💦🔥✅ Seven Candidates, Two Towns, One Set of Questions | The Shulman Report
The 2026 mayoral questionnaires for Collingwood and The Blue Mountains, published in full. Responses close 18 September
The Shulman Report · shulmanr.substack.com
On Monday morning I sent a questionnaire to every certified candidate for mayor in Collingwood and in The Blue Mountains. Seven candidates, two towns, one deadline: Friday, 18 September. Below is exactly what was asked of every one of them.
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Why this exists
Turnout in this region runs near 30 per cent. In The Blue Mountains in 2022, roughly 4,000 people voted and the mayor’s race turned on 480 ballots — a handful of votes steering close to $30,000 per household in obligations.
Most residents who do vote cannot name what the candidates on their ballot actually stand for. I hear a version of the same sentence every week: she seems like a nice person. That is not the voters’ failure. It is a failure of transmission. Platforms are written to avoid offence, coverage is thin, and by election day the ballot is a list of names attached to nothing in particular.
This questionnaire exists to correct that. It is not a scorecard and it is not an endorsement. It is a set of questions with dates and dollar figures attached, put to every candidate in identical terms, with the answers printed as written.
The questions did not come out of thin air. They came out of consultations with residents in Collingwood, The Blue Mountains and Clearview about what they wanted to know before they vote, and a draft went to readers in all three towns for comment before it was sent. Every candidate was told the same thing in the covering letter.
Who received it
Collingwood — Yvonne Hamlin, Jon Hillis, Kathy Jeffery, Norm Sandberg.
The Blue Mountains — Peter Bordignon, Marni Moreau, Paul Reale.
Each was sent the questionnaire in Word and in PDF, individually addressed, to the campaign address on the town’s certified candidate list. Nominations closed on 21 August.
Voting is not a single day. In Collingwood, internet voting opens on 8 October and runs to 26 October, with paper ballots at the library on 15, 22 and 25 October and on voting day itself. In The Blue Mountains, voting is by internet and telephone only, from 16 October to 26 October — there are no paper ballots. In both towns everything closes at 8 p.m. on Monday 26 October.
The terms
- Every completed response is published in full and unedited. Nothing is summarised, trimmed or characterised.
- Responses are set side by side against the same criteria, so readers can compare candidates directly — and, because the first fourteen questions are common to both towns, across the two towns.
- Every candidate who responds is offered a recorded follow-up interview. These answers are its starting point.
- If a question rests on a factual premise a candidate disputes, they are asked to say so in the answer and give the source. The correction is published.
- Where a candidate does not respond, that is reported — plainly, without adjective.
- Returns are accepted in any form: the Word file, a PDF, or answers typed into the body of an email in question order.
Disclosure
I have publicly proposed that Collingwood and The Blue Mountains consider amalgamation, and was reported doing so by CollingwoodToday on 11 March 2026. Questions 10 and 12 ask about regional co-operation and the structure of local government. I have also published in favour of moving water and wastewater into a municipal services corporation, which is the subject of Question 3. Those questions go to every candidate in identical terms, and every answer is published in full — including answers that reject my position outright.
That disclosure sits on page one of both documents. It is there so that a candidate who disagrees with me can say so knowing the reader has been told where I stand.
How the two documents fit together
Questions 1 to 14 are parallel, not identical. The same subject is put to candidates in both towns so the answers can be read across the boundary — but where a question carries local figures, they are that town’s own. Eight items differ by design:
- Q2 — the TBM version adds a target for the non-residential share of the assessment base, currently about 8 per cent.
- Q3 — Collingwood candidates are asked about council’s 10 August reversal on the expression of interest; TBM candidates are asked whether they would join a regional corporation anchored in Simcoe County.
- Q5 — both towns’ heads of council have held strong mayor powers since 1 May 2025; the TBM version notes that the current mayor delegated authority over the CAO appointment back to council.
- Q6 — Collingwood carries Simcoe County’s 50 per cent reduction; TBM carries its own March 2026 Ontario Land Tribunal settlement, a 40 per cent cut with more than $1 million refunded.
