Just to be very clear!

Some people have been very critical and have resorted to insulting myself, and my views on this election. I just want to be very clear with the hundreds of readers who take the time to read my blog postings. I have no intention of running for public office in this election, I feel I can be more vocal as just a regular voter, instead of being a candidate for public office. Now some will continue to insult me and say that "I lost the election to Patterson", He cleaned my clock", I'm a sore loser", and so on and so on. In 2010 nobody had the guts to run against Patterson. I was asked by several well known citizens to throw my hat in the ring so Patterson would be forced to spend money on his campaign, and also so Patterson would not be acclaimed.

My issues with Mayor Cal Patterson has to do with his politics, and not him as a person. unlike Patterson I never attacked him on a personal level like he did to me in 2010 with the 1 hour radio spot he purchased on 97.7the beach. Patterson lacks the vision to move this town forward, as he's had since 2007 when the fire destroyed beach area 1 to do something and has failed. He first got cozy with the Levy brothers, then backed away when they went bankrupt. He failed as a secure creditor in blocking SF Partners who had close ties with the Levy brothers being appointed as the receiver for the bankrupt properties along beach area 1 and other parts around town. SF Partners also hired Dov Levy to manage the properties on their behalf. Nothing like letting the hen back into the hen house.

Some say why do I just go after Patterson and not anybody else? The answer is quite simple, he's the Mayor, he sets the vision for the town, he's the voice and face of the town, and he's the one who has to be held accountable for his actions, and that of the town staff. yes there are other members on council who have questionable connections with developers, but they are not the Mayor.

Some have said because of my public opinions towards Patterson they intend to vote for him because of me. Well we live in a democratic society, and every voter has the freedom to vote for whoever they like, as long as they vote. On the topic of voting, in the last election we had a 27% voter turnout which was the lowest in all of Simcoe County. Now with internet, and telephone voting being added in 2014 and the chance of part-time residents being able to vote, predictions have the voting turnout as high as 65% which would be amazing if it really does happen.

In a 3 way race for Mayor past voting patterns have shown that the Mayor would lose the election by 300-400 votes. This is a result of vote splitting, and the fact that both Foster and Patterson got the same amount of votes in 2010. When you add Brian Smith into the mix, Patterson will lose the election.

So I will again say to those who don't like my blog, and don't like my posts on the Wasaga Beach Election page. Don't read it, and if it really bugs you, block me so you won't have to read what I write. Resorting to insults and name calling just shows how shallow you are not me.

Most incumbents opt out of Wasaga Beach meet-the-candidates

Where was Cal, Nina, George (ok George came toward the end), and Morley???? They decided that it was fine to opt out of the first all candidates meeting leading up to the October municipal election. Patterson, Bifolchi and Bercovitch both declined an invitation to the meeting saying they would prefer to wait until the September filing deadline has passed and all candidates are declared.

Really! That's a lame excuse if you ask me. If they wanted to wait until September then why would they all be the first out of the gate to file their papers?

Anyway here are some of the talking points from the meeting which was attended by over 100 residents.

David Foster for mayor

• two terms as deputy mayor, one term as councillor

• a new dynamic to the position of mayor

• adding programs

• improving communication and accountability at town hall

• reengaging people

• progressive change is healthy and necessary

Brian Smith for mayor

• full financial and operational audit of town hall

• fewer consultants hired

• partnership between town and businesses

• promote Wasaga Beach

• need for family tourism

• high school

• recorded vote on every vote

• will never run for county warden

• donate salary to charity

Gary Cerantola for deputy mayor

• more local contracting high school

• multi-use sports facility

• walk-in clinic

• good paying jobs

• water quality

• attract young families

• strategy for care of older adults

Brian Schryver for councillor

• accessibility

• bike lanes

• sidewalks

• focus on year-round for residents and tourists

• high school

Richard White for councillor

• will ask for input

• willing to change

• town is dying of poor decisions

• does not own a business so no conflict of interest

Look who the Developers own!!

In the 2010 Municipal Election, the developers and companies who get awarded contracts by the town donated to most of the candidates who were elected or re-elected.

Of interest is who donated to Mayor Cal Patterson's campaign, and how much Patterson spent on his campaign. Another interesting fact is who audited Patterson's financial statements, it was Ron Anderson and fellow member of council.

Here's a link to the financial statements of each person who ran in 2010, which had to be filed with the Ministry as part of the election process.

http://www.wasagabeach.com/election.index.gk

Could this explain why certain members of our current council vote the way they do on issues facing the town? Patterson is in the pockets of developers, and companies that do business with the town. Is this the type of Mayor the town wants and needs? Who owns the town, the developers, or the residents?

Voters need to be informed, voters need to know all the facts surrounding each person running for office. Ask the hard questions and if you don't like the answer ask again.

Say it's not so Mayor Cal Patterson....

