Over the next few months, this video series will bring a new dimension my campaign, inspired by how days started on the jobsite when I worked as a municipal contractor.
Coffee in hand, tailgate talks kicked off the day's work with a review of what's done, what's to come, and how we are going to get there. Much like how each construction project had vision, so too does my campaign and that's the subject of this video.
We've had this concept in the works for a while now and I'm excited to see it come together! I hope you enjoy my first Tailgate Talk and, if you did, I encourage you to like, share, and follow for more updates from my campaign.
Highlights are shared below. You can catch the full series on Facebook!
🚧Council needs to reprioritize how it invests tax dollars, starting with ensuring our existing infrastructure doesn't fall into such disrepair that some around the table choose to abandon it rather than replace it!
👋Knowing what needs to be done is important, and these ideas must be accompanied by the strategy for how to do it...
✅️The County’s Transportation Master Plan anticipates more closures in the years ahead, so making sure this doesn't happen requires Council to amend the policy and build the repair and replacement costs into the Long-Term Financial Plan.
📝Let's get this on the Council agenda next term and start this conversation!
➡️Remember that roads and bridges, much like arenas, serve more than the most immediate properties. That's why it's important to choose candidates who have demonstrated their willingness to take a County-wide approach to all infrastructure, especially roads and bridges that work for everyone!
✅️Council needs to be honest with the public about where we are going as a municipality, both strategically and operationally.
✅️Meaningful communications, transparency, and accountability require the County to reframe its approach to engaging and informing the community.
🚧We all understand that not everything goes as planned, especially when it comes to construction, so it would go a long way to share how and why timelines are changing, rather than quietly re-writing them and claiming we are on track.
➡️The County announced this project’s second season on Facebook on March 27th, with 8 to 10 weeks of road closures that would have taken us to June 6th. Another County website now says the work will be complete by the end of July.
🚧This isn’t the first time we’ve been directed into a closed road. We aren’t the only ones because as I was recording this Tailgate Talk, a car drove right past, hopped a curb, and took an illegal turn out to Dundas Street through a parking lot, making for an outtake that proved my point.
➡️When there’s too much on the go at once, small but important details can get missed like updating Municipal 511 so that Google Maps knows to re-route traffic longer. Frustration builds when information is out-of-date, resulting in unsafe driving like I witnessed last night on Washington Street!
✅️We still have several years of construction ahead of us in Paris and St. George, so let’s learn from what’s gone well (and what hasn’t) thus far to make sure we aren’t repeating our mistakes.
🛠Whether you’re renovating, cleaning up, or working your side hustle, most people want to the right thing by properly disposing of what they no longer need.
✅️While I was chairing the Biggars Lane Landfill Liaison Committee, we asked Council to consider extending the weekend hours to make Saturday service more convenient. We also hoped this would help curb illegal dumping.
➡️If the weekend is the only time for you to do your refuse roundup, there’s not a lot of time to get to the landfill east of Mount Pleasant before 1:45pm, especially if you live further away or must convince a buddy with a truck to help.
📦When illegal dumping occurs, County staff must respond in parks, right of ways, and along rural roads, meaning that they’re taking time away from other responsibilities to clean up and the County absorbs the disposal costs! Other times, nearby residents and farmers find themselves responding.
✅️Even still, diverting waste and properly disposing of refuse that can’t be recycled needs to be simple, otherwise not everyone does the right thing! And like so many other issues, the cost of response is often more than the cost of prevention…
⚡️When the power goes out, many residents also lose heating/cooling and running water. Not everyone has, or can afford, back up power generation that restores full function to their home, so lengthy outages are problematic.
❄️ And, over the winter, the County made headlines when it announced that municipal facilities were warming centres, except they were closed for the holiday shutdown...
✅️I believe the County has a role to play in responding to everyday emergencies, like lengthy power outages and heat/cold/air quality alerts, not just the catastrophic emergencies that are the focus of annual training exercises.
✅️Community centres are a natural fit because they're County-operated, no cost to attend, and it's okay to linger. Pop on a family movie in a boardroom, charge your phone, maybe even use a locker room for a shower? Let's do what we can to make sure Brant is prepared to support it's residents the next time this happens!
👋When the County starts a conversation, it needs to return with updates and outcomes, even if the decision is to pause moving forward!
❌️Too often, I hear that you’re waiting for more information because much time has passed since the file’s last public engagement. We can do better, and, again, this timelier communication doesn’t drive up operating costs.
✅️As for whether I think the pipes should come to Burford in the next term of Council, I really don’t think that needs to be our biggest priority. I’m not convinced that the businesses case supports the underground infrastructure, nor can it be justified by increased development to offset construction costs.
➡️We already know that growth doesn’t pay for growth, meaning the existing property tax base must pay at least 30% of project costs, and that will increase as the province phases in more reductions to development charges. And, Burford remains surrounded by productive agricultural lands that should be kept farming outside settlement boundaries!
⁉️Council is quick to make so many other decisions, but failed to provide Burford with an outcome on the sewer-water conversation, which would have informed timelines for the road reconstruction. Meanwhile, roads continued deteriorating and restoration costs increased...
📝Discomfort alone is not grounds for moving into closed session. Even if the Municipal Act technically permits wages to be discussed in camera, Council should reflect on why they feel it's necessary to hide their deliberations when the outcome will be announced publicly thereafter!
🚧Construction is the next disruption that business owners are facing, not the only challenge they're confronting. Many would say the post-pandemic recovery never got off the ground for some sectors, meaning that this work follows what's already been a tough few years before this newest hurdle...
📊Keeping our downtowns economically viable without losing their heritage streetscapes is important to me. A well-rounded economic development strategy meaningfully supports existing businesses, not just the recruitment of new ones!
🌳 Trees are only of the only investments that gains value over time, so we need to take the best care of the canopy that we can!
Damaging the trunks by using a ditch mower/mulcher will cause them to decline, resulting in more cost for removals later.
❌️What may be put forward as a cost savings strategy today could turn into tomorrow's cautionary tale...
✅️There are other tools and equipment that can be used efficiently to clear sightlines without harming the trees and leaving a mess for the property owners!
📑I'm always cautious about the County's bottom line, which is why I advocate to spend responsibly today for better outcomes tomorrow.
🚔The traffic calming signage recently re-installed in Mt. Pleasant was stolen, yet again, creating risk and expense for everyone. Consistent police presence would go a long way towards slower traffic, and safer communities more generally.
✅️Council needs to work with the OPP Detachment Board to ensure that policing resources keep pace with local demand!
Christine Garneau Bisaillon for Mayor
Copyright © 2026 Christine Garneau Bisaillon for County of Brant Mayor - All Rights Reserved.
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