Boosting the economy and supporting local business while seeking out industrial and commercial investment
Born and raised in Fort Frances, Anthony Andrusco is running with plans to bring a fresh perspective to his hometown’s council and a desire to help build a stronger future.
Everyone who gets involved with local politics does so for their own reasons, and the tipping point for Andrusco in making the decision to throw his hat in the ring came from his own safety concerns related to the lack of a sidewalk on his street.
As a family man, Andrusco said he feels discomfort every time his kids are in his front yard, knowing that there isn’t that barrier between street and lawn. This caused him to take a look at other public infrastructure, notice its withering condition in many instances and think about what could be done to prioritize improving the day-to-day lives of people in town.
“I’ve always enjoyed politics, but it’s something I’ve always observed from the background,” Andrusco told The Times. “You want to get involved, you want to make a difference, but it’s like, ‘Where do you even start?’ You can volunteer in town, you can do different things in the community, but if you want to tackle it at a different level, you need to start somewhere.”
“For me, this seems like a good place to start.”
Outside of his foray into involvement with local politics, Andrusco has a background in social work. He has primarily worked in addiction support, child welfare, mental health and education in England, Ethiopia and throughout Canada.
Currently, he works at Weechi-it-te-win Family Services as the Education Manager. Andrusco believes many aspects of social work can be employed as a councillor, namely the face-to-face side of working and communicating with others.
“I think a lot of the skills are transferable,” he said. “The majority of my career—30 years now—has been dealing with people, supporting children, families, individuals. That kind of experience—listening, building relationships and working collaboratively to find solutions—is important, and it sounds like the town is going to be dealing with some issues that need to be solved. I would love to be part of that.”
Although he has skills he believes have helped prepare him for council, Andrusco knows it won’t be a walk in the park. He said he would take the role seriously and be transparent as a councillor.
“It’s a big responsibility because you’re representing everyone who voted for you,” he said. “It’s something you should take with humility and that you can’t take lightly. If you get elected, you should always be held accountable to the people, the community and produce results.”
“What I’ve come to understand is that people need to see results. Even when it comes to taxes, which is always a big thing for people, they say, ‘My taxes are too high,’ and for the most part, yes, they probably are, but I think people would be ok with paying the taxes they pay now, or even more if they can see where their tax money is going.”
When it comes to where his top priorities for town lie, Andrusco’s focus will be to first aim at boosting the Fort Frances economy and support local business by looking for potential industrial and commercial investments.
“You have to have a strong industrial base in the community,” Andrusco said. “We’ve seen it happen when the mill closed down; taxes went up for people. When you’re missing those types of industrial revenues, it is really noticeable.”
The next big focus he plans to look towards is to improve local infrastructure over a long-term approach, dealing with it project by project based on the most affordable methods.
“I think you just have to tackle it one after another,” he said. “When I see things happening around town, I always ask how well it’s being coordinated. Let’s say if they’re working on a sidewalk in a part of town, why can’t it be coordinated to handle everything in that area and try to time things so you’re not jumping from place to place.”
“Every single person I’ve talked to so far can’t understand what happened to our roads and sidewalks. It’s important for everybody, not just kids but seniors, families, people out walking their dog. I just think it’s important to focus on the basics.”
Other important aspects of town Andrusco believes need to be prioritized are to explore options for more affordable and available housing, promote community safety and well-being and to look at creating more activities for families and visitors of Fort Frances.
“If you talk to local businesses, they really require and depend on that base to come in,” he said. “There are people who have families in town, and they’re saying there’s not a lot of variety of things to do. I think you know we need to take advantage of opportunities like Sunny Cove, and kind of be creative, think outside the box.”
“You could even look at building something there where people and organizations can go any time of year. If you have something on the lake that you can offer people that’s year-round, I think that’s an advantage.”
