After spending 15 of the past 37 years in municipal politics, including a term as mayor in the 1980s, Coun. Ted Emond announced this week he will not seek another term in this year’s municipal election.
At age 82, Emond has made the decision to withdraw from politics to spend more time with his wife and family.
During his career as a human resources consultant, working with various organizations and levels of government, Emond found himself in office after being encouraged to run in the 1980s.
Following his stint as mayor, Emond continued consulting until retiring at age 70. He ultimately returned to council in 2014 and has served as councillor for the past two terms.
Through his years in office, Emond said the greatest lesson he has learned is people in office have the power to effect change in their communities.
“People who stand for public office can actually make a difference,” he told OrilliaMatters. “You can actually, if you have a sense of what you’d like something to be, and you can work collaboratively with your colleagues, you can build consensus and you can move it forward.”
During his time in municipal politics, Emond and his fellow council members made numerous decisions that shaped Orillia into the city it is today.
He points to his term as mayor as being particularly influential.
“Three things happened during that term that I think had a huge impact on our city,” he said.
Emond said the greatest accomplishments of that 1980s council include beginning the process to bring OPP General Headquarters to Orillia, annexing the land that would become west Orillia from the former Orillia Township, and making the decision to double the capacity of the city’s wastewater facility.
“If you look now, we’ve got 1,000 people employed in the general headquarters … we’ve got the regional OPP headquarters here,” he said. “We have Georgian College, Lakehead, offering programs to support police services in a variety of ways. It’s become a huge contributor to our community.”
He said expanding the city’s wastewater capacity allowed for the growth brought through the OPP headquarters and the gradual expansion of homes and businesses in west Orillia.
“By doing that, we, in effect, allowed the growth that has occurred in west Orillia and within the rest of the city,” he said. “We’ve still got capacity to grow the rest for the next 25 years or so.”
When asked about his longevity in politics, and his decision to continue serving the community on council until age 82, Emond said he was not the type of person to simply engage in leisure activities following his retirement from consulting.
“What happens when you work full time and dedicate a lot of your energy and effort to what you’re doing, when you stop doing that? I’m not a golfer. I wasn’t into those kinds of things,” he said of his return to office in 2014. “I started looking around, saying, ‘What am I going to do?’”
“When I ran in 2014, I said, look, if I can do anything for our community, it will be to try to replicate in the future what we did when I was the mayor, which is to do some things that will have a positive impact on Orillia going forward,” he said.
One such positive impact, Emond said, is the city’s recent deal with Hydro One to bring a regional control centre and provincial warehouse to the city.
“Hydro One had approached the city on several occasions over the last 10 years, 15 years, and we had rejected until they came to the city this time,” he said.
He noted council had rejected Hydro One’s offers until they could strike a deal that would bring predictable energy costs and jobs to the area.
“By the time we finished those negotiations that took 18 months, we had a deal that had wonderful benefits for Orillia,” he said.
Although Emond has enjoyed serving the public, he said it has not come without challenges.
He pointed out the rise of social media and the city’s decision to close its worn-out, former recreation centre in the 1980s as two of many challenges he has faced while in office.
“I don’t mind people being opposed to my point of view — in fact, I enjoy the debate. You’ll see that I’ve changed my mind on a number of issues because, you know, information comes to light, and that’s good, but social media, I think, has harmed us in many ways,” he said.
“The vileness, the absolute inconsiderateness of some of the people who comment is something that I’ve found very hard to deal with.”
The closure of the Orillia’s old recreation centre cost the city a number of opportunities in athletics, Emond said.
“As a result, the Mariposa Skating School left Orillia to move to Barrie, and folks like Brian Orser, who trained here with the school and skated here, were global athletes and, you know, gave Orillia a cache in that whole area, we lost,” he said.
Emond said Orillia faces a number of challenges today, as well. Notably, he pointed to the need for the city to expand and balance urban sprawl with intensification.
“The biggest challenge we face immediately is that the province has laid out a growth plan in which we have no option. It’s not within the municipality’s power to say, ‘Sorry, we’re not going to grow,’ nor is it morally right for us to do that,” he said.
“(The challenge is) balancing that very legitimate concern for stopping urban sprawl with intensification, but balancing that against the fact that there are neighbourhoods within our community that, every single time an intensification project gets close to them, they are raised up in arms.”
However, Emond has decided to pass the torch to someone else.
He and his wife now have plans to spend the colder months of the year in Mexico, following decades as professionals.
“My wife closed up her law practice this past year at the end of the year, and she’s now fully retired,” Emond said. “As long as our health maintains and we feel good about it, we’ll probably spend three or four months (per year) in Mexico, when it’s cold here.”
Moe is set to speak in the city of Yorkton about affordability measures this morning before travelling to the nearby village of Theodore for an event with the local Saskatchewan Party candidate.
NDP Leader Carla Beck doesn’t have any events scheduled, though several party candidates are to hold press conferences.
On Thursday, Moe promised a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected.
The NDP said the Saskatchewan Party was punching down on vulnerable children.
