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Ron Stephens running for mayor By Liz Dadson |
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Ron Stephens wants to make sure the people of Kincardine are the best informed people in the country. To that end, he is running for mayor of Kincardine in the Oct. 25 municipal election. "I care about this municipality," he says. "I'm not a radical. I just stand up for the rights of the people - their property rights, their water rights and their food rights." He is concerned that most residents of Kincardine, as well as people in the province and across the country do not know what's really happening in the world. "This increased debt by the province and the municipalities puts them in a crisis situation and then they have to depend on a crisis solution; it's the way they operate," says Stephens. As for the province's push to have every municipality make an accounting of its assets, he says that's simply an easy way to then force municipalities to sell off their roads, bridges and other infrastructure. "If we do that, then we are citizens of what? Nothing," he says. "People have to be informed of the truth." Referring to the proposed $40-million Kincardine hospital project. "Here, we're being asked to put up 10 per cent of the cost, that's $4 million, but the hospital board isn't accountable to anyone. The municipality goes into debt for the hospital but it's a publicly-funded facility and the board is not accountable to the public." Stephens says governments at all levels need critical thinkers to help turn this all around - and he is one of them.
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A
resident of Kincardine since 1969, Stephens has worked in several
industries, including the gold mines, oil patch, as a reporter in
Calgary and an environmentalist. In Kincardine, he worked as a builder and ran his own business.
For the past four years, the 55-year-old has been researching the issues and doing his homework. "We need to know what's important," he says. "And if we do not become engaged in what's happening in Canada, then we stand guilty of doing nothing." As for the wind farm issue, Stephens makes the following vow: "If elected, I will make absolutely sure that anybody in this municipality who is negatively impacted by windmills will be compensated." Also running for mayor of Kincardine are incumbent Larry Kraemer and deputy mayor Laura Haight. Nomination day is Sept. 10.
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