living.

01:33:27 Richard Thomas: I want to restore a dedicated economic development function to the city to actively recruit investment,

01:33:32 Richard Thomas: and I want to transform our tourism department from a passive department into an economic development business that'll bring new money into Owen Sound and create new jobs.

01:33:42 Richard Thomas: You know, we really want people to visit us and leave their money here because we can make good use of that money.

01:33:47 Richard Thomas: Every decision we make should have the same objective: more investment, more jobs, more housing, and a larger assessment base to help ease the burden on our existing taxpayers.

01:33:57 Richard Thomas: Otherwise, the same taxpayers are paying more and more every year.

01:34:02 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

01:34:03 Claire McCormack: Next, Jodi King.

01:34:06 Claire McCormack: What can a municipality do to help address cost of living concerns?

01:34:11 Andrii Zvorygin: I'm going to focus again on affordable housing.

01:34:14 Andrii Zvorygin: I think we can all agree that's still an issue.

01:34:17 Andrii Zvorygin: I would go back to my answers as before to offer incentives and grants and partnerships for affordable housing, less than what the Harborfront units are costing, my friend said here, 1900 and change.

01:34:36 Andrii Zvorygin: That's still too high for a lot of people.

01:34:39 Andrii Zvorygin: Don't sound...

01:34:40 Andrii Zvorygin: We would still offer tax breaks to rentable landlords who would offer a percentage of their units at below average rental rates, and look at rezoning to accommodate suitable builds for more affordable housing.

01:34:56 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Julie K. Next, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:34:59 Claire McCormack: What can a municipality do to help address cost of living concerns?

01:35:04 Andrii Zvorygin: Cost of living shows up at the kitchen table in three places: taxes, housing, and daily services.

01:35:11 Andrii Zvorygin: I will work on each one so households have more room to live and take part.

01:35:17 Andrii Zvorygin: On taxes, I will ask staff to review simpler software, clearer work steps, and better purchasing.

01:35:25 Andrii Zvorygin: Residents can help identify where a lower cost method can deliver the same result.

01:35:31 Andrii Zvorygin: On housing, I will allow affordable construction and propose a vacant home tax to help lower rents by increasing supply.

01:35:41 Andrii Zvorygin: At Grey County, I will propose affordable rural communities where a family could create a warm, resident-owned home and lease land through a costed home and land pathway.

01:35:53 Andrii Zvorygin: On daily services, I will work with council and staff to keep transit reliable and propose a pilot costing twenty-five thousand dollars for free meal delivery to struggling seniors through a local partnership.

01:36:08 Andrii Zvorygin: I will publish missed trips and transit reliability so residents can see how services are working.

01:36:16 Andrii Zvorygin: When services work well and costs are managed, families have more room to support one another and take part in community life.

01:36:24 Andrii Zvorygin: Thank you, Andres Ward.

01:36:25 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:36:27 Andrii Zvorygin: That brings us around the table for that question.

01:36:30 Claire McCormack: Would anybody like to add a thirty-second follow-up on cost of living concerns before we move on to the next one?

01:36:37 Andrii Zvorygin: Okay.

01:36:38 Claire McCormack: This one we are starting with Ray Botten the first mayoral candidate to answer the question.

01:36:46 Ray Botten: That question is: In your opinion, what is the number one issue facing Owen Sound?

01:36:54 Ray Botten: The number one issue, bar none, is the drug pandemic, and it's more than that.

01:37:00 Ray Botten: The highest levels of government—they know the facts.

01:37:04 Ray Botten: Trillions of dollars coming in from Chinese triad gangs coming into Vancouver, spreading across our country.

01:37:14 Ray Botten: When we say it's a big problem, it's... it's more than that.

01:37:18 Ray Botten: So this problem is a great challenge for me, and I've lived these streets, here and abroad, in dangerous, dangerous places.

01:37:29 Ray Botten: And one thing that I have found that always works, is God's love.

01:37:35 Ray Botten: If it wasn't for Jesus, who He is my Savior, I would have never been able to make half my life worthwhile.

01:37:45 Ray Botten: He gave His life for me.

01:37:48 Ray Botten: If I don't acknowledge Him, then I would be missing the mark.

01:37:54 Ray Botten: I'm not here to preach.

01:37:55 Ray Botten: I need Jesus, and I need to do what He says.

01:37:59 Ray Botten: And I fail Him often, but if I follow Him, I can be the next person to support someone else who is broken.

01:38:08 Ray Botten: We're not, we're not all okay.

01:38:10 Ray Botten: Thank you.

01:38:12 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

01:38:13 Claire McCormack: Next, Richard Thomas.

01:38:16 Claire McCormack: In your opinion, what is the number one issue facing Owen Sound?

01:38:19 Richard Thomas: Well, for me, the number one issue facing Owen Sound are the problems in the downtown river district, and until we solve them, we're not going to solve any of our other problems.

