After four terms as a councillor, Terry Shortt is taking his second run at the mayor’s seat with a campaign focused on tourism, economic development, and managing growth.

Mr. Shortt ran for mayor in 2022. His priorities, he says, remain the same. “I’m committed to the same issues, because nothing much has changed,” he says. 

“Tourism is our biggest industry. And it needs to be expanded. 

“Making the County’s history and heritage part of tourism, maintaining cultural heritage, just sort of goes hand in hand with that.”

He points to South Bay’s maritime history and Demorestville’s historic logging industry, saying there is an opportunity to create tours. Expanding tourism would help strengthen the County’s economy and tax base.

“We have to come up with creative ways to strengthen the tax base without harming the population. The only way to do that is to increase business. And in our case, as far as semi-immediate answers, tourism is the only key. It’s basically our only industry.”

But four-season tourism presents a challenge. “The County may never see four-season tourism. We don’t have any mountains to ski. We haven’t had that much snow in the last 10 years. The ice, because of the climate, is a problem.”

Mr. Shortt also wants the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) expanded to include Sandbanks Provincial Park, which attracts a million visitors a year.

He supports continuing to give Visit the County and Stay PEC their existing portion of the tax, but notes a different allocation would be necessary if Sandbanks were included.

“Our part of it needs to go to infrastructure. And as far as what the other organizations do with their half, it should go into a fund to help develop new tourism ideas,” he said. “We’re over-advertised as it is.”

The municipality should receive the majority of the tax, he says, because tourists use local infrastructure.

“They travel the roads. They drink the water. They use our infrastructure. And they don’t pay anything for it.

“So if we’re going to be exploited, we need to be paid for it.”

Employment is another of Mr. Shortt’s economic concerns, particularly when it comes to attracting younger residents. “We basically have no employment. Because we have no employment and we’ve closed schools, there is no attraction for young people to move here.

“That’s where increasing the tourism, increasing the tours, would hopefully increase jobs. You need jobs to bring young people in.”

He said attracting industry has been a goal since 2000, but the County has struggled to compete with communities closer to Highway 401.

“Belleville, Trenton, Napanee all have thriving industrial parks, which they are continuing to develop, and they’re on the 401. So they tend to attract the industry.”

Yet Mr. Shortt’s economic focus comes with a call to control the pace of development.

“We need to slow things down and make sure the development matches the area.”

Mr. Shortt says there is already enough approved development on the books and that, if permitted under the current Provincial Planning Statement, he would put a moratorium on large-scale development.

“The communities are being built, but the infrastructure is still lagging.”

He pointed to a subdivision across from Birdhouse City where every house requires a booster pump because of inadequate water pressure.

“If that subdivision is lacking in water pressure, what’s going to happen with the new subdivisions?”

While noting there is not enough water in Picton to supply even existing development, Mr. Short is against much of the proposed new waterworks infrastructure. “I don’t support the linking of Wellington to Picton.”

He would keep two water plants because, he says, the municipality does not know which community will develop faster. 

In Picton, he suggests moving the intake farther into the Bay to improve water quality.

He also questioned the proposed $255-million cost of a single regional water system, saying the 5,200 ratepayers would bear much of the resulting debt.

“These projects always exceed their estimated cost. It could easily become $340 million.”

Mr. Shortt draws from his four terms on council, as well as his 33 years running Terry Shortt Electrical Services Ltd. as evidence of his leadership experience.

“I think that with that experience, I can run a cohesive council.”