MCLEOD TO RUN FOR MAYOR

MCLEOD WAS ELECTED AS A COUNCILLOR, NOW SERVES AS DEPUTY MAYOR

Mariane Mcleod received the most votes in the 2018 municipal election as a councillor, and she's currently serving as Collingwood's deputy mayor.

In her first term on council, Mcleod said she believes she acquired the right experience to be the town's next mayor.

"I've spent the three years getting the experience and skills that I need to do the job, and I think that I'm the best candidate," she said. "I've been doing the work and already being a leader, so I'm ready to go."

On June 16, Mcleod announced she would be running for mayor in the upcoming municipal election this fall — joining Coun. Yvonne Hamlin and former councillor Norm Sandberg on the ballot.

Mcleod is the chair of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority and served as chair of the corporate and community services committee in 2019 and 2020.

She's also spent time talking with current and former mayors about their communities and their issues, and how they handled them.

"I've been taking myself to mayor school for the last year and a half," she said.

Mcleod said she's enjoyed her time on council the last four years.

"It's been gratifying to make good decisions and do good stuff, but also prevent

what I see as bad stuff," she said. "I'm exhilarated, excited and enthusiastic about moving forward together."

If elected, Mcleod said she will focus on "staying the course."

"A lot of excellent procedures and plans in place in light of what we learned from the judicial inquiry about clean governance, so that's important to me," she said. "I really want to see the water treatment plant finished — obviously it has to be. I really want to see the terminals come to fruition, and I want to finish the parks we started work on."

When asked about plans for attainable housing, Mcleod said she plans to listen to the experts.

"Let's not forget, this Gordian knot of affordable housing is not only a Collingwood-specific issue; (while) it is particularly difficult in Collingwood, North America is struggling with this," she said.