- Q8 — Collingwood’s $1.1 billion portfolio, $255 million in poor condition and roughly $15 million annual gap; TBM’s reserves falling from $82 million to a projected $6.7 million.
- Q9 — Collingwood’s $837,398 of overtime against a $490,125 budget; TBM’s 191.74 full-time equivalents and 10 per cent rise in loaded compensation.
- Q10 — the TBM version adds Grey County’s proposed transfer of roads to the Town.
- Q11 — the joint services group question is the same in both, with the partner reversed.
After Part A the documents diverge. Collingwood carries seven town-specific questions, The Blue Mountains six. Both close on what a candidate is prepared to be judged on, and on leadership.
What happens next
Around 10 September I will publish an interim note recording who has responded so far. On 18 September the returns close. Responses are then published in full, set against each other, and each candidate who responded is offered a recorded interview.
If you think a question is missing — something you want your mayor asked before you vote — write to me.
Part A — Questions 1 to 14
These fourteen questions are put to candidates in both towns so that answers can be compared across both. The text below is the Collingwood document; where the Blue Mountains version differs, the difference is marked.
1. Priorities
Rank your top three priorities for the 2026–2030 term, 1 to 3.
For each of the three, outline what you would actually do, and by when. If they compete for the same dollar in the 2027 budget, say which one gives way. (150 words)
2. The tax levy
Over the 2026–2030 term, the average annual levy increase I will work toward is:
☐ Below inflation ☐ At inflation ☐ Inflation + up to 3% ☐ More than inflation + 3% ☐ I will not commit to a number
The Blue Mountains version adds: Non-residential property makes up roughly 8 per cent of the Town’s assessment base. Over the term I would work toward: ☐ A stated numeric target (state it) ☐ Growth without a target ☐ No change
Outline your fiscal platform. Name at least one specific service, programme or project you would reduce, defer or eliminate to hold that number — or state plainly that you would raise the levy instead, and by how much. (125 words)
3. A municipal services corporation — and, if not, then what
The Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act passed on 24 November 2025 as Schedule 16 of the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act. It allows water and wastewater to be moved into an arm’s-length public corporation. Long-term municipal debt cannot be transferred to such a corporation. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing called for expressions of interest on 15 April 2026, closing 13 August 2026. For context: recent projects in the region have leaned heavily on provincial grants — roughly $150 million toward the Collingwood water treatment plant expansion, and $24.5 million toward the three Blue Mountains sewage projects.
On a municipal services corporation for water and wastewater, my position is:
☐ Actively pursue membership ☐ Complete the analysis, then decide ☐ Oppose ☐ Undecided
Collingwood only. Collingwood council filed an expression of interest on 10 August 2026, reversing its 15 June decision to stay the course. That vote was:
☐ Correct ☐ Incorrect — I would withdraw the expression of interest ☐ Undecided
The Blue Mountains only. If The Blue Mountains were invited to join a regional corporation anchored in Simcoe County, I would:
☐ Join ☐ Negotiate terms first ☐ Decline
If you would NOT join a corporation: do you expect the Province to fund this town’s next major water or wastewater project?
☐ Yes, substantially ☐ Yes, partly ☐ No ☐ I have not formed a view
If you expect provincial funding, complete this line: amount counted on, programme, year expected.
Outline your platform. If you would not join one, state specifically how this town will finance and manage its water and wastewater debt and capital programme alone — the debt figure you are working from, the rate path you would accept, and what you would defer or cut. If your plan depends on a provincial grant, say what happens to it if the grant does not come. (175 words)
4. Capital cost control, and who is accountable when it fails
Across this region, major projects have run far past budget: three bundled sewage projects in The Blue Mountains went from $34.79M to $53.56M, and Collingwood’s water treatment plant went from roughly $60M to $120M to $270M.