Mayor Patterson with the Levy Brothers at a ribbon cutting event

I want to start off this post stating very clearly that what you are about to read is not based on hard evidence, but it came from sources who were at one time very close to the Mayor, and people who are still close to the Mayor.

Some might say that I hold a personal grudge against the Mayor, while others might say I'm a sore loser having lost to the Mayor in 2010, both are far from the truth. My issues with the Mayor go to the way he handled the whole fire issue at the beach, his relationship with the Levy brothers, and the slander he did during the 2010 election, when he purchased 1 hour of airtime on 97.7the beach, and spent most of the hour saying false and misleading statements about me, and my family. He accused me of sending out flyers to each household in Wasaga Beach slamming him on the way he was dealing with a water issue in the east end of the beach. He accused me of causing the late George Shaffer to loose the election for Deputy Mayor to David Foster back in 2006. He refused my application to sit on several town committee's as it's the Mayor who decides which citizens sit on what committee's The list goes on and on, and the bottom line is that the guy just hates me for his own selfish reasons.

Anyway I just wanted to clear the air about my history with Mayor Patterson. Now to the issue at hand. What do we really know about the relationship between Mayor Patterson, and the Levy brothers? Some people know that Cal Patterson loves horses, and he's owned a couple of race horses. One horse named, AMBRO CHRONICLE which was purchased for about $ 20,000 had one eye, and one ball, and went on to make big bucks racing. While theirs nothing wrong with anybody having a hobby like horse racing, the problem is who gave the horse to Patterson. Did he purchase the horse with his own money? Did he receive the horse as a gift from the Levy Brothers, who at the time were seeking approval for their own developments plans along beach area one? 

Most people know that I'm of Jewish background, and so are the Levy brothers. The Jewish community is a very tight community in the Thornhill area of Vaughan. Years ago Patterson was seen several times with Dov Levy, who was taking Patterson around to visit the Levy brothers financial backers. I know for a fact that the Levy brothers had most of their financing in place, and then the financial meltdown hit in late 2007 and into 2008, and then these backers decided to back out of the project due to the recession.

When the Levy brothers went bankrupt, and all of their properties were put into receivership, why did the town, and for that matter the Mayor himself, not protest the receiver who was appointed by the court?. SF Trustee's in bankruptcy, not only were the one's appointed as trustee's for the estate, but they had a direct connection to Dov Levy, as they hired him to manage the properties along the beach front. Nothing like letting the hen back into the hen house.

Again all of the above, except for what I said about my relationship with Mayor Cal Patterson is just rumors, and there's no hard evidence "YET" to back up what I wrote above. 

I'm bringing this all up now, and there will be more to come as the election gets into high gear, but I wanted to plant the seed now, I think all the voters need to know that not everything is just fine at town hall. We have a Mayor who controls all aspects of how the town operates, even to the point that his son-in-law gets hired, while there was more qualified candidates for the position. 

So you decide what's true, and what's not. Ask the hard questions, and don't you think it's time to have a Mayor and Council who work for all the residents and not a select few.

First All-Candidates Meeting was a Success.

The first all-candidates meeting took place on May 21st, 2014, and the turnout was over 100 people. Great speeches by all the candidates, and it's quite clear that even the current members of council who are running what some sort of change.

We all have to remember that if you are a member of council you have just 1 vote. The Mayor is the face and voice of the town, and the leader of council. While some people think it's way to early to start thinking or caring about the municipal election, I strongly disagree, as it's never too early to start the debate, and exchange ideas on how to make Wasaga Beach a better town for it's residents and visitors.

Some have said that these "new" people have no chance in getting elected, and their ideas are all pipe dreams. Again if you are happy with how the town is being run, then vote for the same, and trust me you will get the same. Since the 2010 election how much has really changed? How much from the platforms of all the candidates who were either elected or re-elected has been put into place? All of the current members of council have promised that we would have the beach front developed before the 2014 election, and where are we today? Some have said that we would have an industrial park near highway 26 for light manufacturing developed by 2014, and where are we today?

I strongly encourage each voter to take the time to get to know ALL of the candidates who are running for office, get to know their platforms, and where they stand on all the major issues, and if they are either elected or re-elected hold them accountable.

Finally get out and vote! With a 27% voter turnout in the last election, people can't complain if they did not vote.

We need a High School Now!!!

While we are in the mist of a Provincial election we need to bring to the forefront the issue of a high school in Wasaga Beach. We bus each day during the school year over 800 students to the high schools in Elmvale, Stayner, and Collingwood.

The current school trustee for Wasaga Beach has no interest in helping the town get a high school. If you think municipal politics is a blood sport, you have never attended a school trustee meeting. I've attended several of these meetings, and I can tell you that the vast majority of the trustees only care for the students in their home towns. The Wasaga Beach school trustee lives in Midland I believe, and she supports the schools in her area.

