Candidate for Mayor of Huntsville
Rebecca Mello sees access to employment as integral to rural economic development and believes municipalities have a responsibility to speak up when decisions made elsewhere affect their communities.
“I strongly believe that access to rural employment is integral to the conversation about economic development.”
“Municipalities are the voice of small-town residents, and provincial policies that affect residents and communities need to be challenged.”
Candidate for Huntsville Council, Huntsville & Chaffey Ward
For Geordie Sabbagh, the issue is also personal. He has a family member who commutes from Huntsville to Toronto twice a week, with the commute alone sometimes totalling six to eight hours in a day.
“We love living in Huntsville and chose to build our life here. But that's exactly the point: rural communities can work incredibly hard to attract families and skilled professionals, while employment policies made hundreds of kilometres away can make it much harder for those same people to stay.”
“I don't think people should have to choose unnecessarily between a good career and living in a rural community they love.”
Sabbagh also connects employment access to the longer-term future of the community:
“If we want young people to stay here, families to move here and our economy to grow beyond tourism, we need to make it possible for people to build both a career and a life in rural Ontario.”
Candidate for District and Town Council, Huntsville
James Bowler sees employment access as part of a broader conversation about economic development and the ability of people already living in Muskoka to build their futures here.
“Ultimately, I think economic development needs to be about more than attracting people to Muskoka. It should also be about creating an environment where the people who already live here can build careers, start businesses, raise families and continue contributing to the community.”
Bowler also believes municipalities have a role in ensuring rural impacts are heard when provincial policies affect their communities:
“Municipal governments aren't responsible for provincial employment policy, but we are directly connected to the people and businesses affected by those policies. We should be willing to communicate those impacts to our provincial representatives and advocate for our communities when appropriate.”
As a former reporter, Bowler has also spoken about the importance of listening to public servants who may not feel able to speak publicly themselves.
“Public servants are the ones who have the deepest knowledge of what's working and what's broken and we've been ignoring them for too long in my mind.”
Candidate for Huntsville Council, Stisted, Stephenson & Port Sydney Ward
Tyler Ellis points to the practical differences between accessing employment from a rural community and from a larger urban centre.
“Living and working in a place like Muskoka is different than living in a larger urban centre. Long commutes, fewer nearby employment options, and the cost of travelling to work can have a real impact on whether people are able to stay and build a life here.”
He also believes municipalities have a role even when the policy itself isn't municipal:
“Municipal council obviously doesn’t set provincial employment policies, but I do think we have a role in making sure the rural impact of those decisions is heard.”
Ellis says the bigger goal is creating communities where people can find good work, raise their families and afford to stay.
These perspectives are shared as part of REAO's outreach on employment access and rural economic development. Their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by REAO of any candidate.