The reporting threshold at which a cost variance must come to council should be:
☐ Any variance over $100,000 ☐ Over $500,000 ☐ Over 10% of budget ☐ Set by staff
Outline what you would change in procurement, estimating, contingency and staff-to-council reporting so that a nine-figure programme cannot drift by half before council hears about it. Be specific about mechanisms, not intentions. (125 words)
5. Strong mayor powers
Ontario granted these powers to 216 municipalities. They include appointing and dismissing the CAO, reorganising the municipal structure, vetoing certain by-laws, and passing some by-laws with one-third of council. Collingwood’s head of council has held these powers since 1 May 2025. AMCTO has found no clear evidence strong mayor powers have increased housing starts.
The Blue Mountains version reads the same, and adds that the current mayor used those powers to delegate authority over the appointment of the CAO back to council.
As mayor I would use strong mayor powers:
☐ Yes, where useful ☐ Only in a defined emergency ☐ No, never
I will delegate authority over the CAO back to council: ☐ Yes ☐ No
Outline your position on how this town should be governed, and what you would commit to in writing on day one. (100 words)
6. Development charges — who pays for growth
Development charge revenue is falling across the region while senior-government programmes make funding conditional on cutting those charges further. Simcoe County approved the maximum 50 per cent residential reduction in August 2026, retroactive to 30 March 2026.
The Blue Mountains version instead reads: The Blue Mountains settled an Ontario Land Tribunal appeal in March 2026 with a 40 per cent reduction to all development charges and automatic refunds, paying out more than $1 million. Under the Canada–Ontario programme, participating municipalities must cut residential charges by 30 to 50 per cent for three years.
Residential development charges in this town should be:
☐ Increased ☐ Held ☐ Reduced further to unlock grants ☐ Undecided
Development charges on attainable and affordable housing units specifically should be:
☐ Eliminated ☐ Reduced ☐ Deferred ☐ Unchanged
Outline your platform. Development charges fund growth-related capital. If they fall, name what fills the hole — the levy, the rate base, debt, or projects that do not get built. (125 words)
7. Housing
Polling by Nanos for OnePoint in April 2026 found affordability, homelessness and infrastructure tied as the top regional priority at 17 per cent each, with 84 per cent of residents concerned about whether the next generation can afford to live here.
Would you commit to a numeric target for affordable and attainable housing units, including rental, created during the term? ☐ Yes ☐ No
If yes: the target, in units by 2030, and the definition of affordable or attainable housing being used.
Outline your housing platform: which tools you would actually use — municipal land, development-charge deferrals, zoning, public–private partnerships, incentive programmes, strong mayor powers — and how each is paid for. (125 words)
8. Asset management and the renewal gap
Every Ontario municipality must produce an asset management plan stating what it owns, what condition it is in, and what must be set aside annually to keep it working. The difference between that figure and what is budgeted is the funding gap. Collingwood’s 2025 plan reports a $1.1 billion replacement portfolio with $255 million of it in poor or very poor condition, and an annual funding gap of roughly $15 million. The plan states the increases required to close it — 5.8 per cent on the tax levy, 7.4 per cent on water and 12.1 per cent on wastewater. Council approved 3.18, 5.5 and 3.5 per cent.
The Blue Mountains version instead reads: reserves have fallen from roughly $82 million in 2021 to a projected $6.7 million by the end of 2026, the asset management reserve stands at roughly $1.8 million, and the development charge fund is on track to be exhausted by 2027.
Do you accept your town’s asset management plan’s estimate of the annual funding gap?
☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ I have not reviewed it
Outline how you would close the gap between what this town owns and what it is setting aside to replace it — and if you would not close it, say so and say what fails first. (125 words)
9. Council, staff and professional governance
In 2025 Collingwood spent $837,398 on overtime against a budget of $490,125, and ran roughly $307,000 over budget on legal costs for Ontario Land Tribunal appeals.
The Blue Mountains version instead reads: The Blue Mountains budgeted 191.74 permanent full-time equivalent positions in 2026, up from 185.61, for roughly 9,000 households. Fully-loaded compensation rose about 10 per cent in a year with no new hires, with the cost-of-living adjustment set at 5 per cent.
