I ran for council in 1997 and finished with over 1000 votes which, considering the fact I was pretty much an unknown, wasn’t a bad showing.

I then sat on the Business Bylaw Regulatory Committee which gave me a better idea of the operations of city hall. I have been very active volunteering in the community for the past 17 years with Owen Sound Minor Soccer Executive and fundraising for community efforts through our Amplifi Entertainment.

I was born and raised in Owen Sound and have been married to my wife Lee Anne for 32 years. Together we raised our two boys here (Mark and Andy) and we own and operate two car washes on 10th street west in Owen Sound. Andy and my daughter-in-law Ashley have given us a grandson (Evan Michael) so the future of Owen Sound is more important to me than ever.

I believe in the value of a strong, supportive community and that means that local government must work with and be sensitive to the issues that affect all groups, including business. I have always pledged to listen to the community and to make sure I understand all the implications of a decision before casing a vote.

Incumbent mayor Deborah Haswell is a 13-year council veteran. She unseated rival candidate Ruth Lovell Stanners by a mere 41 votes in the 2010 municipal election. A graduate of OSCVI, she pursued post-secondary education at Conestoga College in Kitchener, where she earned a Social Services Diploma – graduating at the top of her class. She […]

As a new hopeful, Francesca Dobbyn current Executive Director of United Way Bruce Grey brings a keen awareness of the issues of rural poverty and the challenging economic conditions of this region. Do you have any strategies prepared to encourage local economic growth? Which issue should this next term’s council give to more focus to: […]

Ruth Lovell-Stanners is the former two-term mayor of Owen Sound. In the 2010 municipal election, she was narrowly defeated by Deborah Haswell, by 41 votes. She was also the Ontario Liberal Party candidate in Bruce-Grey in the 1999 provincial election, but lost to incumbent MPP Bill Murdoch. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario, […]