Ward 1 candidate pushes incentives for small businesses
BY FRANCES WILLICK, THE WINDSOR STAR AUGUST 26, 2010 8:02 PM COMMENTS (4)
A new candidate for Ward 1 says he wants to provide more opportunities for business in the area and privatize more public services.
Matt Ford, 34, has owned a small restoration business in Windsor for the past four years. Before that, he worked at Wal-Mart.
Ward said business owners are burdened by high taxes, licence fees and too much red tape.
“If you make it hard for people to open businesses and make it hard for them to stay in business, you’re not going to have businesses,” he said.
Making business a bigger priority on council will help boost the area's employment rate, he said. “Let’s put our eggs in the basket of small business and business investors,” he said. “You’re not going to create jobs by taking government money and having ribbon-cutting ceremonies.”
The candidate said he’d push for further privatization of public sector jobs, including city landscaping positions. “I’d like to see a lot more contracting out to our taxpaying businesses and citizens. If they are good enough to fund your government with their taxes, then they should have a shot at the work.”
If elected to represent Ward 1, which is bordered by Dougall Avenue, the E.C. Row Expressway and the town of LaSalle, Ford said he’d work to lower water rates, place a moratorium on construction of new subsidized housing units and rein in spending on “wacky” and “irresponsible” expenditures such as the downtown canal proposal and new police services building.
Ford’s website also promotes a voluntary 10 per cent wage reduction for councillors, the termination of benefits for councillors, and no pay increases for municipal employees.
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Campaigns signs are up, literature is out and the response has been excellent!! Windsor is fed-up with the status-quo, the direction of the current Council and the downward spiral of their City.
ReplyDeleteThank you Windsor.