Elections bring the opportunity to reinvigorate the community. They bring ideas forward to create new strength in a community to attract new citizens, new businesses, and recognize new opportunities. It is time for a new generation to step forward and begin taking the reins to direct the future of Fort Frances and the District.
It was a sad note that the Fort Frances Times published a story of the shortage of candidates seeking municipal council seats across the Rainy River District. Fort Frances Mayor June Caul has chosen to retire. In Thunder Bay, Bill Mauro has chosen to retire and long-time Atikokan mayor Dennis Brown has also chosen to retire. Fortunately, candidates have put their names forward for the mayoral seats in Thunder Bay and Atikokan.
But across the Rainy River District, northwestern Ontario and much of Ontario, there appears to be a shortage of candidates even in the largest cities. It isn’t just an Ontario phenomenon – in New Zealand, which has municipal elections at the same time as us, that country too is seeing a shortage of municipal candidates.
Bill Mauro in his retirement speech noted that after 25 years in municipal and provincial government, it was time to retire. In Rainy River, two very senior members of council expressed that age was a determining factor in their retirement, while a young member of council noted that the time he devoted to council had affected his young family, and he was choosing family over council.
Last January, Andrew Foulds, a councillor in Thunder Bay told me that the previous three years were the toughest he had ever experienced as a councillor. A similar sentiment was voiced by a district councillor who found the social interaction that existed between councillors at face-to-face meetings had evaporated, by using Zoom meetings.
Over the past four years, every council has had to manage new challenges never experienced before. Covid forced councils to make decisions to restrict access to – or fully close – facilities, which left citizens upset. Voters often took councillors to task for their decisions. The flooding in the district had councils making additional tough choices. Council had little or no control over the rules enacted to protect the health of citizens in the pandemic or protect property damage during the flood.
Unfortunately, these issues have left many councils broken and tired, and have not inspired a new generation of leaders to step forward. But the councils of the past four years have created a roadmap for future councils to learn from, when they’re faced with difficult choices. The Fort Frances council deserves credit for creating a plan to improve services for all generations. They have set in motion upgrades to the sportsplex, with a new pool and better change rooms, an expansion to the Senior Centre, a plan for the woodyard, and plans for a splash pad. They are progressive steps; something a new generation of community leaders can build on.
Former Publisher
Fort Frances Times
