BIOGRAPHY
My name is Jamie McCallum. I’m a resident of Belgrave, where i have lived for my lifetime. I live there with my three children and consider Morris-Turnberry a great place to live, work and play.
I have served two terms of council for Morris Turnberry and during that time have chaired the Coalition for Huron Injury Prevention in 2013 and 2019, been part of presentations to the provincial government to help fund capital assets that we have a stake in, and have worked with different levels of government to increase starter home money in order to get young people into homes. At meetings or negotiations, I don’t speak for the sake of hearing my own voice; I speak to make a difference and want to stay on topic. I have worked diligently during budget time with council and staff to keep tax increases as low as we can while continuing to have enough to maintain our infrastructure and operations. If re-elected, this will not change. In the community, I am involved in the management of the Wingham Ironmen, coach minor sports, chaired my hometown’s homecoming celebration, chaperoned many school trips, and have supported events in my community for many years.
ISSUES
The housing shortage is the biggest issue facing the upcoming council. I worked with MMAH and county staff to help increase funding for first home buyers which is a good start but more needs to be done. We need shovels in the ground to get developments going whether it be subdivisions, housing units or business expansion. This gets people into houses, creates jobs and makes our businesses stronger all of which broadens our tax base.
Asset management is going to become bigger as time goes on. During this past term, I was part of the presentation to get funding for the Brussels arena, which the municipality partially owns. That presentation as well as the hard work of the community sees an asset that we would have had to pay for a new roof for a little less than what our share of the total renovation. As a municipality, we need to take advantage of any and all grants to ensure the upkeep for our current infrastructure and to take advantage of any programs that can help get this done.
The municipality needs to work better with it’s municipal neighbours. With that being said, it takes two parties to work together and I would like to spearhead in-person meetings to work out our differences for the betterment of the people of northern Huron County. The time is now and this needs to be done.
People also want to know that they have fair representation whether they are in the far north, the far south or anywhere in between. During my time on council, I have made myself available to hear people’s concerns or thoughts no matter where they are from in the municipality and I would like to continue to be that voice of the people.