Over the term, the permanent staff complement should: ☐ Grow ☐ Hold flat ☐ Shrink
Reliance on outside consultants should: ☐ Increase ☐ Stay the same ☐ Decrease
I will support publishing closed-session subject matter and voting records to the fullest extent the Municipal Act permits: ☐ Yes ☐ No
Outline your platform on how this town is run: the mayor–CAO relationship, where council’s role ends and staff’s begins, what you would change in the first hundred days, and how residents will be able to see what the town spends, owes and owns in a form a non-accountant can read. (150 words)
10. The region, and the structure of local government
Collingwood, The Blue Mountains, Wasaga Beach, Clearview and Meaford share one economy, one labour market and, increasingly, one set of pipes. Existing arrangements include the South Georgian Bay Mayor and CAO Forum, transit, regional economic development, water servicing and mutual-aid fire agreements. Amalgamation of Collingwood and The Blue Mountains has been publicly proposed — see the disclosure above.
Which would you actively pursue as shared or regional services? Check all that apply.
☐ Water / wastewater ☐ Solid waste ☐ Regional transit ☐ Recreation ☐ Fire ☐ Economic development ☐ Building and planning ☐ None
On amalgamation of Collingwood and The Blue Mountains, my position is:
☐ Support ☐ Study it formally ☐ Oppose ☐ Undecided
The Blue Mountains version adds: Grey County has proposed transferring roads to the Town. On that transfer my position is: ☐ Accept ☐ Accept only with a permanent revenue transfer ☐ Decline ☐ Undecided
Outline how this town should work with its neighbouring municipalities — and name one thing you would give up local control over to get a better result. (150 words)
11. A joint services group with the other town
Question 10 asks about co-operation in principle. This one asks about a specific vehicle: a standing joint services group between this town and its neighbour, with shared staff, shared procurement and a single management structure for the services placed inside it. Collingwood candidates are asked about a group with The Blue Mountains; Blue Mountains candidates about a group with Collingwood.
Would you support creating a joint services group?
☐ Yes ☐ Yes, if a business case supports it ☐ No ☐ Undecided
If yes, which services would you support being run jointly? Check all that apply.
☐ Water and wastewater ☐ Solid waste ☐ Fire ☐ Building inspection ☐ Planning ☐ By-law enforcement ☐ Roads and fleet ☐ Recreation facilities ☐ Transit ☐ Economic development and tourism ☐ Information technology ☐ Human resources and payroll ☐ Procurement ☐ Finance and treasury ☐ Other
Outline your platform. Name the savings or service improvement you would expect, how a joint group would be governed so neither town is captured by the other, and what you would not put into it. (150 words)
12. Regional government for South Georgian Bay
Beyond shared services and the amalgamation of two towns, a further proposal has been raised. A single regional government for South Georgian Bay, drawn on its natural geographic boundary, at a population of roughly 100,000. It would be responsible for water and wastewater, transportation, and other services now delivered separately by each municipality.
Which of these benefits do you believe such a regional government would actually deliver? Check all that apply.
☐ Water and wastewater planned and financed as one system rather than five
☐ Borrowing capacity and credit standing no single town here can reach
☐ Transportation and transit planned across the whole travel-to-work area
☐ One planning framework in place of five
☐ Lower administrative cost for each household
☐ A stronger position with the Province and other funders
☐ The ability to attract and keep professional staff
☐ None of these
Weighed against the loss of local control, those benefits are:
☐ Clearly worth it ☐ Worth it only on conditions I will state ☐ Not worth it ☐ Undecided
If you believe this is a good idea, explain the strategic benefits in your own words. If you do not, explain why. (150 words)
13. Contracting out municipal services
Municipalities deliver some services with their own staff and buy others from contractors. This question asks where you would draw that line.
Would you support contracting out services currently delivered in-house?
☐ Yes ☐ Yes, where a business case supports it ☐ No ☐ Undecided
Which would you be prepared to contract out? Check all that apply.
