Public Safety

Continued consultation with C.N. regarding improvements to the crossing will help. Quite zones can be established, but not by only one interest; the Municipality. If improvements are made to the signaling system, the Municipality and C.N. can agree to a quiet zone, but that will only apply to a specific crossing or area.

I would request to reexamine the possibility of improvements to the signaling system and request a "Quiet zone" be established during overnight hours, when road traffic is minimal.

Argh, not sure what happened. I really try to answer these as soon as I get them.

I'm more than willing to entertain options. But saftey would be the number one consideration. If the same level of safety is maintained then it would come down to cost.

I'm fine with a study.

Yes, I support stopping the train whistles at the 3rd Line crossing. The crossing already has arms, bells, and lights, and other towns on this rail line have done it. Tottenham families shouldn't be kept up all night. If elected, I'll push council to get the process started with Transport Canada and the railway, and get it done.

Hi there ad thank you for the question. I have had similar questions from Ward 2 residents who are disturbed by the train whistle late at night. Just today, I sent out an email to staff and council requesting additional information on what we can do about this. So long as stringent safety measures are met, the Town can appeal to the railway for whistle cessation at certain hours, at certain crossings. It requires the support of the railway and of Town Council. As I already have this ball rolling, yes, I would support this and have already taken steps to make the change.

I do not believe licenses are currently required. There is a large hole in the "rules" involving E scooters and bikes. The products have speed limiters, which are often overruled. legally, you must be 16 or older to use an e-scooter, and helmets are required under 18. Over 18, they are "suggested" . Parents should strongly reconsider purchasing these for their kids, and if they choose to purchase them, must also purchase appropriate head protection. But we know some parents won't, and some riders will ride in an irresponsible manner.

E bikes and scooters are not allowed on Municipal property. On roadways, they are a risk to the users and drivers. On sidewalks they are a risk to pedestrians. In bike lanes, they also post a risk to pedal bike riders.

Municipalities have the option to "opt -in" and establish bylaws which can ban use of scooters and bikes on municipal property (including roads, trails, sidewalks), but generally, these are Provincial issues, and Municipalities do not have the power to issue license requirements.

Many E bike users do so to commute to and from their employment and operate the items in a responsible manner.

This is a complicated issue in that the products arrived quickly and before thoughtful legislation could be established.

Establishing a license will be

Council has engaged with OPP multiple times regarding e-scooters. Most recently we passed a motion asking OPP to do a blitz for education and enforcement. Our bylaw department doesnt have the ability to pull over vehicles/scooters. I will be discussing this issue with OPP again as soon as the new council is elected. I agree we need more regulations which should come from the Province so engaging with our MPP is necessary as well. Thanks for the question.

If they have no pedals, they’re considered a motor vehicle and will be charged according to the motor vehicle act. Which means you need a drivers license and you need insurance. If they have pedals then they’re considered a bike, but you have a maximum speed limit allowed. Electric scooters do not have pedals therefore they are a motor vehicle.

I think at some point these modes of transportation will be legal with a driver’s license. The first thing we need to do is keep them off our sidewalks and we need to improve our view for motor vehicles when they come to stop signs because the scooters are hard to spot when they’re travelling at 40 km an hour on a sidewalk.

E-bikes and scooters go too fast — I don't like them at all. Parents need to be held accountable when the rider is under 16, and riders over 16 should be fined and treated like any other motor vehicle breach. We need more police enforcement on these.

Safety concerns require actions.

Ontario laws require riders to be aged 16 or older, wear an approved helmet and follow the same rules of the road as other cyclists.

You can not ride on municipal roads, sidewalks, bike paths where prohibited etc.

Laws and Bylaws are in place. On a related side note, we have laws prohibiting handheld devices while driving; but it happens too often.

Teenagers and children test boundaries which they identify by observing the adults around them.

So we need to bring the consequences to the parents so the are able to take corrective action. We are all responsible for the examples that we are and can show good behavior or the results of poor choices. Adults have to be grown up and not expect the government to teach responsible behaviors.

Where the adults (parents) are allowing risk, there are corrective measures that can be taken.

But before we criticize we must examine the options. How do we expect the kids to get around? Without busses or safe paths to use, just crossing the street is a risky exercise.

We need to give them a better way to get to places safely. Please share any ideas you have on how we can do it better. Accessible transportation that works in all seasons.

Hi there. Thanks for the question. The current council had approved a zero tolerance policy for ALL motorized e-bikes and e-scooters in New Tecumseth.

E-Scooters are banned entirely from all streets, sidewalks and trails. No exceptions.

E-Bikes (unmodified) are banned from sidewalks, in-boulevard multi-use trails and parks, but permitted on roads and bicycle lanes so long as the rider meets the minimum requirements, including being over 16 years old, wearing a helmet, and keeping the device in good repair.

