- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor
Four of our city councillors have been in their seats for eight years. One of them is running for mayor, and one for deputy mayor, so those two will either be moving into new assigned seats, or home to their comfy couches.
We have two men to choose from for deputy mayor. Both Brian O'Leary and Scott Greig were elected to council in 2014.
O'Leary chose to run for deputy mayor in 2018 after the retirement of Arlene Wright. He almost ran unopposed for that position, until a newcomer to Owen Sound, undeterred by Ms. Wright's attempts to dissuade him, stepped into that race and captured almost 40% of the votes cast. This year O'Leary is running against a seasoned councillor.
Both men are running on their records, and we have been fact-checking their campaigns for our readers.
O'Leary's literature says “23% of new residential dwellings in the City of Owen Sound built since 2018 are considered affordable”. We have been unable to verify this with any of our sources at the City or County, but Ian Boddy also uses “22% affordable or attainable” in his campaign.
It is not clear in what way either man can take credit for these numbers, but council did approve a guarantee for a mortgage for Owen Sound Non-Profit Housing's build in Odawa Heights.
O'Leary's campaign material states that he “lobbied the Provincial Government” for the degree nursing program at Georgian, and “successfully advocated” for 160 new long term beds in Owen Sound. According to Southbridge, that number is 91. They will also be moving current residents into the new facility, scheduled for completion last spring, from the Mapleview and Georgian Heights properties they currently have up for sale. The impact of O'Leary's lobbying in either project is unknown.
By virtue of being Owen Sound's deputy mayor, O'Leary is a sitting member of Grey County Council. He also sits on a number of County committees including chairing the Mental Health Addictions Task Force. Most of his campaign focus has been on County successes. In the first all-candidates meeting Greig acknowledged O'Leary's work, but in keeping with his reputation as a fiscal watchdog, Greig said Grey County taxes had increased by over 14% on O'Leary's watch. He also said 6.6% of this increase was last year, but we can find nothing to support that - no increase higher than 2.88%,
At the same meeting, O'Leary once again raised the subject of our neighbours, people who work, shop and volunteer in Owen Sound but live in other municipalities, leaving Owen Sound taxpayers paying for services these others use “for free”. While this echoed Richard Thomas' remarks, these are the same municipalities with which we have been told we must collaborate, and even seek to annex, for cost savings.
Grey County appoints 4 members to the Grey Bruce Board of Health, the governance body of the Health Unit. O'Leary has been on the Board since 2018, strongly supporting the MHO and Chair. Conventionally the County has appointed elected council members from Grey County municipalities, but it is not obliged to change its appointees following a municipal election.
Both O'Leary and Greig are selling their proven record of hard work. Greig advocates for increasing the workload of council members – more background material to review to “enhance the level of oversight”, a full schedule of council and committee meetings without a seven-week summer break, the addition of a Budget Committee, and encouraging more opportunities for citizen participation in City decision-making.
Greig has been serving on the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority (GSCA), most recently as chair, where the impact of increased visitors, shoreline development and flooding are regularly discussed. Climate change is an election issue for Greig, specifically advocating for mitigation efforts, active transportation options, and improving the public transit experience which he describes as “fundamental to the success of our community.”
None of these environmental or climate issues are included in O'Leary's campaign. At a meeting earlier this term, he said “We can have people in our community, enough to fill the room, who think climate change is crap – we also have to listen to them.” He has said that the City should support the work of the Grey County Climate Change Task Force and its action plan.
We invite you to watch these two candidates offer their records, credentials and aspirations in their own words in these videos. (Note: O'Leary did not attend the second of the two public all-candidates meetings.)