Collingwood entrepreneur, Brandon Houston, wants to turn his non-political experience into work at the council table to preserve the town he loves, support its growth, and back up local businesses.
Houston is running for one of seven councillor seats in the Collingwood municipal election this month. He has been a business owner for 18 years and moved to Collingwood in 2015, where he owns and operates multiple businesses, including The Collingwood Foundry, a co-working space and entrepreneur hub.
He was one of 30 Canadian delegates at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance Summit in China in 2016, he co-organized the first TEDx in Collingwood, and was a member of the Collingwood Mayor’s Advisory team on Economic Development and the Collingwood Economic Recovery and Support Task Force struck during the pandemic.
“I’ve always had an interest in municipal politics, specifically, just because I think at the municipal level, that’s the best way to have an impact on the community that you live in,” said Houston. “You can do things that are tangible to the community.”
He sees his work at The Collingwood Foundry and the volunteering he’s been doing to support local businesses and entrepreneurs and participate in local advisory teams as “community building” and his run for council is in the spirit of giving back to a community that has been supportive of him.
“One of the things that I pride myself on being is a collaborative person and a consensus builder, the ability to work well with everybody, even with those who have differing opinions,” said Houston. “And I think we need that at council … to be able to move forward.”
During the seven years Houston has lived in Collingwood, he said he’s seen quick growth and some trends emerge that he considers challenges the municipal council must face.
“One of the big things that everybody is aware of is the challenges that we’re facing on housing,” he said. “I have two employees that moved out of Collingwood, they still work for me … but the affordability here locally, just it’s very challenging for people that make a fair salary, not just lower income. It’s across the board.”
He noted the town’s current housing and affordability situation also spans other issues the town is experiencing, and will require multiple solutions for a multi-faceted problem.
He is happy with the work of the county and town to encourage secondary units in existing properties (like basement apartments or garage lofts).
“I think there’s work to be done on making it easier for property owners to do that,” said Houston. “I also think looking at some more innovative solutions, like tiny homes, co-housing communities, co-living developments, will also help ease some of that pain.”
Another top issue for Houston is support for small businesses in Collingwood.
“Because of the work that I do here, I’ve had lots of conversations with small business owners around the challenges that they face in dealing with the municipality in trying to grow their business,” he said. “Policies and procedures and bylaws exist for a reason, but I think, when we’re dealing with smaller business owners, there has to be some flexibility to make things a little easier for them to get by.”
His experience moving to Collingwood and turning around a business that was struggling has helped him better understand where a municipality can help and support entrepreneurs.
“It brings a different perspective to the table,” he said. “I’m not a politician … I think there’s a lot of value added by having non-politicians at the table.”
Over the next four years, Houston said he hopes the town is moving closer to having a new hospital, to work being done on the Terminals building under the new agreement signed with developers, and repairing local roads. He’d also like to see the town supporting the work of the arts and culture community to get a physical arts and culture centre in Collingwood.
Around the council table, he's calling for better communication between staff and council and from the town to the public.
“We currently have a council that doesn’t always work well together … or with town staff. I think it’s an environment that needs to be addressed,” said Houston. “The reality is a councillor’s role is not to be the expert in the room, it’s to guide policies and affect the change, but then rely on the experts that are in the room, which are town staff.”
When it comes to a councillor’s responsibility, Houston said one of the most important things a politician can do is to be accessible.
“We are really just an avenue for the public to connect with the municipality. We’re there for them,” he said.
Though there are big and difficult issues facing the municipality, there are also decisions Houston said should be relatively simple.
“Our infrastructure and roads … that’s a line item on our budget. I think it’d be fairly easy to take a look at the issues that we have with our current roads and say, ‘here’s a way, here’s what we need to do.’” he said.
There are 12 candidates running for the seven available councillor seats for Collingwood in the 2022 municipal election taking place Oct. 24. The candidates include: Christopher Baines, Steve Berman, Ian Chadwick, George Dickenson, Deb Doherty, Cam Ecclestone, Brandon Houston, Kathy Jeffery, Steve Johns, Steve Perry, Chris Potts, and Rob Ring.
You'll find more local election coverage on CollingwoodToday.ca here.
You can find out if you’re on the voter list by visiting the town website here.
Advance voting starts Oct. 8 with internet or paper ballot voting options available. You can vote at the library in-person starting Oct. 8, or online anytime after Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. Library voting will take place Saturday and Wednesday, Oct. 8-22 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voting will close on election day, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m.
