ThoroldToday will be profiling every candidate in the upcoming municipal and school board elections on Oct. 24. Today: Regional Councillor Tim Whalen.
Tim Whalen, 69, hopes to serve another four years as a regional councillor.
“I feel our work has just begun,” Whalen says, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “I like to keep it going. There’s a lot of projects that have a big bearing on what’s happening in Thorold and it would be good to see them finished up.”
Whalen says that he has spent his last term bringing credibility back to regional politics.
“I’m part of the team that has built the accountability back up again,” he says. “Most people don’t realize or remember back four years ago when things were in turmoil. Since that time we made it open and accountable and transparent so I think accountability is the big thing we can rely on now that respect is once again built in at the regional level.”
Whalen was a part of several different regional committees during the last four years.
“The last four years I was chairman of procurement, vice chairman of corporate services and audit and as well I sat on public health,” he says. “A lot of important roles over the last four years and I found it very interesting.”
He is very excited about the new hospitals being built in Niagara.
“Our last four years we have promoted the two hospitals in West Lincoln and new South Niagara hospital,” Whalen says. “The South Niagara hospital will be just as easy to get to as it will be to get to the St. Catharines site. The new hospital is going to be a million square feet. It’s going to help the whole south end of Thorold. That end will be booming.”
If re-elected, Whalen has three priorities.
“My top three issues going forward is the integration of regional transit, the South Niagara hospital and the completion of the Niagara waste water service which affects the southern part of Thorold in the highway 20 corridor,” he says.
When it comes to the amalgamation of the regional transit system Whalen hopes to play an important role.
“I’m on the transition committee for the new regional transit also,” Whalen says. “We got a lot of underserved areas and no service areas and I hope to look after that.”
It’s important that Thorold is represented at the regional level, according to Whalen.
“We’re the hub of Niagara so we’re important to the rest of Niagara also,” he says. “Right now the way Thorold is growing the sky is the limit as far as we’re going to go but we have to look after the taxpayer and the communities.”
Whalen says that when he makes decisions he always has the people of Thorold in mind.
“This is my home,” he says. “I lived the majority of my life here so it’s important to me to look after the people in Thorold.”
He points to his experience as the CEO of the Thorold Community Credit Union.
“I’m right downtown, I know what’s going on and I have lived in the rural part of Thorold also so I know the needs of the different communities within Thorold,” Whalen says.
For his campaign Whalen hopes to meet as many residents as possible.
“I’m going to try and see everybody,” says Whalen. “I’ll be out in the public. I have signs out already. My door is open so I hope their door will be open and that people are honest with me about what their needs are, what they’re looking for and what I can help them with."
Ultimately, Whalen hopes to keep serving the people of Thorold.
“I’d be grateful for another four years at the regional level looking after the people of Thorold,” he says.