☐ Snow ploughing and winter control ☐ Landscaping and parks maintenance ☐ Transit and buses ☐ Tree pruning and forestry ☐ Facility cleaning and custodial ☐ Fleet maintenance ☐ Building inspection ☐ Waste collection ☐ By-law enforcement ☐ Information technology
Candidates are also asked to name any other services they would contract out, and any they would never contract out.
Outline your platform. Say what test you would apply before contracting a service out, what you would do about the staff currently delivering it, and how service quality would be held to account once it sits with a contractor. (150 words)
14. Performance management
Ontario discontinued the Municipal Performance Measurement Program effective the 2014 reporting year. Since then no province-wide requirement has obliged a municipality to publish what it achieves for the money it spends, though some measures survive inside the Financial Information Return. Residents can see what this town spends. They cannot easily see what it delivers.
This town’s present ability to measure and report service performance is:
☐ Adequate ☐ Inadequate ☐ I have not reviewed it
Within the term, the Town should publish a scorecard of service standards against results:
☐ Annually ☐ Quarterly ☐ No
Building a culture of performance measurement in this town would require: check all that apply.
☐ A small set of council-approved corporate measures, published and reported on a fixed cycle
☐ Service standards for each department, reported against publicly
☐ Benchmarking against comparable Ontario municipalities
☐ Every major report to council stating the measure by which it will be judged
☐ An annual public account of what was delivered against what was budgeted
☐ Resident satisfaction surveyed on a fixed cycle
☐ Measurement is not where I would start
Performance measurement should be owned by:
☐ Council, through targets it sets and publishes
☐ The CAO, as an internal management system
☐ An officer reporting to council independently of the CAO
☐ It is not a priority
Building this capability costs money and staff time. You would:
☐ Fund it as new spending ☐ Reallocate from within the existing budget ☐ Require it within current resources ☐ Not proceed
Set out how you would build performance management into this town. Say what you would measure first, who answers for the numbers, and what happens when a measure shows a service is failing. (150 words)
Part B — Collingwood, Questions 15 to 21
15. The wastewater treatment plant
The plant has no Environmental Assessment, no replacement site and no funding, and replacement has been openly discussed at $200–300 million. In April 2026 close to 10,000 cubic metres of sewage entered Georgian Bay, roughly 6,700 of it raw, about a kilometre from the town’s drinking-water intake. The Water and Wastewater Master Servicing Plan EA began on 29 April 2026, with public information centres in September 2026 and February 2027. Every decision in it belongs to the next council.
The Town should commit to a wastewater plant decision — site, scope and financing — by:
☐ 2027 ☐ 2028 ☐ 2029–2030 ☐ Not in this term
Outline your platform for new wastewater infrastructure: the Environmental Assessment, the site, how it is financed — rates, levy, debenture, development charges or a regional partner — and what happens to development approvals until capacity exists. (150 words)
16. The water plant, the development charges, and the debt
The Raymond A. Barker expansion is a $270M project: roughly $150M from the Province, New Tecumseth carrying most of the remaining net cost, and Collingwood’s share approximately $44.4M. Residents were told that share would cost them nothing because development charges would cover it. Development charge collections fell from $12.85M in 2021 to roughly $2M in 2024, and the reserve is forecast to be exhausted around 2028. The plant comes online in 2029.
If development charges do not cover Collingwood’s $44.4M share, it should be funded by:
☐ A debenture on the water and wastewater rate base ☐ The tax levy ☐ Deferring other capital ☐ I dispute the premise
Outline your platform. State the figure you believe represents the town’s real water and wastewater obligation, and what you will tell ratepayers about their bill between now and 2030. (150 words)
17. Stormwater
The final Stormwater Management Master Plan came to committee on 10 August 2026. It identifies 23 urban and 6 riverine flood damage centres, estimates $242 million in flood damage by 2076 if nothing is done, and proposes a phased $35.5 million programme with roughly $1.15 million of high-priority items for the 2027 budget. A dedicated stormwater fee is contemplated. The decision falls to the next council.
