Tom Scott thinks the issues which led to the Inwood firefighters resigning can be sorted out.
The 67 year-old former Alvinston councillor who is retired from working in the plants in Sarnia’s Chemical Valley is running for mayor of Brooke-Alvinston. He says it is the biggest issue of the election.
Scott says the firefighters should not have resigned. “There are a lot of young ones there that still want to be firefighters.” Scott says if he’s elected, he would sit down with the 16 firefighters individually to “and see how they feel because right now I think they’re being bullied into it….if you get half of them back, it would be a big improvement.”
Scott is also concern the new provincial government is going to start amalgamating municipalities, which could cause more headaches.
Scott believes Brooke-Alvinston would likely end up in a regional government with Enniskillen and Petrolia. “We’re being swallowed up, there’s no doubt. I don’t know if it will be in my lifetime.”
Scott says the last round of amalgamation was forced by the province and that may happen again. “I’d hate to be on the bad end of it.”
Scott is also concerned about the Alvinston Optimist proposed addition to the arena. He says the municipality doesn’t have money to contribute.
“And I think Mr. Ford has made it clear there are not going to be a whole lot of funds coming forward.
And he’s concerned about ongoing costs. “We’re having a hard time maintaining what we have now with the funds we have.”