There is little that council can do to prevent parents, grandparents or users in general from buying these devices in the first place. Often they are purchased and delivered through websites. All we can do is enforce our rules and regulations, report sitings to the non-emergency line at the OPP and provide continued public education.

During 2027 Budget deliberations we can also advocate for signage, and dedicated police enforcement campaigns, as well as more education in schools and letters home to parents advising them not to buy these devices as they cannot be ridden in new Tec.

The conversation will continue on this, I promise.

If elected I would address that directly through my seat on the County Council.

Understaffed LTC's are a major and growing concern. One we should continue to seek solutions for.

More staffing at facilities also brings more skilled workers into our communities so the importance of obtaining more on the ground staff isnt just health related its also economical.

Certainly, that is something that I was unaware of.

The Covid19 pandemic has shown that those who are most vulnerable are often sidelined and invisible. Thank you for raising this important issue.

Please do reach out to to me directly to discuss any specifics that may be relevant. Perhaps your observations and experiences can lead us to find improvements. The lessons can also help other vulnerable sections of our community.

I had previously answered a similar question above, but in response I want to assure you I am aware of the issues. I am hearing about this regularly from residents, and I see some of these issues myself.

We need to separate homelessness from criminal behaviour, because they aren't the same thing. But theft, property damage, open drug use and discarded needles cannot simply become something residents are expected to accept.

I would like to see greater police presence in areas where problems are recurring, better education about using the OPP non-emergency reporting line, and a clear process for quickly reporting and safely removing discarded needles.

At the same time, we need to work more closely with the County and agencies like S.H.I.F.T. to address the reasons people are living on our streets in the first place — housing, addiction, mental health and poverty.

We can have compassion for people who are struggling while still expecting our parks, neighbourhoods and properties to be safe.

This is an important and increasing problem for many communities. A similar question was posted. My response to that one is here:

"This is an important issue, but there are a number of issues in there. Homelessness isn't always connected to drugs and vice versa. The homeless issue is becoming worse as the cost of living increases, made worse when jobs are shed due to restructuring, trade issues, etc. The cost of construction, even before the slowdown, increased beyond the reach of many would-be buyers, and even renters as costlier builds require higher rents to compensate for the building costs.

It may be time to reconsider different forms of home ownership, different modes of construction which will allow for homes to be built more quickly and for less cost, without sacrificing quality or safety. Those will be more accessible for buyers or renters.

Drug use, I have no expertise in, as this issue often involves other emotional or development concerns, and I believe we have to seek advice from professionals on this problem.

But there is a problem here; an individual can't be forced to accept addiction treatment, nor can our medical system continue to absorb the increasing costs of hospitalization for those who continue to use hospital services due to their drug use.

Further, the casual acceptance of drug use is likely a factor in the increasing numbers of individuals finding themselves addicted. How do we prevent this? There will be many, many opinions, but it starts at home for most. In some cases, difficult domestic situations make situations even worse for those who are marginalized. Many issues to address."

Further to your question, I do believe in harm reduction, in appropriate environments (a Hospital or a Clinic environment attached to a Hospital), but not in stand-alone locations near schools or residential areas. I do also feel that when someone has been convicted of a drug related crime, the option of treatment should not be a choice. Part of the restitution/rehabilitation would be or the individual to accept treatment with the hope that they can get their life in order and be free of the chains of addiction. I expect my opinion will anger some.

I believe I've answered this already.

Yes. We need to do more, and I think we need to be much more proactive.

I share these concerns personally. My grandchildren have encountered discarded needles in our parks. My mother has told me she doesn’t feel as safe downtown anymore. We shouldn’t be finding drug paraphernalia in public places or seeing people injecting drugs on our sidewalks. Residents should not be expected to simply accept that as normal.

I believe in compassion and helping people. Homelessness is not always addiction, and people struggling with homelessness, addiction or mental health need real help. But compassion does not mean ignoring public safety.

I also want to start asking tougher questions. How many people are actually homeless in New Tecumseth? How many are being housed? How many are repeatedly using emergency services? How many complaints are we receiving about needles, theft and property damage? How quickly are discarded needles being removed? What programs are we funding, what are they costing, and most importantly, are they working?

We already have the Town, County, OPP and numerous agencies involved. The Nottawasaga OPP Detachment Board also gives our municipalities a forum to raise local policing priorities and review information from the Detachment Commander.  I want those organizations sharing meaningful local statistics, setting measurable goals and reporting the results back to the public.

And when something isn’t working, we need to be willing to change it rather than continuing with the same approach.

