Perry profile

Hi! My name is Ken Perry and I am running for a seat on Fort Frances town council.
I call “The Fort” home since moving here 22 years ago. My wife, Laurel, and I have raised our two sons here, and I am very concerned with the present and future of our town.
I was a member of the Fort Frances Aquanauts Swim Club executive for more than 10 years and served as its president for two terms. The club helped spearhead the addition to the Sportsplex during that time.
I currently am a member of the Borderland Racing Association and have been on its board of directors for the past 11 years. I have been its president, and have been the WISSOTA promoter of the Emo Speedway for eight years.
Health care is a very hot issue in Ontario and in Fort Frances at the current time. Some of the concerns we have facing us are being controlled by the provincial government and locally we have no control over that.
They tell us that in the near future, this province will see 150 Family Health Teams. One of those teams will be located in our area. This concept is long past the planning stage as it has been mandated and passed in the legislature.
Fort Frances also has a doctor shortage. I would like to be on the team that helps solve this problem.
Fort Frances needs a clinic for our doctors to tend to our needs. The current arrangement is not working as the doctors no longer want to own their building, but wish to just practice medicine.
The solution offered by the present council at a public meeting was met with much opposition. A petition presented to council shortly thereafter was apparently met with blind eyes. The will of the majority was not considered.
I would like to be on a council that helps make our health care solutions acceptable to the majority of the citizens in our town.
I will not seek, or vote for, a raise in honorariums or support the notion that mayor and council should receive health care benefits. At best, those “jobs” are a part-time position, and moreover, I would be honoured to serve as a councillor for the Town of Fort Frances.
When a public meeting is called, I will not go to that meeting with my mind made up as to the reason for the meeting. If enough of the public show support for an “idea,” then and only then should the idea be put forward or acted upon.
If the public is opposed to the “idea,” I would support pursuing other options.
It was said to me not long ago by a member of the voting public that the duty of council is to carry out the will and wishes of the majority of the people who voted you into. I believe in that statement.
I will vote in council the will of the majority. I have no agenda nor any vision that I will change the world. I will listen to the people who elect me.
As one of your town councillors, I will work for the good of our town. Personal agendas have no place at the council table. Our town needs a strong, unified team to take it through the next four years.
As we overcome the challenges that we currently are facing, new and different concerns will keep us busy. Your vote will put me on that team.