Philippe Timbers wants to bring a collaborative approach and a focus on fiscal responsibility to Champlain Township Council.

Timbers is a candidate in Ward 4 West Hawkesbury in the Monday, October 26 municipal election. He lives in the northwestern part of the ward with his wife and young family. Timbers is a chartered accountant and serves as the Treasurer for the Town of Hawkesbury. It is completely legal for a municipal employee to serve as a council member in another municipality. Timbers strongly emphasized that if elected in Champlain, he would always declare a conflict of interest and recuse himself from participation in discussion and votes over issues involving the township and relations with the Town of Hawkesbury.

Timbers said he decided to run because of his interest in municipal government and had been thinking of running for a few years.

“I like it, you’re involved in your community, you want to see it shaped,” he said.

Timbers believes his experience in finance and accounting will be an advantage for him as a councillor. He is also involved with community activities as the Treasurer of the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital Foundation. Previously, Timbers was also involved with not-for-profit Groupe Action, which provides health and social services to youth.

As a councillor, Timbers would like to help build a strong administration in Champlain that is empowered to make the day-to-day decisions required for the municipality. Timbers said council is a bridge between administration and citizens.

While speaking with voters during the campaign, Timbers has identified the Alto project, roads, and rural internet reliability as the recurring issues on residents’ minds. Timbers said roads are the township’s largest and most expensive asset and ensuring they are in good condition for the future is important.

“We’ve got to start making some plans,” he said.

Timbers said part of the challenge is there is not enough funding from the provincial and federal governments. He said the township must save for these projects so it can demonstrate to the province and federal level that It needs to leverage additional funding from grant programs.

Communication has been a recurring theme with candidates during the election campaign in Champlain and Timbers is no exception. He said the township must better demonstrate to its population how money is being spent so they better understand decisions being made by council.

Timbers would like Champlain to work more closely with neighbouring municipalities to see if cost savings could be achieved through combining resources or sharing services.

As for the Alto project, Timbers succinctly stated his disapproval.

“I’m not for it.”

He believes municipalities should have better representation and access to information about the project.

“My constituents are against it, and I’m going to support that 100 per cent.”