Page 18 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 92

18 Issue #92 September 2020 www.sportsenergynews.com

Casey Leger goes 1 -1 with our Local members of council

Interview with Interview with

Claude McIntosh Kristen Gardner

The fall election of 2018 put Kirsten Gardner, Deputy Mayor for the Municipality
“When it comes to job satisfaction, there is nothing more rewarding than being able to help The fall election of 2018 put Kirsten Gardner , Deputy Mayor for the Municipality
a resident with a problem, sometimes with something as simple as putting them in touch with of South Dundas, into office for the first time. She also sits on County Council for

the right department or person,” says Cornwall City Councillor Claude McIntosh. However, SD&G. “I’ve had an interest in politics, people, and making a difference my whole
for this two-term councillor, helping his constituents is just a small part of what local politics life,” she says.
is all about.
Born in Montreal, now 49-year-old Kirsten Gardner did most of her growing up in
Born in Cornwall on Oct. 22, 1945, McIntosh, now 74 years old, calls himself a ‘product’ of
Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School’s class of ‘65. He retired in 2012 after 43 years in South Stormont. “Having worked in South Dundas, my husband and I decided to raise
the newspaper business, starting out as a “cub” reporter at the Standard Freeholder. He worked our daughter in Morrisburg,” she explains.

in Chatham, Sarnia, and Windsor, serving as sports editor, city editor, and associate editor/ The Deputy Mayor brings considerable experience to her office. “Last year, after
columnist. almost a decade in various leadership roles with the Provincial Government, I decided
“My return to Cornwall and the S-F was a diversion,” McIntosh explains. “I was on my way to pursue two of my passions – my community and mental health,” Gardner says. “I
to the Montreal Star sports department (to cover college sports) when I was ‘deployed’ to the am currently an instructor delivering Mental Health First Aid, a course by the Mental

S-F to fill the sports editor vacancy on a temporary basis. The job morphed into permanent Health Commission of Canada.”
position. I’ve never regretted the move,” he says.
Her career background also includes roles facilitating a program that helped people
Encouraged by Denis Thibault, who had just retired from council, and former mayor and on Ontario Works return-to-work. Gardner was also a manager with the St. Lawrence

MP, Ed Lumley, McIntosh first ran in the 2012 municipal election, finishing second overall. Parks Commission. “I currently sit on the River Institute Board,” she says, “and have

He was re-elected in 2018. “I do not plan to seek re-election,” he says. “I have enjoyed the held board positions on the EOHU, the Police Services Board, and the United Way of
experience but feel that eight years is enough. It is a big commitment.”
SD&G.”
McIntosh spent a large part of his newspaper career covering politics. “I had a pretty good Gardner has also worked on many community projects over the years, some that
handle on the nuts and bolts of the political game at the grass roots level,” he says. “My news
background gave me a lot of experience in dealing with the public.” are still evident today, like the historical murals in South Dundas. Twenty years ago,
she worked on the Save the Train Project, and now she’s at it again. “This time, I get
Councillor McIntosh professes to have always had an interest in politics, especially at the to work with my son, Gardner who is the current president,” she says. “I was the ARC
municipal level. “I always believed that a city council was akin to an iceberg,” he explains. member for Morrisburg Public School during the school closure review, and I have
“What the public sees is just the tip of the process. Most of the work is behind the scenes, much
of it on council committees; the televised twice-a-month regular meetings are ‘show time’. I volunteered as a victim services responder with VCARS of SDG.”
find committee work the most rewarding part of the job.” Changing the negative view that some people have about politicians is one of the

There are a few issues that McIntosh has found particularly important for Cornwall City things that prompted Gardner to run for office. “I believe that leadership is about
Council over his two terms. Working with Akwesasne to obtain local harbour lands from the listening, connecting, and then action,” she explains. “I also believe that communities
Federal Government is one project he worked on. “It was a long, drawn-out process that required deserve a conversation about the things that matter most to them. I want to be part of
a lot of spade work, but it got done,” he says. “Now that we own the lands with Akwesasne, the the conversations that impact everyone, and with a young family - my daughter is 8 -
challenge is to develop the asset and fold it into the overall waterfront development scheme. try to leave things better than I found them.”
The process has gone a long way in cementing a good relationship with Akwesasne, which, She adds that she is passionate about people, community, and communication, and
when one considers how much Akwesasne residents contribute to our economy, is important.”
is willing to listen and dialogue to come to the best decisions. “I will passionately fight

Another accomplishment McIntosh mentions, is helping to reform the grants to outside for what’s right,” she says.
agencies process which, he says, had become the proverbial political football at budget time. “I
was happy to serve on the ad hoc committee with Todd Bennett and Dean Hollingsworth which Solving problems, working with people, and giving a voice to residents who feel

worked with administration on new streamlined guidelines that took the air out of the political they aren’t being heard are rewarding aspects of holding office, according to Gardner.
football,” he says. “Finding common ground and providing reasoning is also rewarding,” she says.
Finally, reviewing and restructuring the public venues naming policy is currently on the As for challenges, she feels there is often confusion around how municipal leaders
agenda. make decisions and about the items that they can or cannot change, or just how
McIntosh says he has been pleasantly surprised by the abundance of talent in the ranks government works in general and which level of government is responsible for what.
of administration. “The taxpayers (and council) are well-served by this outstanding dedicated Would Kirsten Gardner consider running for a different office? “I tend to gravitate

group,” he says of the City.
to issues or areas that I’d like to work on to make better,” Gardner says. “Given my
As for challenges, he feels the biggest for any council comes at budget time when needs and background as a public servant and community leader, I would definitely consider

services clash with a growing wish list and the need to keep property taxes as low as possible. leading at the provincial level.”

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