DAN CEARNS, The Standard
SCUGOG: Terry Coyne is looking to bring his experience as a business owner and longtime member of the Rotary Club of Port Perry to the campaign to be Scugog’s next Ward 5 councillor.
Mr. Coyne is the owner of Pineridge Impress, an advertising and marketing business for companies, organizations and events.
“The involvement in the different activities, over the last 40 years in Scugog and running a business for 30 [years] gives me different insight, and I hope that gives me the tools to help move the Township forward,” he said.
One thing Mr. Coyne hopes to help the Township with is attracting businesses to Scugog. He noted, bringing more businesses to town would “help our tax base, [and] reduce the residential tax base.”
“If we can get some clean industry here, which is environmentally friendly [that would be great]. Our biggest challenge is the transportation, getting goods manufactured to market, if they are being shipped by road,” he added.
Mr. Coyne talked about how he views the Scugog community. “It’s friendly; it’s accommodating; we’re close to Toronto. We’re close enough, you could be in downtown Toronto in an hour [or] an hour and a half. It’s just convenient and a nice place to live.”
With the majority of Scugog’s next politicians acclaimed, the Ward 5 race is the only one where residents of the Township will cast a ballot. “I’m quite surprised. I thought there’d be more people interested in moving the Township forward. I just thought we’d have more candidates,” Mr. Coyne said.