By John Francis
Twenty-five years ago, Municipality Northern Bruce Peninsula’s (MNBP)first elected Municipal Council was just getting itself organized. MNBP had been formed the previous year, 1999, when the Village of Lion’s Head and the Townships of Eastnor, Lindsay and St Edmunds were amalgamated.
At that first election, controversy was still swirling about whether the amalgamation had been a good idea.
Milt McIver (previously the Reeve of Lindsay Township) was acclaimed as Mayor of the new municipality. Rod Anderson (previously the Reeve of St Edmunds Township) was elected as Deputy Mayor. (Hmm. Haven’t I seen those names somewhere, more recently?)
Proponents of amalgamation had predicted that a combined municipality would be able to accomplish a lot of things that were beyond the scope of the smaller townships. The new Council’s task was to set those things in motion.
Overall it has worked pretty well. Our Fire and Emergency Services department is proof of concept — it is far beyond what the individual municipalities could have put in place.
In 2003, there was another election. As that election was taking place, I wrote my first opinion piece for this newspaper. Here is a large excerpt:
THE CASE FOR HIGHER TAXES
By the time you read this, we will have a new Municipal Council. As always, they will have the unenviable tasks of providing services to, imposing order and fairness on, and planning for the future of, a huge, sparsely populated finger of limestone.
As always, they will have to digest mountains of reports, policies and regulations while attending interminable meetings and being prodded from all sides by conflicting interest groups.
So, to Mayor Milt, and whomever else is elected, I would like to say thank you, in advance, for the commitment you are making and the time you will spend working on our behalf.
And now, with the formalities out of the way, LET THE PRODDING BEGIN.
This Municipality needs a lot more infrastructure.
We need pavement in Whiskey Harbour and Johnston Harbour, among other places.
We need sidewalks in Tobermory, Lion’s Head, Stokes Bay and Ferndale. For starters.
We need municipal parking facilities in a number of locations, especially Tobermory, Lion’s Head, Dyers Bay and various Bruce Trail access points.
We need more boat launch facilities and we need literally dozens of places where people can launch canoes and kayaks.
We need parking, picnic tables and garbage removal from all those locations.
* * * * *
Twenty-two years later, it’s interesting to look back on my wish-list.
Pavement in Johnston Harbour — check. Whiskey Harbour — check. Plus the East Road and others.
Sidewalks — zero out of ten on this one.
Parking? Two new lots in Tobermory. A big lot at Dyers Bay. A shuttle system in Lion’s Head. A number of new lots at Bruce Trail access points, some with porta-potties.
Boat launches? Nope.
Canoe and kayak launching? Nope.
Noticing a pattern? Car things got done; walking, cycling and kayaking things didn’t. Question: am I the only one who cares about walking, cycling and kayaking?
If not, there’s an election coming up next year. We — if there is a “we” — should let prospective Councillors know what our priorities are.
We need to remind them that these things need not be fancy or expensive. Kayakers just need a path to the water. Walkers and cyclists are quite happy with gravel.
Let the prodding begin.
