MUSKOKA LAKES MAYOR HARDING IN A FLAP OVER MLA ‘DOCK DROP’ THAT DOESN’T RECOMMEND HIM
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
MUSKOKA LAKES — Shivver me timbers — it’s fire in the hole.
It’s election time in the Muskoka Lakes and the municipality where mayoral re-elections are as rare as the sounds of loons at dawn is at it again.
Incumbent Phil Harding is fighting back against the once mighty, but now flagging Muskoka Lakes Association and a new group who’ve dubbed themselves Friends of Muskoka — as opposed to those other residents they presume aren’t district friendly.
In one of the first elections salvos, Harding is hitting out hard on the two third parties, which have come out with their feared candidate recommendations.
The Muskoka Lakes mayor — who is not their preferred candidate “who we believe are best suited to find solutions to critical issues facing Muskoka” — is accusing the groups of being unfriendly to the environment.
The new dynamic duo recommends Peter Kelley.
A slap in the face for the groups that say they champion all that’s blue and green — and is not algae.
The flap is over a “dock drop” this week (Wednesday) that had a plastic baggy with their recommendations in it in a flyer — and weighted down with rocks in it. Apparently to keep it from flying back to the water from whence it was tossed.
“Vote to keep Muskoka, Muskoka,” reads the cover of the flyer, adding: “Yes, you can vote – and yes you can help protect this beautiful place.”
Using his Instagram handle Muskoka365, Harding wrote Friday: “Last night it was brought to my attention that docks across Muskoka are being cluttered with paid promotional materials. What is alarming about these dock drops is that they are paid for by the Muskoka Lakes Association regarding the upcoming election.
“Beyond spending membership fees to tell everyone in Muskoka (not just MLA members) who the public should vote for (based on the opinion of only 2 board members), the bigger issue is that the distribution of these dock flyers doesn’t match their environmental platform of responsible Muskoka. We know that not all flyers stay on the dock and often fall into the water.
“Additionally, producing these full colour, high gloss flyers, individually wrapped in zip lock bags, delivered by gas-powered boats certainly does not align with their own ‘environment first’ position of protecting this beautiful place.”
Well, there you have it.
The mayor feels trapped between a rock(s) and a hard place as he seeks re-election.
His worship is at the epicentre of a development uproar over — much in part — over redevelopment plans for the once grand venerable Clevelands House Resort on Lake Rosseau in Minett.
So what’s changed? Has Harding gone soft on development or hard?
The Legacy project, which has been on the books for years, has Muskoka’s nouveau riche now complaining about interlopers not of their ilk or one presumes not to their liking.
Many members of the MLA and Friends of Muskoka are among a new breed of mega cottage owners dominating Muskoka Lakes.
Many, presumably, who voted Harding in 2018.
And they are throwing their political weight around in 2022 unlike in recent years.
Properties up and down the Muskoka Lakes — from Rosseau down to Gravenhurst — are under scrutiny and seeking their thumbs up or thumbs down for approvals.
Sources tell MuskokaTODAY.com that not all candidates have been interviewed and that some are only being questioned this week before other recommendations are presumably being made well in advance of the Oct. 24 election when cottagers can vote from the safety of their permanent homes.
It’s part of process that has gone on for decades as voting seasonal residents (cottagers) have relied on the advice of the MLA — while abdicating their responsibility to research nominees on their own — to recommend who to cast important ballots for.
Small lakes associations rely on their upper tier to do their homework.
It’s a system with grave faults — if only as Harding claims that two people sitting down to chat can determine an outcome based on a few questions
The balance of elections can be won or lost based on voter turnout and a knowledgeable electorate.
Does this seem fair?
Harding doesn’t think so.
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