Mulmur candidates face voters at all-candidates meeting
Mulmur council candidates faced electors at a Sept. 30 all candidates meeting hosted by Mono Mulmur Citizens’ Coalition, or MC2.
Moderator Don MacFarlane said the organization hosts the event to increase awareness saying, “Tough decisions need to be made and they are not always popular.”
On one side of the room, four new candidates running for three council seats had a chance to introduce themselves to voters and share their thoughts on local governance. On the other side, there’s a two-way race for mayor and deputy mayor. Each candidate was given time for opening and closing remarks, and in between they took questions from the crowd of about 75 people.
Janet Horner, who is running against incumbent Paul Mills for the mayor’s chair, was first to the microphone, commenting that it wasn’t how she thought she would be spending her 40th anniversary.
“I want to be your mayor. I will protect our natural assets – our land, our water and our people. I will speak in a loud voice to represent Mulmur’s interests at county and provincial levels. I will work with our new council to ensure we have a robust strategy for our future,” said Horner. “Paul Mills has stated his fear of change in leadership. We have very strong council candidates running this year. That is positive change we all can embrace. My leadership style is one of empowerment. Our three new councillors will bring new ideas and energy to the council table. I’m not worried that Mulmur will elect a weak mayor and a weak council. I am not worried at all.”
Next up, Mills countered with, “I realize that “change” is often a popular buzz word around election time and it provides an attractive campaign slogan, but change for what reason? Regardless of what voters decide, Mulmur is going to experience a lot of change after this election. We have a brand new CAO leading our staff team at the township office and we are guaranteed to have three brand new councillors around the council table next term. With all of these changes already afoot, the need for an experienced mayor at the top who can lead with strength and stability is particularly underscored.”
Running for deputy mayor is Earl Hawkins and Keith Lowry.
The four council candidates are Shirley Boxem, Ken Cufaro, Patricia Clark and Jim deMelo.
Online and telephone voting opens at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 12 and closes at 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 22.
See more election coverage beginning on page 7.