Election day is Oct. 28.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is promising a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected, a move the NDP’s Carla Beck says weaponizes vulnerable kids.
Moe made the pledge Thursday at a campaign stop in Regina. He said it was in response to a complaint that two biological males had changed for gym class with girls at a school in southeast Saskatchewan.
He said the ban would be his first order of business if he’s voted again as premier on Oct. 28.
It was not previously included in his party’s campaign platform document.
“I’ll be very clear, there will be a directive that would come from the minister of education that would say that biological boys will not be in the change room with biological girls,” Moe said.
He added school divisions should already have change room policies, but a provincial directive would ensure all have the rule in place.
Asked about the rights of gender-diverse youth, Moe said other children also have rights.
“What about the rights of all the other girls that are changing in that very change room? They have rights as well,” he said, followed by cheers and claps.
The complaint was made at a school with the Prairie Valley School Division. The division said in a statement it doesn’t comment on specific situations that could jeopardize student privacy and safety.
“We believe all students should have the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe and welcoming learning environment,” it said.
“Our policies and procedures align with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.”
Asked about Moe’s proposal, Beck said it would make vulnerable kids more vulnerable.
Moe is desperate to stoke fear and division after having a bad night during Wednesday’s televised leaders’ debate, she said.
“Saskatchewan people, when we’re at our best, are people that come together and deliver results, not divisive, ugly politics like we’ve seen time and again from Scott Moe and the Sask. Party,” Beck said.
“If you see leaders holding so much power choosing to punch down on vulnerable kids, that tells you everything you need to know about them.”
Beck said voters have more pressing education issues on their minds, including the need for smaller classrooms, more teaching staff and increased supports for students.
People also want better health care and to be able to afford gas and groceries, she added.
“We don’t have to agree to understand Saskatchewan people deserve better,” Beck said.
The Saskatchewan Party government passed legislation last year that requires parents consent to children under 16 using different names or pronouns at school.
The law has faced backlash from some LGBTQ+ advocates, who argue it violates Charter rights and could cause teachers to out or misgender children.
Beck has said if elected her party would repeal that legislation.
Heather Kuttai, a former commissioner with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission who resigned last year in protest of the law, said Moe is trying to sway right-wing voters.
She said a change room directive would put more pressure on teachers who already don’t have enough educational support.
“It sounds like desperation to me,” she said.
“It sounds like Scott Moe is nervous about the election and is turning to homophobic and transphobic rhetoric to appeal to far-right voters.
“It’s divisive politics, which is a shame.”
She said she worries about the future of gender-affirming care in a province that once led in human rights.
“We’re the kind of people who dig each other out of snowbanks and not spew hatred about each other,” she said. “At least that’s what I want to still believe.”
Also Thursday, two former Saskatchewan Party government members announced they’re endorsing Beck — Mark Docherty, who retired last year and was a Speaker, and Glen Hart, who retired in 2020.
Ian Hanna, a speech writer and senior political adviser to former Saskatchewan Party premier Brad Wall, also endorsed Beck.
Earlier in the campaign, Beck received support from former Speaker Randy Weekes, who quit the Saskatchewan Party earlier this year after accusing caucus members of bullying.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan‘s provincial election is on Oct. 28. Here’s a look at some of the campaign promises made by the two major parties:
Saskatchewan Party
— Continue withholding federal carbon levy payments to Ottawa on natural gas until the end of 2025.
— Reduce personal income tax rates over four years; a family of four would save $3,400.
— Double the Active Families Benefit to $300 per child per year and the benefit for children with disabilities to $400 a year.
— Direct all school divisions to ban “biological boys” from girls’ change rooms in schools.
— Increase the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit to $15,000 from $10,000.
— Reintroduce the Home Renovation Tax Credit, allowing homeowners to claim up to $4,000 in renovation costs on their income taxes; seniors could claim up to $5,000.
— Extend coverage for insulin pumps and diabetes supplies to seniors and young adults
— Provide a 50 per cent refundable tax credit — up to $10,000 — to help cover the cost of a first fertility treatment.
— Hire 100 new municipal officers and 70 more officers with the Saskatchewan Marshals Service.
— Amend legislation to provide police with more authority to address intoxication, vandalism and disturbances on public property.
— Platform cost of $1.2 billion, with deficits in the first three years and a small surplus in 2027.
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NDP
— Pause the 15-cent-a-litre gas tax for six months, saving an average family about $350.
— Remove the provincial sales tax from children’s clothes and ready-to-eat grocery items like rotisserie chickens and granola bars.
— Pass legislation to limit how often and how much landlords can raise rent.
— Repeal the law that requires parental consent when children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school.
— Launch a provincewide school nutrition program.
— Build more schools and reduce classroom sizes.
— Hire 800 front-line health-care workers in areas most in need.
— Launch an accountability commission to investigate cost overruns for government projects.
— Scrap the marshals service.
— Hire 100 Mounties and expand detox services.
— Platform cost of $3.5 billion, with small deficits in the first three years and a small surplus in the fourth year.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct .17, 2024.
