If you live in West Perth, you don’t need a study to tell you what our roads mean to daily life. They’re how kids get to school, how farm equipment gets from field to field, how ambulances reach a rural home, and how every one of us gets to work. Whether you’re on a street in Mitchell or a concession road at the edge of the township, safe and dependable roads aren’t a luxury — they’re the basics. And the basics deserve proper attention.
If elected, I’ll advocate for two things: proactive road repair schedules, and dependable winter snow-clearing standards. Neither is glamorous. Both matter every single day.
Let’s start with repairs. There’s a big difference between fixing a road on a planned schedule and fixing it in a panic. Reactive patching — waiting until potholes force our hand — feels cheaper in the moment, but it almost never is. A road that’s resurfaced at the right time in its life cycle lasts years longer than one left to crack, heave, and crumble until it needs a full rebuild. Good asset management is boring in the best possible way: inspect regularly, rank roads honestly by condition, publish the plan, and stick to it. That’s how a small municipality stretches every tax dollar further.
Our network isn’t one-size-fits-all, either. Streets in Mitchell deal with curbs, storm drains, sidewalks, and heavy daily traffic. Rural concession roads deal with gravel surfaces, drainage ditches, and farm equipment that needs room to move. A real maintenance plan treats those differently — because they are different — while holding both to the same standard: safe, passable, and maintained on a schedule residents can see and understand.
Winter is where standards get tested. Dependable snow clearing means clear priorities that everyone knows in advance: main routes and school bus routes first, then side streets and concessions, with honest communication when a major storm means delays. Bus companies deciding whether the bus should run, seniors deciding whether it’s safe to get to an appointment, shift workers heading out before dawn — they all deserve to know what to expect and when. When a storm hits, a short public update goes a long way.
Safety goes beyond snow. After two recent fatal collisions at rural intersections in our area, the mayor proposed rumble strips where concession roads meet highways and county roads, and a rural stop-sign and traffic-control review is coming before council. That’s exactly the kind of practical, non-partisan road-safety work I’ll support and push to completion — identify the risky intersections, publish the findings, and fix what the data says to fix.
Here’s my honest position: I know road work competes with every other priority in the budget, and I won’t pretend otherwise. What I will promise is that I’ll push for planning over patching, standards over guesswork, and clear communication when weather wins a round. That’s what dependable looks like.
Drive these roads every day and notice something I’ve missed? Tell me. Your street, your concession, your winter commute — I want to hear about it, and I’ll get back to you.