West Carleton-March: Patacairk — We deserve a city that will encourage the uniqueness of our rural wards

The Citizen invited candidates in the Oct. 24 municipal election to share their thoughts:

My name is Greg Patacairk and I am the Ward 5 candidate who has the proven leadership and proven results in West Carleton-March. I am your dedicated and passionate community advocate for our ward and our city.

Some of my awards include the Brian Kilrea Award for Excellence in Coaching, the Governor General’s Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers, and the Ottawa Fire Chief’s Commendation Award. I have also been a leader in teams that have received both the Emergency Management Exemplary Service Award and the Community Builder of the Year award from the United Way. You can read more at my website, http://gregpatacairk.ca.

I was born and raised in Ottawa and live in the West Carleton-March ward with my wife and have two adult children. I’ve had several careers. I’ve worked in high-tech for more than 20 years. I am currently a designer and project manager for a large telecommunications company. Prior to my work in high-tech, I worked in the building trades.

I am the president of the Dunrobin Community Association (15 years service); am a co-founder of sports programs for participants in adaptive programming (formerly known as special needs programming); and am the co-founder of West Carleton Disaster Relief, an organization that was boots-on-the ground during the tornado and flooding events in our ward.

I believe our ward needs people with both the right ideas and extensive service experience to be at the council table.

I will continue to advocate for better sports facilities. I’ve helped build and repair the sports infrastructure across West Carleton-March. I promise to continue to be an advocate for healthy recreation and sports facilities for our community and city.

I am running for election because West Carleton-March deserves a city that will provide the best value for money for all residents: a city that is serious about serving its constituents; a city that will encourage balanced influence from all parties and a city that will encourage the uniqueness of our rural wards.

We all want a city that provides safe and reliable infrastructure, better roads and snow ploughing services; and a city that focuses on our quality of life by preserving our existing green spaces, farmland, and grows its support for our local farmers. I want to ensure that the city’s new Official Plan is implemented. After 2+ years of city-wide planning we must have proper and sustained focus on our plan.

Residents know that I will defend the needs of my ward’s residents if these plans are changed in a way that impacts our ward, threatens our ability to commute, or infringes on our villages. Our city needs the predictability of the Official Plan to know what is expected in the next 25 years.

I am a volunteer, a bridge builder and a community defender. I will continue to work hard for you and believe that you should lend me your support for this election on Oct. 24. Thank you.