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« I’ll/VMBlcse Sale ” ‘ Council candidate seeks fiscal-environmental balance BY SANDRA BOLAN sbolun®yrmg.mm Business interests are always well replesented on council. But what about those of all the other parties affected by such things as growth and the environment? Rene de Vries believes munici- pal councillors should be that other voice. which is why he is running for councillor of Ward 4. This is Mr. de Vries first time running for municipal council. but that is not stopping him from strat- Mr. de Vn'es. 49. along with his wife and two daughters. live in Ward 6. which is represented by Rob Hargrave. who is hoping to winafounh termthisOctober. it to run against was an activist while attending He is not sure Winter and Face- been an issue tor residents Meet- me Sun-mm]: Mag candidates m vindeVries said. “1 university. In particular. he par- book will increase voting. but it ings are split. almost equally tha'syouselecm. mu I special edition ' ‘éQSdgA‘ypril 23 - Sty, Aprijgze, 2014 don’t have anything negative to say against him and I don‘t want to go up against‘im. I don‘t see the purpose. I run to win.” Mr. do Wies chose Ward 4 because he is familiar with that part of town as his church is locat- ed them. Current Ward 4 Councillor Susanne Hilton has not made her intentions for the upcoming elec- tion public. “1 like the mix of people I can repmsent." he said. Mr. de Vries. an environmen- tal geo-scientist. has no previous political experience. although he helped organize last year's inaugu- ral Peace Festival. The native of the Netherlands was an activist while attending university. In particular. he pa:- ticipated in peace demonstrations against adding nuclear missiles to his homeland. Mr. de Vries' platform is still being developed. but he told The Sun~1fibune he wants to focus on balancing fiscal and environmen- tal responsibilities 24.000 MEETS “For many it sounds mutually exclusive. but it doesn‘t have to be." he said. He was quick to point out. how- ever. "I am not an environmental activist". social media electidn. although he doesn‘t discount the imponance of face-to-face discussions. He is not sure “vine! and Face- book will increase voting. but it My. deYries a ELECTION 2014 will get people involved in different ways and might bring other issues to the forefront. He has 24.000.plus tweets in his account about and from a wide variety of sounces. “I like to shine the light on things people should consider and come to their own conclusions on issues.” he said. “I am some- body who liltes to dig deeper and not just look at the surface issues I do encourage people to not read just the mainstream media.” Mr. de Vries is not against elec- tronic voting. in principal. but said security issues need to be wan of Wtchurch-Stouffidfle council meeting times have long been an issue for tesidents Meet- between 'mesdays a! 3 and 7 pm. When it comes to putting cer- tain items on the agenda "it should never be a way to have a meeting to push something through quickly because it's contmwrsial". The municipal election takes place Oct. 27. Also officially running for utfice is Phil Bannon and Justin Altnumn (mayor). Maurice Smith (ward 2). Hugo Kmon (ward 3), Michael Humphreys and Iain luvan (ward 5). loanne Iannuzzi and Rob Ilar- grave (ward 6). [Elizabeth (lruwo (York Region Catholic District School Board ’h'ustee). For more information. go to www.mwnofwxca/elections