Darrin Canniff
- Tell us about yourself.
I was born and raised in Chatham, the youngest of six boys. I am married to Christine (Johns). We have been married for thirty-one years. We have four beautiful children; Chelsea, Megan, Emily and Tyler. I hold a degree in business from Wilfred Laurier University and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation. Prior to being elected as mayor, I held several senior positions with Union Gas, Greenfield Ethanol and Transform SSO.
Community leadership roles have included acting as Chair of the Board of Directors of Entegrus Inc., Chair of Mainstreet Credit Union, Co-chairing the 2018 International Plowing Match, Co-chair the United way of Chatham-Kent Campaign with Christine and past member of the Board of Directors of the Chatham-Kent health Alliance. Some of the community engagement activities I have initiated include the ‘Festival of Giving’, Positivity Day in Chatham-Kent, the Amazing Race Chatham-Kent, the Children’s Concert Series and Crowfest 2022.2. Why are you running in the municipal election?
Serving as mayor for the past four years, I have strived to work collaboratively with council and all individuals, businesses and community groups who seek support. We are experiencing the fruits of all of our efforts and I look forward to continuing and building upon the momentum that has been created.
3. What is the biggest challenge facing Chatham-Kent?
We cannot lose sight of the fact that focusing on business attraction and retention to create new jobs drives a thriving community. We must ensure there is adequate affordable housing available to satisfy the needs of a growing business community. Funding for significant infrastructure projects is always a challenge. Serving individuals and families that are experiencing homelessness or dealing with mental health issues is an evolving issue that demands our attention.4. What do you consider to be Chatham-Kent’s biggest asset?
Chatham-Kent’s biggest asset are the citizens who live here. I have seen them step up again and again to help their community, and the organizations within Chatham-Kent. They are innovative, hard working, caring and inclusive. Chatham-Kent can achieve anything when we work together as a community.
Andy Fisher
- Tell us about yourself.
My name is Andy Fisher, I grew up in Highgate with my mom Gayle and brother Aaron, I also have another brother Stephen, however he did not live with us and he unfortunately passed away when he was 17. I’ve had a difficult life, when I was young we had money and didn’t have many issues, however my mom never had a job and her only income was from my grandpa/baby bonus. When my grandpa died and the funds from his will ran out, times were very hard. Going days without much to eat was normal throughout my childhood, I was always the kid in school who didn’t have an actual real lunch (hotdog sandwiches were a thing). I moved to Chatham when I was about 16-17 with my brother, after our mom lost our house to the bank. Before that there had been several times where we had to be taken in by our godparents, or in some cases sent to foster homes, since our mother continuously had mental health episodes and we were too young to be allowed to stay at the house by ourselves. I lived in London for about 14 months while attending Fanshawe college, that was the first and only time I lived outside CK. During that time I was suffering from very deep depression, I wasn’t sleeping, I was barely eating, I thought about suicide daily. Eventually I stopped going to class because of this, which is why I, unlike my two opponents in this election, do not have a college education. I am thankful for the young doctor on campus and the help of my church and good friends, who helped me overcome what was the darkest year and a half of my entire life. Since then I have bounced back mentally, physically, and financially, I work for a trucking company, I have an excellent boss who is more of a father figure to me than anyone has been since I do not have a dad. My boss was one of the people who convinced me to run for Mayor. I am single, I do not have kids, I’ve never been married, I’ve had a few serious relationships over the years but they weren’t meant to be. I currently reside in the East End of Chatham in a respectable small house which is just big enough for me. I love hockey, fitness, and politics, these are the three things I am passionate about in life.
- Why are you running in the municipal election?
I am running in this election because the things I’ve seen happen during Mayor Canniffs tenure are unacceptable, and when I saw that he did not have a worthy opponent, I decided to be that worthy opponent. I believe that the last two Mayors of CK have not done a good job of providing transparency, and also for giving the taxpayers a proper voice. Issues like the Murray street emergency shelter which were belted out the door without any public input will never happen if I am in office. I firmly believe that if I am elected as Mayor, I can do a much better job of giving the people around me a say when it comes to deciding where their hard earned money goes, and why it goes there. I also want to bring more transparency to city hall, it is currently like pulling teeth when trying to get a line for line budget out of the current city hall members, the only publicly available budgets I can seem to find online are both hard to find, and also seem to have each department lumped into big sums (example we spent this much on the parks department, but doesn’t say what every dollar of their departments budget was actually spent on). This is not the way things should be, taxpayers should be EASILY able to find where their money was spent, and why it was spent there.
- What is the biggest challenge facing Chatham-Kent?
I believe the biggest challenge facing CK are two things which in a way go hand in hand, growth, and the homeless crisis. I feel that cities such as London, Windsor, and Sarnia are leaving CK in the dust when it comes to growth. I feel like if we can start with the very basics, we can compete with our neighbouring cities. Things like actually cutting the grass and making the city look presentable to potential major investors are things that seem to be overlooked in CK. I feel that the more effort we put into making our city and surrounding towns more beautiful, and the more effort and money that is spent on creating more affordable housing, the more we will be desired as a community for major companies to invest in. I feel like if CK can overlook something as simple as allowing weeds and grass to be overgrown on certain streets (my own street resembles a post apocalyptic zombie film with all the weeds on the sidewalk/road) then they can definitely overlook more important issues, such as the homeless crisis, and the lack of high paying careers in CK (I myself and many people I know do not actually work in Chatham and commute in order to make a livable wage). These things need to change. The public needs to have a voice.
- What do you consider to be Chatham-Kent’s biggest asset?
I believe our biggest asset(s) are a few things, the main ones are that we are a very unique community in that we have both an urban city (Chatham) which is fighting every year to compete with surrounding cities, attempting to constantly become more modern and desirable. And we also have a very rural community, filled with equally wonderful people, who work hard, and enjoy the life of the countryman/humble farmer. There aren’t many communities in Ontario that have a very obvious urban and very obvious rural community like CK does and I believe that works, or at least should work, to our advantage when trying to create more growth. Growing up in Highgate and now living in the “big city” of Chatham, I have seen both sides of the coin, and I honestly enjoy both. One of the big things brought up during my campaign thus far has been the rural-urban divide (mainly the deforestation issue) and I honestly don’t see it, I don’t believe there SHOULD be a divide. I believe that CK can be both a modern day urban society, and also a thriving farming community. I believe one of our other assets is definitely our diversity, there are people from countries all over the world and differing cultures who make up CK, we are a melting pot, and I for one think that is awesome, there are people from all walks of life living here, and it’s great to always see more than one cultural background represented at different public events.
(182) YourVote CK: Mayoral Candidate- Andy Fisher – YouTube
William Pickard
- Tell us about yourself.
72 years old, married, 4children (sons) and 3 grandchildren// graduate of U of Windsor (honors BA) and Althouse College of Education (Western)/ wealth of experience in consumer finance, income tax, investment/ and furniture industry
- Why are you running in the municipal election?
Sense of civic duty.
- What is the biggest challenge facing Chatham-Kent?
Open, accountable government with an emphasis on creating jobs in the small business private sector/ no more circus developments
- What do you consider to be Chatham-Kent’s biggest asset?
Biggest asset is the people
(182) YourVote CK: Mayoral Candidate, Bill Pickard – YouTube
