HE'S BEEN LISTENING FOR YEARS

Steve McGuinness has spent years doing in public what he intends to do at the council table: reading the reports, asking the questions, and telling residents plainly what he finds. He founded the Facebook group Residents 4 A Better NOTL, writes regularly for The Lake Report, and is a member of the NOTL Residents Association. His view of the town is straightforward — protect the character AND SCALE that makes NOTL worth living in, and be honest with residents about the tradeoffs when growth is on the table.

He brings the right tools to the job. Three decades as a financial executive with major Bay Street corporations, an MBA from McMaster University, and a CPA designation — the background to read a budget line by line, follow the money through a reserve fund, and ask the question that hasn't been asked.

And he has the time. Steve is retired, which means he can attend the meetings, read the full agenda package before the vote, and sit down with a resident who wants twenty minutes.

He's spent years listening to this town already — running the group where neighbours air what's not working, and answering the mail his columns bring in. He'd rather hear it from you before the vote than read about it afterward.

Steve immigrated to Canada with his family from the UK and has called Ontario's Golden Horseshoe home ever since, settling in Virgil after his career in corporate finance. He identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and believes strongly in bringing women and diverse voices into the public policy process. Together with his spouse, Gary, he is a father to a grown son who works in education and a daughter who works in health care, and a proud grandfather to two grandchildren in primary school. If you see him out walking in NOTL, a yellow lab named Lucy is likely trotting a step ahead.

Read Steve's latest columns at The Lake Report (https://lakereport.ca/), and join the conversation at Residents 4 A Better NOTL (https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BZbEbc7sR/?mibextid=wwXIfr)