A dedicated stormwater charge, separate from the tax levy: ☐ Support ☐ Oppose ☐ Undecided
Outline how much of the stormwater programme you would fund, over what period, and from where. If you oppose a separate charge, say what you would fund it from instead. (125 words)
18. Growth and servicing capacity
Collingwood has imposed and lifted a development moratorium before. The new Official Plan is now in effect.
Over the next term I would:
☐ Accelerate residential growth ☐ Maintain the current pace ☐ Slow it ☐ Pause approvals until infrastructure catches up
Servicing capacity is best understood as:
☐ A hard veto on approvals ☐ A sequencing tool ☐ A cost to be funded
Outline your platform on growth, and be specific about who pays for the capacity that growth requires. (125 words)
19. The waterfront, the Terminals and the Town’s major assets
Terminals Point groundbreaking has moved to 2027. The developer bears roughly $200 million; the Town committed approximately $15 million (a 2022 estimate) for public realm works. The definitive documents signed in 2024 remain unpublished, with negotiations expected to run to mid-2027. Separately, the Poplar Sideroad land has been transferred for a new hospital.
The Terminals Point definitive documents should be made public: ☐ Now ☐ When negotiations conclude ☐ No
Outline your platform for the waterfront and the Town’s major real property, including the municipal role in the hospital project. State your test for whether the Town should own something at all. (125 words)
20. The Arts and Culture Centre
A proposed arts and culture centre has been before council, with land and negotiations dealt with in closed session — including at the council meeting of 22 June 2026. No total public cost has been put to residents.
Do you support the Town of Collingwood providing financial support to the proposed Arts and Culture Centre?
☐ Yes ☐ Yes, capped at a stated amount ☐ Only land or in-kind support, no cash ☐ No ☐ Undecided
Candidates supporting a capped contribution are asked to state the maximum they would support, in capital and in annual operating.
Before any municipal commitment, a full public business case — total capital cost, annual operating subsidy and the Town’s share — should be published: ☐ Yes ☐ No
The Town should reach a decision on its role by: ☐ 2027 ☐ 2028 ☐ 2029–2030 ☐ Not in this term
Outline your position: what the Town’s role should be, what conditions you would attach, what share should come from private or senior-government sources, how long you expect the approval process to take and what governs that timeline, and at what point you would walk away. (125 words)
21. The Multi-Use Recreation Centre
A multi-use recreation facility has likewise been before council, with land acquisition handled in closed session — including at the meeting of 22 June 2026 — and council has continued to consider purchasing land while keeping options open. No total public cost has been put to residents.
Do you support building the Multi-Use Recreation Centre?
☐ Yes ☐ Yes, at a reduced scope ☐ No ☐ Undecided
Do you support delivering it in partnership with the Town of The Blue Mountains?
☐ Yes ☐ Yes, if they contribute proportionally ☐ No ☐ Undecided
If both the Arts and Culture Centre and the Multi-Use Recreation Centre cannot be afforded in this term, my priority is:
☐ The recreation centre ☐ The arts centre ☐ Neither ☐ Both, and I will say how they are paid for
Candidates are asked to state the maximum total capital cost they would support, and whether a full public business case should be published before any municipal commitment.
Outline your platform: scope, site, cost, how it is financed, what a partnership with The Blue Mountains would have to look like for you to sign it, and what else in the capital plan gives way to make room for it. (150 words)
Part B — The Blue Mountains, Questions 15 to 20
15. New water and wastewater infrastructure
The Town carries roughly $57 million in water and wastewater debt. The Thornbury plant is approaching fifty years old. A $66 million new water-treatment programme has been carried to the Ministry of Infrastructure. The Town’s own servicing allocation policy concedes that growth has been outpacing completion of the projects meant to serve it.
On the proposed new water-treatment programme:
☐ Proceed as planned ☐ Proceed only with senior-government funding ☐ Pause and pursue regional supply ☐ Cancel
Outline your platform for new water and wastewater infrastructure: what gets built, what gets deferred, the fixed water charge trajectory you will accept, and where the money comes from. (150 words)
16. The overrun, and whether anyone is ever held to account
Three bundled projects — the Craigleith lift station, the Mill Street pumping station and the Bay–Grey Street linear works — went from $34.79M to $53.56M. Council learned of the full variance in November 2025. Staff report ADM-26-015 found the bundling obscured individual cost pressure and that escalation should have been triggered at the Craigleith tender. Council spent $150,000 on value engineering, declined to spend more, and on 2 April 2026 asked for a performance audit from a body that does not review municipal matters. Thornbury came in 92 per cent over budget; Craigleith 54 per cent.
