I took your advice and met with Paul Fydenchuk. I wanted to be fair
to both candidates and I come away very impressed with Paul’s depth of
understanding and reflection. He has clearly thought through many of
our issues, and others that I didn’t realize were on anyone’s radar.
He is fiscally responsible yet aware of the needs of the Chelsea
population, but he will not allow our finances to get out of control.
On that front, Chelsea’s debt load now stands at $30 million, yet was
around $2 million when Judy Grant left, Jean Perras’ predecessor. As
Paul says in his Youtube videos, it’s time to take a breath and pay
off some of this debt before we embark on other large projects. This
statement of course leads us to wonder how he would approach the
Meredith Centre. Paul reassures us that the Centre “is going to
happen” (reference the longer version of his handout that can be found
on the link below) but that the cost will “not exceed the level of
funding approved in the referendum”. I liked what he said on water
access, trail protection, the Chelsea village vision, keeping seniors
in the community, the two big development projects, playgrounds, and
other issues, but most importantly, on how he will ensure transparency
for his constituents.

I invite you to read his documents and visit his blog on the Low Down.
If you don’t have the time to view all of his Youtube videos (by the
way, they are short but to the point), I would suggest you look at 3 -
the purple building, Chelsea creek and healing the wounds. Some in
the audience at the all candidates debate wondered out loud why he
wasn’t also running for mayor!

*http://lowdownonline.com/paul-fydenchuk-for-chelsea-quebec-ward-4-councillor/

–Anne Swiderski – Ward 4