Peter Hislop wants to help bring positive change to Ward 4 and to the city as a whole.
The retired teacher is taking his first run at public office, hoping to secure one of two available council seats in the ward.
Friends encouraged him to run in 2014, but he was still teaching math and computer science at OD/Park Secondary School.
“That’s one of my pet peeves: You cannot work a full-time job and do this full-time,” he said.
After retiring three years later, “the encouragement was still there,” he said, so he threw his hat in the ring.
“I’m not totally happy with the current council and I want to see some changes,” he said. “We need more energy on council.”
Transparency is one of the pillars of his campaign.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of in-camera sessions,” he said. “I want to (see less) of that kind of thing. Speak directly to the people. Be transparent.”
One of the issues he is ready to tackle is the boat launch at Couchiching Beach Park. It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade it years ago, “but it generates zero revenue,” Hislop said.
It doesn’t cost boaters anything to launch their vessels, and Hislop noted many visitors are already stocked up on food and fuel before they get here, meaning less money going into the local economy.
“I don’t know why we can’t have gates there where you put your credit card in and the gates open for a nominal fee,” he said, adding he would like to see Orillia residents given free access.
He also feels the city needs to intensify its economic development efforts.
“Orillia is a retirement community and a tourist area with a lot of low-paying jobs,” he said. “The technology industry is what’s going to happen. We need to buy lands and get them serviced. If you build it, they will come.”
And, if there aren’t more specialized, well-paying jobs, they will leave, he said – ‘they’ being post-secondary students.
Two of his daughters have graduated from post-secondary school, while another is still studying.
“They didn’t come back home because there’s nothing here for them,” Hislop said. “I’d love for my kids to come back.”
One way to create jobs and spin-off industry, he feels, would be to sell the Orillia Power Distribution Corporation to Hydro One.
“It’s a great deal,” he said. “As I’m out campaigning, I’ll stand behind that deal.”
If he is elected, he said he will look at tax relief.
“This is the highest-taxed area in the city,” he said of Ward 4.
Attracting more industry and development would add to the tax base and help lower taxes for residents, he said.
Hislop thinks his experience teaching, from kindergarten all the way up to adult education, as well as his years of volunteering have equipped him for the job of councillor.
He started volunteering 35 years ago, as a firefighter. He was also on the Orillia Public Library board that took part in the process of building a new library. He has served on the city’s heritage committee as well as two committees at Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital, and he was president of the Orillia Lakers basketball club and vice-president of Orillia Minor Lacrosse.
“I really think I’m ready,” he said. “If people in Ward 4 want the status quo, vote for the incumbents. If not, I’m ready.”
Editor's Note: OrilliaMatters is profiling all candidates in Orillia’s municipal election. They are being published daily, by ward, in alphabetical order. The mayoralty candidates will also be profiled.
