A little more than one year after the 2022 municipal election, BradfordToday reached out to the nine members of Bradford West Gwillimbury (BWG) council to ask them to reflect on their accomplishments and challenges so far, as well their priorities for the remainder of the term.
This is the fifth article in a five-part series that shares their responses. Today, in the final instalment, they answer the following question: What is your top priority for the remaining three years and why?
Mayor James Leduc
Council’s strategic priorities define our priorities over the term. Some of the projects that I would personally like to see and am most excited about are the town hall, the reorganization of the corporation, the ongoing development of our 400 employment lands, and continuing to support the province in completing the Highway 400-404 Link (Bradford Bypass). These projects are imperative to the transformation of Bradford West Gwillimbury into a successful community that residents are proud to call home, businesses are happy to do business in, and future generations choose to build roots in.
Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu
- Being fiscally responsible with taxpayers’ money and continuing to provide them with services they expect from their town
- Working with the provincial government to ensure the Bradford Link is completed
- Completing the town hall, community hub, youth centre, etc.
- Continuing work on safety and traffic issues in our town
Ward 1 Coun. Cheraldean Duhaney
- Continue to engage, listen and bring forward residents’ concerns to council
- Continue to build “A Growing Tradition” of the great Bradford community that is accessible and meets the needs of our diverse community
- Building infrastructure
- Continue to work with all levels of government to improve the community safety and well-being of the town
Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott
I feel we’ve advanced a lot of important projects, but the big three that I know are immensely popular and anticipated remain for us to push forward are:
- Transforming Holland Street into a shopping and dining destination like downtown Newmarket, with wider sidewalks for pedestrians, a tree-lined public realm and more efficient traffic flow around town
- The revitalization of 125 Simcoe Rd. into a central park, with a civic hub, town hall and rec centre to serve the older end of town
- Finally, we also need to (enhance) our riverfront and canal trails system so we can have more recreation and people can enjoy our beautiful natural environment
Ward 3 Coun. Ben Verkaik
We have a lot of great things to accomplish in our strategic plan and in many of our master plans such as the Leisure Services Master Plan, Asset Master Plan, Fire Master Plan, Transportation Master Plan, etc. We need to wisely prioritize what we do and do them in the right order so that we mitigate growth related challenges and keep property taxes affordable. We need to affordably make Bradford West Gwillimbury a better place to live.
Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano
After addressing, completing or building upon all of my campaign promises, my continued goals are to always improve the ward and town, look for more innovative solutions and work together to drive more value for families.
Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine
Speed mitigation and correcting bad driving behaviour is council’s top strategic priority and my personal priority for the remainder of the term.
Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper
I am so happy we have already obtained the largest safety initiative in Bradford West Gwillimbury’s history thus far, but there is so much more to do. We have the traffic mitigation strategy which will deliver a unique tooling and guiding aspect for all safety in BWG. We have Line 8 which is desperate to be upgraded with sidewalks and a light at Professor Day Drive and Line 8. If we can make things safer for our residents living in the town they love, and pay for, this will be an institutional and monumental four-year term.
Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie
I am looking forward to seeing the completion of Luxury Park upgrades, and the continuation of road improvements in Ward 7, including Fred Cook Drive, Luxury Avenue, Kulpin Avenue, Agar Avenue and Davey Boulevard, among others.
If you missed the fourth part of the series and want to see what each council members said was unique about this term compared to others, read it here.
