"Quoting Sue Payne"
So for the New to the Beach Welcome and here is a little background to Wasaga Beach Politics
Wasaga Beach became a town in 1974.
In 2001 our population was 12,419 in 2021 it was 24,862
2007 A Fire destroyed Beach 1 Shops and was proved to be arson
2008 The Levy Brothers planned a Disneyland like destination, but this all fell through when they declared bankruptcy. They were charged with fraud in 2012
2008 Canada's largest event dome was erected to host live shows, movies etc. It was destroyed by a storm in 2011 and had to be removed
During this time(2006-2014) some familiar names were on Council Nina Bifolchi, David Foster. George Watson and Stan Wells. During their reign the status quo was achieved, no bold moves, no important infrastructure improvements just business as usual
Since at least 1978 when there was another 'Master Plan' Wasaga Beach has waited impatiently for someone, anyone to be interested in developing Wasaga Beaches Main End Beachfront, a developer who has ideas, experience, financial means and a will to "get it done." Someone who could start the process of making Wasaga Beach a year round destination.
2014 Wasaga Beach Residents voted for change a New Council and a New Mayor.
The Mayor was Brian Smith with a Council of mostly new faces. Unfortunately there was one old face at the table her name was Nina Bifolchi, along with Sylvia Bray these women were to cause disruption and chaos along with their trusted mouth pieces on Social Media, the names of these voices also maybe familiar Alan Clegg the person who gets all contracts for signage in Wasaga Beach and Mark Winegarden who is Sylvia Bray's Husband.
Now it is important to look at how small town politics work. There can be nepotism, favours given, corruption, a click of people who like the power that small town politics hold. Not to mention the money that could be involved. That power would be hard to give up. In the case of Wasaga Beach a tornado of discord was unleashed on this new Council of 2014
Nevertheless Mayor Smith and his Council went ahead with their plan and so a Downtown Master Plan was Developed with the aid of a grant from the Provincial Government, many public meetings were held with much input from residents. Beachfront property was purchased by the Town so we could be in control of our destiny and a developer was chosen in the name of FRAM. All the while Nina and Sylvia and their spokesmen worked tirelessly to undermine this new Council
This brings us to the Wasaga Beach Distribution Inc fiasco
WDI is our hydro distribution facility owned by Wasaga Beach.
Last Council was given the task by the Province to decide whether to sell, grow, or merge the town owned Utility. The Councillors who were displaced when Mayor Smith's Council was voted in 2014-2018 took this piece of information and caused an uproar in town by telling everyone that the utility would be sold and their hydro bills would 'go through the roof' and so on. You would not believe the craziness that ensued. There were riots in council chambers, posters all over the place, a petition that this opposition to council went door to door with, even the Unions were heavily involved.
The truth was that Mayor Smith wanted to make sure the residents understood what these options would mean to Wasaga Beach, so he set up a public meeting giving all sides of this decision, he wanted to have a survey etc. to make sure residents would have all the tools to make an informed decision.
At no time did Mayor Smith say he would or was going to sell the Utility. Due diligence was exercised
And so after all this chaos the Utility is still owned by Wasaga Beach. Mayor Smith's Council voted after much consultation to keep the Utility as was decided by Residents with all the tools to make this decision.
In the end, along with other lies by Nina and Sylvia and their social media soldiers, along with unverifiable on line voting, skewed the voting public to vote this Current Council back in power comprised of Councillors who have been in POWER since 2006 and beyond.
This is the short version and a lot more stuff went on for that 4 years, you get the picture.
So here we are stuck with a Mayor, Deputy Mayor and 4 Councillors who will do anything to stay in power, will sell out Beach 1 to a local builder with no experience of designing a development of this size and complexity. Joe Belanger is the only Councillor who works for the best interests or Wasaga Beach residents.
This current council has undone anything that Mayor Smith set out to achieve threw away the Kiosks, Beach Bar that was to fill the gap while the Beachfront was developed. FRAM was spurned. A library and arena erected during a pandemic with no Government Funding the cost entirely born by the local taxpayer. The Downtown master Plan undone until it is unrecognisable.
The Bilfochi Council is now in negotiations with Bayloc (Baycliffe) a local builder with no experience of this kind of development and no input from residents. indeed we are kept in absolute ignorance of what is being negotiated on our behalf. Not only that the owner of Bayloc supported Mayor Bifolchi's last election campaign with a maximum donation. Is it any wonder there is such dissention in Town. Bifolchi and her team have destroyed what might have been, she is a Mayor who refuses to debate with other potential Mayoral candidates, only reads from a script, is vindictive, and has no leadership qualities whatsoever.
This is just the short version of events in Town please research more as our Municipal election is coming up in October we need to vote this Council out of the power they are so hungry for
Good Resources are The Beach Booster paper. It has a website with all past editions. Issue 192 on page 10 has a more in depth article on where we are today
The Ratepayers Assoc Inc
Good on line resources are:
Wasaga Beach Council Watch with Laura Black- Smith
Wasaga 22,000 Strong and Proud with John Sare
Wasaga Beach Did you Know with Judith Desormeaux and several others
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