Mary-Jane Brown's Responses to the Paris Independent Questions Published September 16

Mary-Jane Brown

1. What is your position on the current and projected residential growth and development in the county? Do you believe the pace and scale of development are appropriate for the community, and what factors should Council consider when approving future development?

Population is expected to reach 59,000 by 2051. Growth is a necessity for any community and Brant is considered a high growth area in Ontario. This pace of growth can be acceptable provided there is a balanced approach between residential housing and commercial/industrial development. Often municipalities approve residential growth at a pace exceeding that for industrial, resulting in bedroom communities. Factors to consider when approving development are the percentage of jobs available to residences proposed, condition of roads near development, services available, and impacts on surrounding areas. The current Cainsville Employment Hub Strategy proposes to increase the job density from 15 to 30 jobs/hectare resulting in 7,600 jobs in the Cainsville area. I am supportive of the current and projected growth development as long as all these factors are appropriately addressed and the preservation of farmland occurs. The growth needs to occur in developed areas, minimizing settlement sprawl.

2. Recent approval of a zoning change for properties in downtown Paris represents an important first step toward a significant residential development in the downtown core. What impact do you believe this type of development could have on downtown Paris? Please identify both the potential benefits and challenges.

Potential benefits include more residents, thus increasing the tax base for services, more customers for the downtown businesses, various opportunities for small and unique businesses to start up to meet the needs of these new residents. I have not determined if some units will be considered affordable to lower income residents or offered as seniors’ housing as potential benefits. If developers make use of new

building techniques like modular construction, the process can be completed in a timely fashion, thus minimizing disruption to downtown Paris. Potential challenges include increased traffic, congestion, and parking limitations. It must be ensured

that the marketing of this development to potential owners or tenants will consider the parking needs on a per unit basis. There will be further demands for services – garbage pickup and snow removal. Currently, no grocery store is available to the increased residents downtown. There will be a need for one to promote more pedestrian traffic as the closest ones are generally too far to walk.

3. How would you improve access to affordable public swimming facilities for County of Brant residents, particularly given the limited access to pools in Brantford? Would you support the development of a public swimming pool (a new one indoors or another one outdoors) in the County of Brant?

I would support the development of a public swimming pool. Brant can collaborate and partner with a regional YMCA to establish a new swimming facility. Consider Brantford’s cost sharing with Wilfrid Laurier University which has been successful in establishing a YMCA. Within Brant there is a Community Partnership Policy in place which can be explored to possibly assist in bringing a new pool to the County. The Regional YMCA of Hamilton/Burlington Brantford is not currently listed as a

Community Partner of Brant County. In the Engage Brant Parks & Rec Engagement Summary of 2023, an indoor pool was one of the top 5 desired amenities found in the 1100 responses. However, in collecting public input, it was clearly identified that an indoor pool was not an option for the expansion of the Sports Complex. The proposed expansion should not proceed without addressing the key demand of the residents. Perhaps other options should be explored. For example, can some of the proposed flooring areas in the new expansion be considered for a pool.

4. What are your views on establishing a public transit system within the County of Brant to connect communities such as Paris, Brantford, Burford and St. George and how should the County approach the costs and funding associated with implementing and operating such a system?

My focus is to ensure that projects adopted meet most residents’ needs in a cost-effective manner. In considering the KW-Cambridge area, public transit is only used for 5.3% of all daily trips. The use of personal vehicles in Brant County area is the primary means of transportation. Establishing a public transit system within the County would be very costly and may not address the needs of the majority of

residents. Consistent with my response to question 5, I would support expansion of Brant Transit as detailed there. Currently, the County is partnering with Brantford Transit to pilot a service for employment areas near Paris. As the County grows, there may be further demand for a transit system. Partnering opportunities with Brantford to offer fixed bus routes and potential cost sharing could be examined. Partnering with the Province to expand GO services can also be explored. A Business Case can be proposed followed with a cost-benefit analysis then put to the electorate for a vote before committing to a County wide transit system.

5. What changes or improvements would you like to see made to Brant Transit to better meet the transportation needs of County of Brant residents?