01:38:29 Richard Thomas: It's hard to imagine again economic development, attracting investment, or bringing new people to Owen Sound when the downtown river district is in the condition it is.

01:38:37 Richard Thomas: You know, as I've been going door to door, people have been telling me how afraid they are to go downtown.

01:38:42 Richard Thomas: Parents won't let their children go downtown.

01:38:44 Richard Thomas: I had a lady who lives in the downtown call me for a sign the first day they were available,

01:38:48 Richard Thomas: and she put my sign up because she was so terrified to live in the downtown area.

01:38:54 Richard Thomas: She since sold her home and has moved out of the downtown.

01:38:57 Richard Thomas: But she contacted me because she saw my proposed ten-point plan for a safer, healthier downtown River District.

01:39:03 Richard Thomas: I've encouraged people to take a look at the plan on my website, thomasformayor.ca, because it includes concrete action that we can take to solve the issues in the downtown River District.

01:39:14 Richard Thomas: You know, my objective here is not to abandon compassion, but it's to restore balance in the downtown river district.

01:39:20 Richard Thomas: It should be a place everyone feels safe and happy.

01:39:24 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

01:39:25 Claire McCormack: Next, Jodi King.

01:39:28 Claire McCormack: In your opinion, what is the number one issue facing Owen Sound?

01:39:33 Jodi King: I agree with Richard.

01:39:34 Jodi King: It's on my heart for many, many years.

01:39:37 Jodi King: It's safety of downtown core.

01:39:42 Jodi King: This summer alone, there was a 19-year-old woman who's now 20, who was assaulted and stabbed in broad daylight, and she sustained 32 stitches.

01:39:54 Jodi King: This is our downtown core.

01:39:57 Jodi King: A 63-year-old woman was attacked by three men wearing bandana masks.

01:40:02 Jodi King: She was assaulted and she was robbed of her purse.

01:40:05 Jodi King: This is our downtown core.

01:40:09 Jodi King: A 53-year-old woman, security guard, was attacked and almost thrown through a window on her way to work.

01:40:17 Jodi King: That person was myself in broad daylight, broad daylight downtown.

01:40:22 Jodi King: So the safety issue is a big concern for me.

01:40:26 Jodi King: So I'm looking at working closely with our police chief and accommodating police presence more often downtown in the River District.

01:40:37 Jodi King: And I'm also wanting to accommodate more cameras in the River District areas.

01:40:41 Jodi King: Example, Kearney's Lane.

01:40:42 Jodi King: Carney's Lane.

01:40:43 Jodi King: I bet you that if we install one or two cameras facing Carney's Lane,

01:40:49 Jodi King: more than fifty percent of those who are in the drug trafficking trade will disappear and not do their drugs or not sell their drugs to each other.

01:40:58 Jodi King: Thank you.

01:41:00 Jodi King: Thank you, Joey King.

01:41:02 Claire McCormack: Next, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:41:04 Claire McCormack: In your opinion, what is the number one issue facing Old South?

01:41:09 Andrii Zvorygin: I agree that it is the downtown issue, but we have to look at why is the downtown an issue, and affordability's Owen Sound's top issue because it connects taxes, housing, and downtown life.

01:41:22 Andrii Zvorygin: Seniors on fixed incomes are struggling as taxes rise faster than incomes.

01:41:27 Andrii Zvorygin: Higher property taxes push rents upward, and businesses have trouble finding staff at wages they can offer.

01:41:35 Andrii Zvorygin: These pressures affect who can afford to stay, where businesses can hire, and how active downtown feels.

01:41:43 Andrii Zvorygin: That is why I will lower property taxes through clear costs, return vacant homes to use, and support affordable construction.

01:41:51 Andrii Zvorygin: The draft model estimates about $140,000 in conditional net funding for housing and safety priorities.

01:42:00 Andrii Zvorygin: Local purchasing can create local jobs, while my county affordable rural communities proposal offers a resident-owned home with productive land.

01:42:10 Andrii Zvorygin: When residents have more room in their budgets, they can spend locally, helping businesses grow and downtown thrive.

01:42:19 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin.

01:42:21 Claire McCormack: Next, Carol Merton.

01:42:23 Claire McCormack: In your opinion, what is the number one issue facing Owen Sound?

01:42:28 Carol Merton: The growing concerns relating to homelessness, addictions, mental illness, cleanliness, and safety throughout our neighborhoods, including downtown, is resulting in a loss of civic pride.

01:42:42 Carol Merton: We yearn for what was, and we want it to be better.

01:42:47 Carol Merton: The concern I have is the disconnect between City Hall and our community, and those key decision makers and social service agencies every day who are going out to address this issue.

01:43:01 Carol Merton: We need to build the bridges and get the civic pride back.