The process in deciding where a new school gets built is quite simple. Each year school boards prepare both operational and capital budgets which get sent to the Ministry for approval. The school trustee's with the assistance of board staff prepare case studies, and business plans for capital budget requests, they then vote on these, and then submit the approved plans to the Ministry for funding.

Not once has the trustee's submitted to the Ministry a business plan as to why a new high school should be built in Wasaga Beach. They have submitted plans for the renovation of the high school in Elmvale, but nothing for Wasaga Beach. I will give credit to our current Mayor, Cal Patterson as he stood in a board meeting back in 2010 with a business plan prepared by the town, at the town's expense, and it was not even voted on by the school trustee's. The town even went a step further and were willing to donate the land for the new high school to be built on, and still the board rejected the plan outright.

Back in 2007, over 5000 residents signed a petition which was presented to MPP, Jim Wilson who promised that he would bring up the matter in the house, but he never did. Wilson has been a strong supporter of renovating the high school in Elmvale, but he won't stand with the residents of Wasaga Beach, which is his town as well.

I really hope for the sake of our students that we get a strong candidate as school trustee, who will fight for a high school in Wasaga Beach. When you vote for a school trustee make sure that he or she stands with the residents and promises to do their best to finally get us a high school. 

First All Candidates Meeting

A municipal all-candidates meeting will take place in Wasaga Beach on Wednesday, May 21.

The meeting, hosted by the Wasaga Beach Women’s Business Association and Parkbridge Lifestyle Communities, will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Country Life Resort, 85 Theme Park Drive. 

Candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and express their views on business in the beach. Each candidate will have a table on which to display literature and people are encouraged to stay for one-on-one discussions with candidates after the introductions. There will not be an open mic for questions and answers.

Candidate Profiles

Well I tried to access the websites for both Cal Patterson, Brian Smith and David Foster, and none of them have their websites up and running which is quite sad if you ask me. These guys want the voters to elect them, yet they can't take the time to have a basic website up.

Anyway Gary Cerantola who's running for Deputy Mayor has his website up and running.



Here's the link to his website and I suggest if you want to find out more about Gary and where he stands, take a quick look at his website.

http://wasagabeachelection.com/

List of Candidates so far.

Here's a list of the Candidates as published on the town's website. If you have an issue you would like to talk to a candidate, I would suggest contacting them to find out where they stand.

Mayo r
Cal Patterson
1819 River Road West
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 2X5
Telephone: 705-429-4247
Email: cal@calpatterson.com

 

David Foster
420 Golf Course Rd
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1S5
705-441-2211 (bus)
705-429-6263 (home)
Email: wasagadave@rogers.com
 

Brian Smith
230 Kirby Lane PO Box 580
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1A5
705-422-0963 (bus)
Email: brian@briansmithformayor.com
 

 

Deputy Mayor 
Nina Bifolchi
263 Deerbrook Drive
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 2N1
Tel: 705-352-6571
email: ninabifolchi@gmail.com

Gary Cerantola
143 Silver Birch Avenue
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1P7
705-888-7652

email: contact@wasagabeachelection.com

Councillor
George Watson
599 Mosely Street
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 2J2
Tel: 705-309-7653

email: george10902@sympatico.ca

 

Morley Bercovitch
P.O. Box 523 Stn. Main
Wasaga Beach, L9Z 1A5
Phone: 705-429-5866

Email: mjberc@sympatico.ca

 

Richard White
71 Arnill Crescent
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 2A6
705-446-7939
email: RichardWhiteforWasaga@outlook.com

Twitter@richard4wasaga

 

Barry Adams

70 Meadowlark Blvd
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 3B3
705-241-7529
email: barryadams4wasagacouncil@rogers.com 

twitter:@badams4council

 

Brian Schryver

123 58th Street South
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 2Z1
705-352-0158
email: schryver@live.ca

School Board Trustee – English Language Public

School Board Trustee – English Language Separate

Michael Foreman
20 Briarwood Place
Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 2N9
Tel: 705-794-3350
email: mike.foreman@hotmail.com

School Board Trustee – French Language Public

Guy Belcourt
1 Therrien Court
Penetanguishene, ON L9M 1P7
705-549-3877

email: guybelcourt@yahoo.co

 

School Board Trustee – French Language Separate

Welcome one and all.

Welcome to the one blog that will give you all the latest news about the upcoming municipal election in Wasaga Beach. I encourage everyone to please post comments, and suggestions on how you really feel about the candidates. Try and keep it clean or your comment will be removed.

Over the next little while I will be posting a profile of each candidate. Questions will be sent out to the candidates on how they feel about the issues. If a candidate does not want to respond, have no fear I will do my own profile based on information from their website, or hand-outs.

In the meantime if you have a post you want to have uploaded to the site, please feel free to email me at: voteforsteve@gmail.com

You can also vote for the candidate of your choice for Mayor and Deputy Mayor on the right hand side. Once we have more candidates for Council, I will post another poll.

Until next time!