An independent third-party performance audit of these projects should be commissioned:
☐ Yes, in the first 90 days ☐ Yes, later in the term ☐ No
Its findings should be: ☐ Published in full ☐ Received in closed session
Outline what you would do. Name who would conduct it, by when, and what consequence would follow from an adverse finding. (125 words)
17. The two bills every household pays
Reserves fell from roughly $82 million in 2021 to a projected $6.7 million by the end of 2026. Audited long-term debt at the end of 2024 was only $5.24 million, because the capital programme was paid by draining reserves rather than borrowing. Roughly $99 million of projects is committed and under way with more than $150 million further planned, about 90 per cent of it water and wastewater — which lands on the water bill, not the tax bill. On a no-intervention path the municipal tax on a $1 million home rises about 69 per cent by 2030 and the fixed water charge more than doubles. Separately, section 290 of the Municipal Act forbids an operating deficit, and closing the projected $10.3 million operating gap by 2028 implies a further 42 per cent.
Do you accept these projections?
☐ Yes ☐ No — I will supply my own figures ☐ Undecided
Which of the $150 million in planned projects would you defer or cancel?
☐ None ☐ Some ☐ Most
Outline your platform. Will you commit to a cap on the combined increase a household faces, and name specifically what you would cut to stay under it? (150 words)
18. Thornbury, Craigleith and the Campus of Care
The Town bought 32 acres at 125 Peel Street, Thornbury in February 2021 and selected peopleCare with Skyline/SkyDev to build 160 long-term care beds, seniors’ retirement living and attainable staff housing, to be delivered by CIHA order approved in April 2023. Negotiations were terminated in November 2024; servicing and the Peel Street reconstruction were cancelled; the Town kept the land and the beds moved to Craigleith. Meanwhile Thornbury West Phase 2 is suspended and the Thornbury plant nears fifty.
The 32 acres at 125 Peel Street should, in the next term, be:
☐ Brought back to market for seniors’ and attainable housing ☐ Used for another municipal purpose ☐ Sold ☐ Held undeveloped ☐ Undecided
Long-term care, attainable housing and higher-density rental should be built in Thornbury as well as in the Craigleith corridor: ☐ Agree ☐ Disagree
State plainly what position you took on the Campus of Care at the time, and what you would do differently now. Then set out how a permanent base of roughly 9,000 households pays for a service load sized for visitors. (200 words)
19. Grey Road 19, and long-term care capacity
Two separate projects sit on Grey Road 19. The first is a 192-bed peopleCare long-term care home on roughly 3.2 acres of municipal land the Town is selling, beside the new Craigleith fire hall. The second is a private proposal of approximately 612 rental units on a 9.95-hectare site at 796060 Grey Road 19, up to six storeys, being sought by Minister’s Zoning Order rather than by Official Plan and Zoning amendment. Separately, Errinrung is currently the only licensed long-term care home in Thornbury, with 60 beds. Please answer on each project separately.
On the 192-bed long-term care home: ☐ Support ☐ Oppose ☐ Undecided
On the 612-unit rental proposal:
☐ Support the units and the MZO route ☐ Support the units but oppose the MZO route ☐ Oppose the proposal ☐ Undecided
If Errinrung closes or enters redevelopment before replacement capacity opens, the Town should:
☐ Secure interim local capacity at municipal cost ☐ Accelerate the Craigleith home and accept a gap ☐ Reopen a Thornbury site ☐ Treat it as a provincial responsibility
Outline your platform on long-term care and seniors’ housing, and explain your view of using a Minister’s Zoning Order to deliver housing in this town. (150 words)
20. Shared recreation and cultural facilities
Collingwood is weighing a multi-use recreation centre and an arts and culture centre, both of which have been dealt with in closed session. Residents of The Blue Mountains would use either facility, and Collingwood candidates are being asked in the parallel questionnaire whether they would build them in partnership with this town.