01:43:05 Carol Merton: I want to give a shout-out to all of those social service agencies who, day after day, in spite of politicians, and policies, and procedures, save lives and are on the streets.

01:43:17 Carol Merton: But we are at a critical point where we cannot accept more care until we provide more funding and more supports for these agencies.

01:43:28 Claire McCormack: Let's get our pride back.

01:43:30 Claire McCormack: Let's be proud of our city and tell others to come, stay, play, and live.

01:43:37 Claire McCormack: Thank you very much, Carol Merton.

01:43:38 Claire McCormack: Would anybody like to add a follow-up?

01:43:41 Claire McCormack: Go ahead, Raven.

01:43:44 Carol Merton: I concur with Carol has just shared about all those serving.

01:43:50 Carol Merton: I want you to know, you who serve on a daily basis, put your life on the line.

01:43:57 Carol Merton: You know who you are.

01:43:59 Carol Merton: You are wonderful.

01:44:01 Carol Merton: You are great.

01:44:01 Carol Merton: I encourage grades.

01:44:02 Carol Merton: I encourage you never to give up.

01:44:04 Carol Merton: What you're doing is saving lives.

01:44:06 Carol Merton: That's what we're doing.

01:44:08 Claire McCormack: Let's continue, and don't ever give up.

01:44:12 Ray Botten: Thank you.

01:44:13 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Ray Botten.

01:44:16 Carol Merton: We can go over to Andre Zavorgen.

01:44:20 Carol Merton: I wanted to say I have a fully costed downtown plan with civilian outreach and local representatives organising neighbourhood watches and cameras and patrols, and everything working together, as well as a mobile meal pilot,

01:44:35 Carol Merton: and you can see it at helpos.ca/downtown.

01:44:38 Carol Merton: Thank you.

01:44:39 Carol Merton: Thank you, Andre.

01:44:40 Carol Merton: Now, if we have no other follow-ups, we'll move on to our last question here.

01:44:45 Carol Merton: A minute, thirty seconds for each candidate.

01:44:49 Carol Merton: Excuse me.

01:44:51 Carol Merton: The last question.

01:44:52 Claire McCormack: We are starting with Richard Thomas this one.

01:44:55 Claire McCormack: Why do you believe you will be an effective decision maker for Owen Sound?

01:44:58 Richard Thomas: Decision maker for all involved.

01:45:01 Richard Thomas: Well, I'd like to say my entire career has pointed me in this direction.

01:45:06 Richard Thomas: Everything that I've done over my fifty years has been pointed towards leading, and I am a decisive leader.

01:45:13 Richard Thomas: I do listen before I speak, and I listen closely to what residents say.

01:45:18 Richard Thomas: I have forty years' experience at City Hall.

01:45:20 Richard Thomas: Saying all that, it's important to understand that the mayor really is only one vote on City Council.

01:45:26 Richard Thomas: The mayor is the figurehead, and the mayor's job is to reflect the opinions of the other councillors.

01:45:32 Richard Thomas: The mayor rarely votes, only on a tie vote or a recorded vote.

01:45:35 Richard Thomas: So the mayor's influence comes through leadership, and that's something that I excel at.

01:45:42 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Richard Thomas.

01:45:43 Claire McCormack: Next, Jodi King.

01:45:46 Claire McCormack: Why do you believe you will be an effective decision maker for Owen Sound?

01:45:54 Jodi King: I know because I've been in Owen Sound my life.

01:45:55 Jodi King: In the onset of my life, from working security, working landscaping, gardening, property maintenance, I talk to everyone that I crossed my path every day.

01:46:10 Jodi King: I have from working class to homeless approaching me, asking me questions, their concerns.

01:46:18 Jodi King: Yesterday, I actually had a homeless lady who used to be a teacher.

01:46:25 Jodi King: Whatever her story is, that is not the issue right now.

01:46:28 Jodi King: It's too short to explain that.

01:46:29 Jodi King: But she was crying in my arms, and it takes a compassionate person to understand and to listen to every individual in our town, not just the working class,

01:46:40 Jodi King: but those homeless people are still human beings.

01:46:45 Jodi King: Those homeless people are still citizens of our town.

01:46:48 Jodi King: But I am approachable.

01:46:50 Jodi King: I do listen, and I have good ideas.

01:46:53 Jodi King: Good ideas, and I will do my very best to bring those ideas together to make a better, solid solution.

01:47:01 Jodi King: Thank you.

01:47:02 Claire McCormack: Thank you, Jodi King.

01:47:04 Claire McCormack: Andrii Zvorygin.

01:47:06 Claire McCormack: Why do you believe you will be an effective decision maker for Owen Sound?

01:47:11 Andrii Zvorygin: Effective decisions begin with three questions: Who is effective?

01:47:16 Claire McCormack: What does the evidence show?

01:47:17 Andrii Zvorygin: And how will residents see the result?