\u201cThe focus for me has always been small business in the community, and coming out of the pandemic, trying to continue to support those business and back on their feet,\u201d said Barton. \u201cThat\u2019s one side for me, the other one is good governance and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that the past two years have seen many small businesses struggling to survive the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a challenge,” he said. “From a staff side, a business is trying to do something, if they\u2019re trying to develop, if they\u2019re trying to grow or expand or if they\u2019re having challenges from whatever direction whatever direction be it financial or otherwise, it\u2019s making sure that staff is accessible from our side to answer questions or provide direction and to help them in whichever way they may be moving. It\u2019s to support them, it\u2019s not to develop policy that\u2019s going to unfairly infringe in what they\u2019re trying to do or prevent from trying to grow and expand. It\u2019s trying to help them move forward.”<\/p>\n
Barton said he is committed to the Vankleek Hill community, as he was born and raised here. Following graduation he did his post-secondary studies and worked in various cities in Canada for studies before returning home, which he thinks gives him a diverse background useful to council.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make sure we\u2019re making good decisions as we move forward,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is so many challenges and I\u2019m trying to get the experience, continue to develop the experience to be able to provide that. I think I do have that with my diverse background so hopefully I\u2019ll have the opportunity to get back in and help the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barton believes it is important for council to communicate with staff and work with members of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil members and councillors aren\u2019t experts, we\u2019re the representatives of the community that get to make policy decisions but we need to rely on the experts,\u201d he said. \u201cIn my opinion, a good councillor has the ability to take in information and deal with different things.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are at present no challengers for any of the council seats in Champlain Township. All candidates will be elected by acclamation if there are no new registered candidates by August 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Champlain Township councillor Peter Barton seeks reelection in the ward of Vankleek Hill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politique"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"\n