People who need help deserve a path off the street. Residents deserve safe parks, safe streets and a downtown they feel comfortable using. I don’t want to measure success by how many programs we have. I want to measure it by whether the situation in our community is actually getting better.

• Create a very simple needle-response standard. One phone number or reporting method, location logged, rapid pickup, and monthly public reporting of where discarded needles are being found. If particular parks or downtown locations repeatedly show up, deploy cleanup/outreach resources there instead of waiting for residents to keep reporting the same problem.

• Connect people with serious addictions directly to treatment. Simcoe now has a HART Hub system combining addiction treatment, mental-health care, primary care, housing and case management, and an additional 13-bed supportive-housing program is planned.  A practical question for New Tecumseth is: How many of our residents are actually getting into it, and how quickly? A service in Barrie isn’t much of a solution if somebody living on an Alliston sidewalk never gets through the door.

• Separate the populations instead of treating “the homeless” as one problem. Someone who lost an apartment because rent became unaffordable needs a very different intervention from someone with severe addiction or complex mental-health needs. Simcoe’s rapid-rehousing program is specifically designed for lower-risk, situational homelessness, while HART is aimed at people with more complex addiction/mental-health needs.

I agree this issue is increasing and it must be dealt with. I'll be talking with SHIFT to get a better understanding of what resources are available, and we do need a bigger police presence.

Thank you for raising these major concerns. Discarded needles and drug paraphernalia are an urgent problem which we must address. The disposal bins placed around the town are a step in the right direction. As a parent also I agree that we have to protect our children from these harms. Yes I will do something about it.

My understanding is that these are separate issues which often overlap. We can't paint it all with one brush and expect a genuine resolution.

Property damage and theft are unacceptable. Robbing people of thier livelihood and dignity is equally reprehensible.

The drug problem is abhorrent. From a business perspective it makes no sense either. When your customers are unable to pay then in a traditional transaction you cut off the supply. Instead it seems like the supply is plentiful and much more cost effective than food grown locally. So we need to understand that we are dealing with a situation where things are not as straightforward as they seem. Only some of the effects are evident.

Superficial activity can mask the situation for a while. As the people of NewTecumseth and Simcoe County, we'll need to take concrete steps to address the causes as much as we can. The response can't be to go around demolishing encampments without alternate accommodation.

Unhoused people need Dignified Shelter.

Therapy and Mental Health support for many is not available.

Drug dealers ought to be identified and face justice.

Addicts need a sustainable treatment plan and recovery support.

As a developed society we can do better. Let's set aside judgment and work together to find ways to improve all our lives. Trouble doesn't stay put, so the lessons we learn can strengthen our community to be more resilient and responsive to the needs of tomorrow also. Life happens. How can we help them?

I had previously answered a similar question twice. My answers are above. Thank you for the important question and please reach out for any further clarification.

This is an important issue, but there are a number of issues in there. Homelessness isn't always connected to drugs and vice versa. The homeless issue is becoming worse as the cost of living increases, made worse when jobs are shed due to restructuring, trade issues, etc. The cost of construction, even before the slowdown, increased beyond the reach of many would-be buyers, and even renters as costlier builds require higher rents to compensate for the building costs.

It may be time to reconsider different forms of home ownership, different modes of construction which will allow for homes to be built more quickly and for less cost, without sacrificing quality or safety. Those will be more accessible for buyers or renters.

Drug use, I have no expertise in, as this issue often involves other emotional or development concerns, and I believe we have to seek advice from professionals on this problem.

But there is a problem here; an individual can't be forced to accept addiction treatment, nor can our medical system continue to absorb the increasing costs of hospitalization for those who continue to use hospital services due to their drug use.

Further, the casual acceptance of drug use is likely a factor in the increasing numbers of individuals finding themselves addicted. How do we prevent this? There will be many, many opinions, but it starts at home for most. In some cases, difficult domestic situations make situations even worse for those who are marginalized. Many issues to address.

Once we figure out why our number is increasing we can perhaps curtail that and work with the county to come up with a plan. Part of this plan would be looking at other communities that have had success and seeing if we can apply that to our situation. I'm part of a committee that meets every two months. This is front of mind. By listening to the experts, comparing our situation with other communities, and being willilng to take action, we will hopefully come up with a solution for all.

This is an issue I am still learning about, so I don’t want to pretend I have all the answers or promise a program before I understand exactly what is already being done and who is responsible for what.

What I can tell you is where I stand.

First, I don’t believe homelessness and drug addiction are the same issue. People can find themselves homeless for many reasons: the cost of housing, loss of income, family circumstances, mental health, disability or simply having nowhere affordable to go. Addiction is part of the picture for some people, but certainly not everyone.

