RECENT COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CAMPAIGN
October 6th 2026:
Tourism - Promoting Small Businesses
A major part of my platform is tourism and its role as an economic driver. In my view the City has not fully tapped the enormous potential benefits of tourism. Brockville has immense distinctive and comparative advantages which could make us a premier tourist attraction.
Key tourism attributes include.
- Amazing architectural heritage buildings.
- Our beautiful St. Lawrence River front.
- A historic downtown with unique & interesting shops.
- Facilities eg Arts Centre, Museum , Aquatarium and Fulford Place
- Proximity to Ottawa, located along the Toronto /Montreal corridor.
- Via Rail train service, a small community airport and two international bridges.
I believe the city should be leveraging these advantages to create new tourism-based businesses. Critics will point out that tourism creates modest service jobs, but this ignores the economic vitality new business entrepreneurs bring to the economy. A visit to Merrickville clearly demonstrates how tourism can bring increased vitality to a town.
Enticing manufacturers to set up operations is a desirable goal, however, the challenge is that many of the incentives to attract industry are outside the authority of municipal governments. The levers to promote tourism are however largely within our powers and can be achieved at relatively low cost and will benefit the quality of life of all residents.
Specifically, I would suggest that the City do the following to enhance tourism.
1 Better maintenance of existing downtown infrastructure.
2 Higher priorities should be given to general upkeep and appearance of King Street.eg why not paint lower portions of the streetlight standards? Why such haphazard repairs to paving stones?
3.Increase the hours of the Tourism Info Office. This should never be closed during summer weekends.
4.Continue to improve the integration of our tourism assets. e.g. The Arts Center, the Museum, the Library, the Aquatarium, the Brock trail and Fulford Mansion.
5.Encourage and further promote new and existing festivals such as the Writer’s festival, Culture Days, bring back Riverfest.
These are just a few ideas we can adopt to promote Brockville as a top tier tourist destination. I would advocate that the Tourism Department continue to seek feedback and ideas from stakeholders and residents to develop a new strategic plan to achieve this goal.
Let’s make Brockville a more desirable place to visit and live.
October 2nd 2026:
I had the opportunity to interview with The Recorder and Times. Please click the link below to read.
Ida Duc wants to build on Brockville's strengths - Brockville Recorder and Times
October 1st 2026:
Improved Accountability ,Responsiveness & Access at City Hall
As I meet residents during the course of this election issues related to responsiveness , accountability and access are often raised. Based on this feedback there appears to be a strong desire to elect Councillors who will be true representatives and respond timely to resident concerns. I share this view. Going forward there should be an expectation that citizen inquiries and concerns should be responded to in a timely manner. I appreciate that this has been partly addressed with new service level standards for staff and a new on-line reporting portal ,but much more needs to be done. When I moved here 13 years ago any resident could enter City Hall and talk to various departments staff with ease. Now, partly as a result of Covid measures access to City Hall is restricted with the requirement for advanced appointments. These restrictions on access should be reviewed. This reduced access and lack of an appropriate responsiveness has had the unfortunate affect of leaving residents frustrated and having the view that City Hall has become detached and isolated from the people. Local government is the closest level of government we have and for many the most impactful. I will strive to improve responsiveness , accountability and access and communicate in a timely fashion to all resident inquiries.
September 29th 2026:
Property Taxes
Over the past several weeks I have spoken to many residents to get their opinions on the most pressing issues facing the community. High property taxes and the perceived lack of sufficient financial controls are a common complaint. If elected I will be a fiscal conservative and will not support additional incremental spending unless it can be financed without increasing property tax rates. I will support the selection of a new City Manager that has a very strong financial and accounting background. As mentioned I will not support any "nice to have pet projects". I will treat every tax dollar as if it were my own and have a common sense business like approach to all city expenditures. I will seek fiscal responsibility while maintaining service levels by focusing on efficiencies and an adherence to a zero based budgeting mindset. Major capital projects requiring long term financing should be widely supported by the community with appropriate citizen input . If elected I will bring a balanced business approach to city council deliberations.
September 27th 2026:
Use of AI
Due to recent concerns raised regarding the use of AI in election communications I pledge not to use AI when formulating my communications regarding my platform or responses to any questions. I strongly believe that the use of AI is not an authentic way of communicating especially during an election campaign .
September 22nd 2026:
This Will be a Change Election
As election day approaches I have heard loud and clear that citizens of Brockville are generally dissatisfied with the status quo. With only four incumbents seeking re-election the majority of the next Council will be new. This will bring fresh ideas and new perspectives but will also pose challenges with respect to continuity . The next Council will also be tasked with the selection of a new City Manager .
My volunteer experience with the Heritage Committee , Library Board , Writers Festival, the DBIA and Tourism has given me a firm working knowledge of how City Hall operates . This along with my collaborative leadership style will make me an effective representative on day one.
I will bring a skills set necessary to get citizen priorities not only respected but actually accomplished. I am inclined to be action oriented . I feel leadership all to often engages in excessive analysis whereby things do not get done . I strongly believe in citizen consultation but I do not feel there is appropriate follow-up on such consultations and related expensive consultants reports.
As previously mentioned I will be laser focused on getting specific priorities set by Council done.
Enough with lofty non-specific goals......lets bring accountability to City administration to get tangible results which will lead to a better Brockville .
Thanks for your support and I look forward to getting your thoughts moving forward!