Elect Gordon MacDonald CBRM councilor District 1

As a candidate in the CBRM municipal election on October 15/2016 I would like to state my goals if I am elected .

As a long time postal worker and my years as a letter carrier I have witnessed first hand the difficulties of being poor.
Child poverty and affordable housing need to be a priority, not just for the Northside but the whole of the CBRM. I believe in order to combat these issues we need to find ways to stop the job losses and find innovative ways to invest here at home in the CBRM.
We need to educate our residents on the importance of buying local and supporting our local small business community.
I would like to see the CBRM come up with a plan that no edible or canned food is allowed to be thrown away from our grocery stores when there are food banks, willing to put volunteers to work, to stock their shelves and get this food into the hands of the hungry.
Tons of edible food is disgarded in dumpsters.

We need to find a way to make landlords accountable when it comes to rental fees. How can anyone living on minimum wage or working part time,afford a place paying $800-$1000 dollars per month or more, along with pay utilities and these places are deplorable in a lot of cases?
Many of these families are single mothers looking after children getting assistance from the province, and all their money has to pay rent, heat, lights and water.
We must and I repeat, we must address our youth situation and the lack of resources and lack of extracurricular activities for them to do.
The be all, cannot be only Sydney proper. The CBRM was formed on a community of communities and that motto seems to be fading away.
Here on the Northside where I am running in District 1, we have nothing left for our youth, and they are turning to drugs to repeal the boredom.
We have here in District 1, the community cares youth outreach center on King Street in Sydney Mines and they cannot secure any sustainable funding. This center helps youth at risk, have a stone soup kitchen program and are growing an outside garden, all done by these young people and volunteers with the support of our clerical community.
They have also initiated a vital signs project that they are hoping to get moving on in early fall. I will support this!

If elected, I will work with the CBRM and province of Nova Scotia to put forth a resolution that any senior citizen who lives in their own home after the age of 65, shall have all their municipal taxes and provincial assessments frozen, with no increases until this person or persons no longer reside at this property.
Seniors on fixed income has no way to increase their yearly income and they usually can no longer do the things that they could do on their own , such as mowing grass, shoveling and general maintenance and now have to pay someone to do these things.

Also if I am elected councilor of District 1, I will not sit silently on the side lines, while a profitable company like Scotsburn, is packing up to leave, devastating our dedicated local workers and their families! I will be the guy screaming from the roof tops that these things shouldn’t happen for unjust reasons.

We have two of the most beautiful beaches here in District 1. One is Florence Beach and the other is Lochmans Beach in Sydney Mines.
Florence Beach is barely accessable because of the road and this could easily be fixed up so that we could add it to the tourist literature. So much potential here!
Lochmans Beach at the bottom of Cable Street In Sydney Mines, borders Chapel Point. If our government wanted to put a national monument and create a national park, this area could definetly have the potential for it. We just need to do the work!

I come from a grassroots existence and that leaves me with the most important thing I can do as a councilor For District 1 in the CBRM , and that is listen to the residents.
The best ideas and direction, has and always will come from the people who live here. Who else knows what’s best for each community better than the residents?
So for me that is where I will take my direction from.

There is lot’s going on in the CBRM. Some for it, and some against it.
I have been trying to read as much as I can about the Sydney Port Authority and Sydport as it is obviously an issue that’s burning up in several circles whether it’s the right or wrong direction for us to take in the CBRM. I’m not sure I like what I’m reading but I will continue to work through the cloudy processes, that seems to have happened.

These are only a few of the things that need immediate attention as a councilor, and I know there are many more and much work to do.

I promise, if elected, I will work toward an open and transparent municipal council. I will listen and take all of your concerns to the council table, and I will fight so that we here on the North Side area and especially District 1 are heard and get the resources we need to take care of us , the residents.

Gordon MacDonald
Candidate, District 1 CBRM
Municipal council