A public engagement initiative was undertaken to determine if changes/improvements were needed by the County from March 31 to May 2 2025. However, only 112 responses were obtained in the survey and only 190 people responded to a poll asking for recommendations. From that study, the primary wants were more wheelchair vans, ease of booking, and regularity of scheduling. However, 63% of the respondents indicated that they have rarely or never used this service. This is a small sample to make a decision on. I would support expanding the service to include more accessible vehicles, along with improvements to the booking app, and possibly an expansion of the service should data support there is a need. In the 2024 Transit User Data, it was found that 91% of the rides provided met the rider’s needs. Unless a poll is conducted where respondents indicate significant dissatisfaction with the current service, major changes to existing service is not warranted.

6. What specific outcome would you work toward regarding the proposed boundary adjustment involving the Brantford Municipal Airport and surrounding County-owned lands? Include key concerns you would address before supporting any agreement with the City of Brantford?

The specific outcome I would work towards is to ensure that the minimal amount of agricultural land (only marginal if possible) is included. Key concerns I would address include ensuring that there is significant demand for this airport expansion. This proposal has mainly been driven the Brantford’s Economic Strategy. While I understand that the proposal is mainly to provide services for smaller private planes, rather than larger passenger terminals, I question whether the land attached to the

airport is insufficient to allow this expansion. Only if the existing land base will not support the proposed design expansion, will I consider that neighbouring agricultural lands be included in the project. Given that Brantford is situated roughly halfway between Hamilton and London, where full-service airports exist, it must be determined if there is a need to expand into the neighbouring land base. Detailed market data must be gathered to support this project. When I attended a meeting in

June, I was shown that the runway needed to be lengthened into an agricultural area. Since the proposal is not to accept larger planes, the need for a longer runway must be examined in addition to an expansion of servicing for repairs, training, and medical transport.

7. Can you provide an example of a time you worked within a complex organization or with a diverse group of people to achieve a successful outcome? What role did you play in reaching that result?

When I operated my accounting practice, I also worked in the educational program of the legacy CGA program before merging into CPA which is a large national and complex organization comprised of many diverse members. As part of this, at least twice per year, Professional Application Exam sessions occurred in Vancouver where I attended first as an assessor, then as a Team Lead Assessor, and ultimately as Examiner. Professional accountants from many different provinces across Canada were assembled in these sessions into teams where each team was assigned to assess a portion of the exam individually. With this process, many individuals brought their own views and perspectives into the assessing process. As a Team Lead, the strategy was to develop consensus within the teams so that a consistent standard could be applied to that question. This required skills in negotiation, team building,

and respect for divergent views. As Examiner, I managed a large team of assessors and staff from the Association to complete the process professionally and efficiently. For 14 years, I developed the skills of management, team building, and motivating others.

8. If elected to Brant County Council, will you propose a motion for Council #39's approval to impose a one-year moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers until the water, energy, pollution, and noise issues are thoroughly understood?

I would be willing to propose a motion for imposing a one-year moratorium on AI data centers. I don’t believe that such a large amount of resources should be devoted to a data center when they should be primarily allocated to existing businesses and residents. Because these centers can deplete water supply greatly, there can be many negative results to the surrounding area. Since my focus is to support agriculture which contributes over $50 billion to Ontario’s GDP and provides approximately 1 in 9 jobs, these centers should not occur in farming areas.

9. The County has adopted a Long-Term Financial Plan to help guide its financial decisions and priorities over the coming years. If elected, how would you use that plan to guide your decisions at the council table, particularly when weighing new priorities, major investments and the long-term affordability of services for County residents?

The LTFP is needed to address capital infrastructure and financing along with operating costs to support growth. Essentially 2 years have passed since it was first drafted and many risk factors have changed. I would use the plan as a guide to ensure that the tax rate increases do not exceed those which has been forecast in that plan. As of 2025, a special levy of 1% has been added to the property taxes for the new

hospital. It is worth noting that the total operating expenditures from the 2024 audited financial statements indicate an 8.7% increase from what was budgeted. In the LTFP, operating expenditure was forecasted to increase by 9.9% in 2025. It will be valuable to compare what the actual results for 2025 are compared to the original LTFP and related budget. The LTFP is a tool to be used to ensure that the actual costs of tax supported services do not exceed the percentage increases forecast at 4.5% per year

from 2025 to 2034.