Thanks to all of you who attended the Ratepayers’ All Candidates Meeting on September 24th. It was wonderful to see so many of you again, and also to hear from a very capable set of candidates. We can be thankful that we have so many quality candidates from which to choose.

Prior to the All Candidates Meeting, the Ratepayers sent a list of questions to each of the certified candidates running for office, and asked for their written responses by September 12th. Almost all replied and their answers are being made available to all our current members.

The following were the questions that were posed to every candidate, and their responses were requested 2 weeks prior to the All Candidates Meeting.

  1. What improvements do you believe the next council needs to initiate to make the Township of Muskoka Lakes a better community for all residents and businesses?
  2. Property owners are concerned with constant tax increases. What changes, if any, would you promote to drive a more cost-effective delivery of services to your constituents?
  3. The Township has been updating its Official Plan and Bylaws for Site Alterations and Septic Inspections. The changes proposed are intended to improve the environment, especially in waterfront areas, but could impact costs and reduce current property rights for the majority of owners.
    1. Given that there is no data to support many of the proposed changes, what would you do to build a database which would justify the proposed changes?
    2. What major environmental improvements do you believe will result from these enhanced regulations, how will they be measured, and what additional costs will the average taxpayer incur?
  4. Housing affordability/attainability is a significant issue? Many of the affordability issues relate to zoning regulations especially those applicable to locations for multiple family units. What changes would you promote to make housing more affordable in Muskoka Lakes?

We have compiled their answers into several documents available here. You can chose from several options below. There is a handout for each of the three wards that includes the responses of the candidates for Mayor, and the candidates for Township and District Councillors for that ward. There is also a handout that has the answers from all the candidates in the three wards and the candidates for Mayor. The choice is yours.

These are the various handouts:

Please also visit the Elections 2022 page on our web site that can be found at https://muskokaratepayers.ca/elections-2022/