Affordability is 'the tide that floats all boats,' says JL Durnford

'I think the crisis of affordability and housing and mental health addictions will define this term of council,' says Durnford, who is seeking re-election in Ward 4 Editor's Note: OrilliaMatters is profiling all the local candidates running in the Oct. 26 municipal election. In ward 4, the candidates are: Maggie Ostler Best, Danny Borzellino, Doug Cooper, Janet-Lynne Durnford (incumbent), Andrew Hill, Tyler Holmes, Tim Lauer (incumbent) and Paula Stewart. Orillia Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford says making progress on complex problems takes time and collaboration. That's why she is running for her second term of council in Ward 4 for the Oct. 26 municipal election. The 58-year-old retired teacher said the learning curve to becoming a councillor is steep, but once you find your footing, it becomes enjoyable, even if it's inspecting ditch work, she joked. "I really enjoy the job. I enjoy meeting my constituents and learning the ins and out of legislation and what councillors can do to shape the city and the future of the city." Originally, Durnford threw her hat into the ring to become mayor, but when former mayor Steve Clarke entered the mayoral race, Durnford withdrew from it. "I didn't want to split the vote. I am very aligned with Steve Clarke on most issues and he is very well regarded and a great leader,' she said. If re-elected as a city councillor, she said she has three main priorities. The first is affordability. "It's a huge issue and goes hand-in-hand with economic development. It's the tide that floats all boats. We have a prosperous city when we have job opportunities. That's how we begin to tackle affordability," she explained. "Municipal taxpayers can't fix what is a provincial and federal problem. This is a systems failure on many fronts. But it doesn't abdicate us of all responsibility. So the question becomes how do we work with other levels of government?" she asked. 'I think the crisis of affordability and housing and mental health addictions will define this term of council," said Durnford. Her second priority is to continue the necessary work of rebuilding and improving Orillia's infrastructure and city services. Thirdly, while core services are essential, Orillia also needs to make the city worth living in by supporting arts and culture, safety, the environment, human rights and democracy, said Durnford. "That means openness, transparency and continuing opposition to strong mayor powers." From this term of council, Durnford is proud of her work on the overdose addiction crisis working group that gathered together social services that serve people with mental health and addiction problems. 'What came out of that is the Community Connection Hub. It is now open. It is a place where anyone can go who needs to access services, housing, mental health, addiction, child care," she said. 'I'm immensely proud of it. It was a lot of work,' she said. However, the work is not done. The Hub still needs sustainable funding for it to become permanent. 'There may be a portion we can fund — we fund Information Orillia — but ideally it needs to come from the county and the province,' she said. Durnford supports the direct sale of Lakehead University land to Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital (OSMH) for the new hospital build, but with the conditions that the money Lakehead receives stays in Orillia and is directed to the Orillia campus expansion and that a new hospital is actually built on the land. 'It's a good thing to have the legal representation of all parties work together. It's a win, win win for everybody,' she said. With regard to the Champlain monument, one of the most controversial subjects this council has dealt with, Durnford said the issue caused a lot of harm to many parties, but she supports pieces of the statue coming back in the long run. 'It can't happen outside of two things — a renewed relationship and a formal relationship with Rama First Nation. We don't have that. We don't have an accord or an understanding between our two municipalities about how we will communicate. What our shared goals are. We need that," she said. Durnford said Orillia also needs to develop a reconciliation action plan with Rama First Nation and First Nations in general and that the Champlain monument must be an educational part of it. "It's going to take time. It is not simple. It's never been simple," she said.