Would you support The Blue Mountains partnering with Collingwood on a multi-use recreation centre?
☐ Yes ☐ Yes, if the cost share matches the usage share ☐ No ☐ Undecided
Would you support The Blue Mountains contributing to a regional arts and culture facility?
☐ Yes ☐ Only in-kind or land ☐ No ☐ Undecided
Alternatively, The Blue Mountains should build its own recreation facility: ☐ Agree ☐ Disagree ☐ Undecided
Candidates are asked to state the maximum capital contribution they would support toward a shared facility, and whether a full public business case should be published before any contribution.
Outline your platform on recreation and cultural facilities: build alone, build jointly, or buy access. State the test you would apply, and what this town would want in return for its money. (150 words)
Part C — Both towns
These close both documents: Questions 22 and 23 in Collingwood, 21 and 22 in The Blue Mountains.
What you should be judged on
Name up to three commitments you are prepared to be held to at the end of the term. Each must carry a number and a date.
Outline how you believe a mayor’s performance should be measured, and what you would consider a failed term. (100 words)
Leadership and accountability
A mayor has one vote. What distinguishes mayors is not their platform but how they work — with council, with staff, and with residents who disagree with them. Council’s only employee is the Chief Administrative Officer. The CAO is responsible for all other staff. Any accountability a mayor wants in the professional ranks has to be built through that relationship.
Five situations. Choose one answer in each.
A major decision has the support of a bare majority of council. You would:
☐ Proceed on the majority you have ☐ Delay it to build a wider majority ☐ Withdraw it
A staff recommendation is competent but less ambitious than what you campaigned on. You would:
☐ Accept it ☐ Adopt it and pursue the rest separately ☐ Send it back with your own direction
Council votes against your position on a significant matter. You would:
☐ Implement it and defend it publicly ☐ Implement it and say publicly that you disagreed ☐ Use the powers available to you to bring it back
By the end of your first year, the organisation should feel:
☐ Largely as it does now ☐ Noticeably different in how it works ☐ Substantially restructured
The larger share of your time in the first year belongs:
☐ Running the town’s own business ☐ Representing the town to the Province, the county and its neighbours
Accountability for professional staff work should be strengthened by: check all that apply.
☐ A written annual performance agreement for the CAO, with published objectives
☐ Named professional sign-off on cost estimates and major reports to council
☐ A fixed period within which staff must report a variance to council
☐ Independent third-party review of major projects, commissioned by council
☐ Public reporting of every major project against its original budget and schedule
☐ Senior staff compensation tied to delivery on budget and on time
☐ Present arrangements are adequate
When a major project fails on cost or on schedule, the person publicly accountable should be:
☐ The mayor ☐ Council as a whole ☐ The CAO ☐ The responsible department head ☐ No individual — it is a process failure
In your own words, what is the job of a mayor? Say what you would do to build accountability into the professional staff role. Then name a decision in your working life where you took a position that was unpopular with the people around you, and say what it cost you. (200 words)
Follow-up interview and consent
Both documents close with the same four items: availability for a recorded follow-up interview and preferred times; consent to publication of the responses in full; willingness to have factual claims verified against public records; and a signature and date.
A closing note
Every candidate on this list was told the same thing, in the same words: this is not a gotcha exercise and there are no trick questions. Every question asks what you would do and why. It is an opportunity to put a platform in front of about 6,000 readers who vote here, unedited, with no reporter’s framing in between.
The instructions carry one more line worth repeating here, because it is the standard the answers will be read against: “It depends on the staff report” is an acceptable answer only if you also say what would make you decide one way or the other.
Returns close on 18 September. What comes back — and what does not — will be published.
Ron Shulman · The Shulman Report
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Governance, waste, and the case for change in Collingwood and The Blue Mountains
