Goderich councillor Matt Hoy is running against Acting Mayor Myles Murdock to become mayor of the town in this month’s municipal election.
Hoy says he has seven specific issues and the one topping his list is health care.
“We have a quickly growing community and we need a healthcare system in place to support that. We are going to need a new hospital. That’s a Provincial responsibility, but the bricks and mortar really have to come, for the most part, out of public dollars,” Hoy said.
Hoy added infrastructure is also a major issue.
“We seriously need to take care of what we have. We have some major infrastructure work to do below the ground on the Square. We need to have a plan in place for how we’re going to do that, similar to what other small municipalities around us have done when they’ve had to rebuild their downtown core,” Hoy said.
Hoy says climate change is another serious concern. He suggests that every decision council makes should be made with climate change in mind. He added the community needs to be prepared for some of the extreme weather events that come with climate change. Hoy also points to the critical need for geared to income housing, the need to embrace diversity and make residents and visitors welcome in Goderich. Hoy also says it’s not realistic to expect taxes to go down, but council should do what it can to minimize any tax increases.