For someone who is homeless, I want us focused on getting them into appropriate, permanent housing and helping them regain stability.

Where addiction is involved, I believe we need a much clearer path to treatment and recovery. I understand the public-health reasoning behind providing clean drug-use equipment, but I struggle with a system that can provide someone with the equipment to continue using drugs when we still can’t provide them with a clear and timely path into treatment when they’re ready for it.

I also don’t believe allowing homelessness, open drug use and the problems that can come with it to become entrenched in our downtown is compassionate to anyone. It isn’t fair to the person struggling, and it isn’t fair to residents, businesses and employees who deserve to feel safe in their community.

As a Town councillor, I wouldn’t control most of these services. My role would be advocacy. I would be asking the County, Province, health services and the agencies involved some very direct questions.

Where are the treatment beds? Where is our supportive and transitional housing? What happened to the rapid-rehousing program announced for Alliston? How many people are we actually moving from homelessness into permanent housing? And if what we’re doing isn’t getting people off the street, what needs to change?

I have compassion for people who are struggling. But I also believe we can expect better results.

Helping someone shouldn’t mean accepting that living on the street is the best future we can offer them. And caring about those individuals and caring about the safety of our downtown can absolutely happen at the same time.

This problem also seems to be getting worse. I'll address the drug side with our police force and look into what resources are available for the homeless situation.

This is an urgent concern. I am working on being better informed so I do not have a plan at the moment.

As a Morrison Ave. resident myself, this one is very close to home for me, literally. I have conversations with residents about what is happening in the Park (and throughout the area north to Young Street) on an almost daily basis.

I want to be very clear that needles, drug paraphernalia and human waste in a public park where children play and walk to school are unacceptable. We can have compassion for people struggling with homelessness, mental health and addiction while also expecting our public spaces to be safe for everyone, so I've already taken some action. Most recently, I arranged to have the lower limbs of the trees in the park trimmed to improve visibility and remove areas that were being used to hide or stash items.

I would like to see increased police presence and patrols in the area, better education for residents about when and how to report activity through the OPP non-emergency line, and conversations with the neighbourhood about establishing a Neighbourhood Watch or similar community-safety initiative – a committee I will be suggesting to our new Mayor for formation.

At the same time, enforcement alone won't solve addiction or homelessness. We need our outreach, mental-health, addiction and housing agencies involved so people using the park can be connected with appropriate services.

Although I am hesitant about everyday, law abiding citizens being filmed, I do see some merit to public video cameras if used appropriately. I support the use of technology that can help police and improve community safety, but there needs to be very clear limits on how that technology is used.

Automatic licence plate readers are already used by the OPP. If New Tecumseth were considering additional fixed cameras I would want to understand exactly what information is being collected, how long it is retained, where it is stored, who can access it (and under what circumstances) and how it can be searched or shared.

For me, public safety and personal privacy both matter.

No flock cameras or automatic readers should be allowed unless for very specific circumstances and uses.

When addressing this question, many will consider some of the responses as "fear mongering". So, keep this in mind when discussing motivations behind flock cameras.

But they will come. Governments usually cite "public safety, inclusiveness, improved traffic control" as the reasons.

The positives:

Better control of traffic flows (if your vehicle can be redirected to another artery...consider this in the future with self driving cars)

Immediate identification of criminals, expired plates, stolen plates, delinquent payments of your fines, speeding (the time required to register a plate between 2 flock cameras along a road with a maximum speed).

The negatives:

With digital currency, having a penalty removed from your account if caught speeding (look at the previous example) can be instant, with the penalty of proving innocence placed on your shoulders, compared to physically challenging a ticket in court. Parking can be handled similarly.

Does the government have the right to monitor your every move?

Flock cameras and license plate readers can be used to control traffic flow in that authorities can more easily control individual movement. The response will be "are you a criminal? Then why worry?". However, if you are a conscientious objector to any government policy, these controls can easily be applied to restrict or monitor movement.

In the Chinese model, traffic cameras and facial recognition are used to monitor and regulate an individuals travel rights. But we are in Canada, not China.

Speed cameras in school districts are reasonable. Flock cameras or plate readers, if used to monitor flow or deduct subscription fees or calculate usage (like the 407) are reasonable. There should be no other links allowed to your financial services.

My privacy is valuable to me. Living in a police state is not what I want for my children.

Cybersecurity is a constant issue and I don't have confidence in anything online being impenetrable. As such I do not consent to mass surveillance.

Law enforcement have other options and tools to help them. If needed I would prefer to direct the resources to creating a social environment where we the people can look out for each other's interests and support the police by choice.

I'm not a fan of flock cameras or automatic license plate readers.

Simple, if I had a 6yr old go missing I'd want this available.