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Equal opportunity, lower taxes in focus for local physiotherapist’s bid for council

August 11, 2022   ·   0 Comments

Local physiotherapist running for Orangeville councilBy Sam Odrowski

By Sam Odrowski

Local physiotherapist and long-time resident of Orangeville, Peggy Bond, is running for council in the upcoming Oct. 24 election.

The focus for her campaign is fiscal responsibility, accountability, and equal opportunity for employment or volunteering at the town. 

The number one concern Bond said she hears from residents of Orangeville is the property tax rate. The municipality was ranked 10^th highest for property taxes in the province last year. 

“With residential tax rates being one of the highest in the entire province, we really need to be limiting our tax increases and being more fiscally responsible. It’s especially important at a time where people are struggling to pay for gas to drive to their jobs, because we’re essentially a commuter community, or struggling to pay for food,” said Bond.

She added, “I think it’s time to have somebody who may be from a different perspective, someone in health care, someone who’s raised a family here, and been involved in the community, to weigh in on some of the decisions that are being made that are affecting our hard-earned tax dollars. As well as the services and programs that are available in Orangeville.”

Bond says some of the strengths she would bring to the role of councillor, from her experience as a physiotherapist, is problem solving and active listening. There’s no one solution for her clients’ problems, each one has their own unique set of circumstances that are factored into decision making.

“I just think that sometimes, asking questions, and thinking about things in a different way may lead to different opportunities, different resolutions or different ideas to solve some of the problems that we have in this town,” said Bond. 

As a taxpayer and resident of Orangeville, she said some of the decisions made by the town aren’t always in the municipality’s best interest financially.

“I don’t love the fact that we have a knee jerk reaction to use consultants on things I feel residents of the Town of Orangeville could be consulted on instead,” said Bond, who noted the use of consultants to determine the new location for a bus station terminal as an example. 

The consultants on that project proposed that the most suitable location would be on Broadway, between First Street and John Street. However, after significant push back from downtown business owners, council reversed their decision and relocated it to the Edelbrock Centre.

“Anybody that lived in the Town of Orangeville probably knew it wasn’t a good idea,” she remarked.

With that in mind and the fact consultants often cost tens of thousands of dollars, Bond said they should be left out of certain decisions that can be made through consultation with locals. 

Another priority for Bond, if elected, is to rescind the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine for town staff, volunteers, and members of council. 

“I believe that that there should be equal opportunity for qualified individuals to work and volunteer for the Town of Orangeville,” she said. 

In addition to voting for the policy to be repealed, Bond said she would work to ensure that it couldn’t be reimplemented.

“I would propose to put in place a policy that would prevent our municipality from enacting any sort of future discriminatory employment practices, such as that one, based on people’s medical status,” she noted.

Bond said she’s looking forward to door knocking and getting out on the campaign trail once the nomination period for council candidates closes on Aug. 19.

“I would encourage people to vote because their vote and voice matters,” she told the Citizen. “If you support Christian conservative values, a hard-working council, and people that are going to question fiscal responsibility and try and be transparent and accountable with their money, then you should vote for me.” 

The municipal election is being held Oct. 24.

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