OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication).
*************************
There is no reality, only perception. Let that sink in for a bit.
Politics can get nasty and divisive. This is the case in Oro-Medonte.
The current municipal council was voted in by the majority of residents in the township, as was Mayor Harry Hughes. They were elected to perform their duties to the best of their ability with their residents and the township as a whole in mind.
There will be competing views and agendas amongst the council, but again their main focus is doing the best thing(s) for the township. It seems, however, that when the resulting democratic decisions that the current council makes do not align with the needs and wants of specific small groups, then things get messy.
The current council has been dragged through the mud on issues that have already been addressed and dealt with, with truth and fact. When some don’t agree with it, then they spout off about it being wrong and the council be damned, especially when the result is not what they consider to be right or fair.
There is a concerted, strategic and organized attempt by some to derail the current council by making false accusations, asking thinly veiled questions to which the answers have already been given, and offering innuendo against specific council members directly. And you may ask why.
Deputy Mayor Ralph Hough stated it brilliantly in his letter to the editor when he commented on a small group of residents that continue to pound the table on questions that they already know the answers to.
These groups organize their assault on the current council by using thinly veiled letters and social media posts to discredit the current incumbents in order to sway your vote to the ‘other’ candidate. Again, why, you may ask?
It seems that is simple — these residents/groups want control of the township for their own agenda(s).
The mayor or any other councillor for that matter does not have ultimate power. The mayor has only one vote, albeit it could be an important one.
There have been many untruths and innuendos surrounding integrity commissioners, short-term rentals, and, lately, development fees, which have all been addressed and answered, but the groups still ask about them as thinly veiled attacks on the current council.
Lowered development fees will reduce your taxes if and when commercial/industrial businesses build and/or locate in our township on commercial/industrial land. Agricultural land, I believe, will continue to be protected. That tax base will contribute greatly to the bottom township line. Simple business. Recurring revenue model always works.
Social media can be a great way to learn about the candidates in your area. Use it wisely.
We are all entitled to our opinions. When someone says to you, “You are not reading the article properly,” then it is obvious that your opinion doesn’t count.
Please be informed and vote with your conscience, not by being bullied into a decision by a third party or special-interest group.
Thank you to all the people who have chosen to represent their areas.
Please remember: reality over perception.
Jeremy Pollard
Oro-Medonte
*************************
