THE IRON SKILLET "SPEECH"

On September 16th, 2026, The Iron Skillet Restaurant invited the new candidates to a Meet & Greet. Great event. Great food. Great vibe. Moderator Dave Morrison kept the candidates moving along, and as a candidate, I am grateful to owners Gerry Trotter and Patrick Smith for hosting a community event. Here's what I had to say:

THE KIND OF POLITICS I BELIEVE IN

Disagreement without division.

Thank you to Dave Morrison and The Iron Skillet for inviting us “newbies” here tonight (September 16^th, 2026) and for giving us an opportunity to introduce ourselves to the community.

This is valuable—not just because we get two minutes to speak, but because we have an opportunity to meet one another, share ideas and begin conversations.

So, for my two minutes, I'm going to do something a little different. I'm not going to talk about my campaign priorities tonight.

Instead, I want to talk about the people standing in this room. Some of you I’ve had the opportunity to meet over coffee and have exciting and enthusiastic conversations about what we dream of for the next four years.

We've been doing our homework—researching, learning, talking to residents and, of course, reading social media.

We've read some things that made us smile.  We've read some things that made us think.

And we've read some things that made us wonder if we might have chosen a different vocation—or if there might have been easier ways to spend our evenings.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one.

But that's part of putting ourselves forward for public office.  Once you put your name on the ballot, you have to be prepared to hear opinions you don't like.  And that's okay.

Disagreement is part of democracy.

Democracy can be messy.

What matters is how we disagree.

We come from different backgrounds, careers and life experiences. We don't agree on everything—and we shouldn't.

But we were taught the rules of good sportsmanship by our parents, our teachers, our teams and our different work experiences.

You can compete without tearing down the person you're competing against.

Some of us will find ourselves sitting around the Council table together.

So, let's be the candidates who prove that we can disagree without becoming divided.

Let's ask difficult questions without attacking one another.

Let's listen to different perspectives.

Let's leave the finger-pointing behind.

Because in the end, we're all trying to make Wasaga Beach a better community.

I wish each of you good luck during these long and sometimes challenging days

The voters will decide who gets the seats.