Every question, answered in public

Wainfleet council is a mayor and four councillors elected at large for four years; there are no wards. Council approves the annual budget and tax levy, passes by-laws, sets service levels and hires the CAO. A single councillor has one vote of five. The job is to ask good questions in public and vote on the answers.

Entirely by mail. Confirm you are on the voters list through Elections Ontario's voter information service, watch for your ballot kit in early October, mark it, seal it and return it before the deadline printed in the kit. Details on the How to Vote page.

No. Ontario residential rates range from about 0.57 to 3.48 percent; Wainfleet's total rate is 1.93 percent. The accurate statement is that Wainfleet's township portion is about double West Lincoln's and 40 percent above Pelham's, the comparable rural townships, and that the levy has grown faster than every neighbour for five years.

I want to, and I will be straight about the order of operations. The Township's Asset Management Plan shows a $6.6 million annual capital gap and recommends 2.6 percent annual infrastructure increases for 20 years, so relief has to be earned through real savings, not borrowed from road repair. My commitment: don't just match the neighbouring townships; do better. Go through the budget line by line, cut waste, ask residents where they want their money spent, and lower taxes.

Administration per resident is actually the same as West Lincoln's. The difference is in fixed-cost services spread over half the population, and in choices to staff and equip cemetery operations and drainage that the neighbour contracts out, plus a by-law program six times larger per resident. See The Numbers.

I own lakeshore property and have been in a dispute over short-term rental by-laws and penalties. I would declare that interest as the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act requires, and I will seek third party advice from the province on what I can and cannot do regarding this matter. Full statement on the Disclosures page.

No councillor can promise that; severances in prime agricultural areas are governed by provincial policy. I will make sure the Township is never the obstacle when a severance is permitted, and I will push Council to formally advocate to the Region and Province for more flexibility.

No. I moved to Wainfleet to get away from traffic jams and busy intersections. I support building a few hundred dwellings because it helps from a tax perspective, and Wainfleet is huge: 217 square kilometres. It will have an unnoticeable impact on traffic or congestion.