Austin wants to fill our bellies with plums!

NEWS RELEASE

AUSTIN WILLIAMS, MAYORAL CANDIDATE

**************************
[Yesterday] as of 2 p.m., nominations for the 2014 Municipal Election in Sault Ste Marie have closed.

Soon the campaigns will be in full swing, likely featuring radio advertisements, lawn signs, armies of door knockers, and photos of politicians with giggling children or standing beside a completed publicly funded pet project.

These will not be features of the campaign to elect Austin Williams as Mayor.

The Williams campaign does not accept donations, nor does it have a budget for expenses.

Furthermore the Williams campaign believes in discussion of fact, policy and change, not relying upon appeals to emotion. 

The Williams For Mayor campaign will be a positive one, relying upon word of mouth, grassroots organizing and the strength of the solutions presented.

Williams’ ultimate goal for Sault Ste Marie is to empower the individual citizens who make up this great city.

The purpose of government is to protect the people from violence, theft, fraud and other violations of human rights.

When the government does more than just protect the people, it is oppressing the people.

When a government heavily regulates or monopolizes an industry it prevents mom and pop businesses from forming, and thus prevents free market competition for consumers.

Without competition quality does not improve, and often prices also increase.

The single best example of this is the LCBO, which is the sole provider of alcohol by law, and is obscenely expensive even by Canadian standards.

When a government heavily regulates personal lives and property the results are equally disastrous.

The municipally managed roads are an excellent example of this.

The state of disrepair across this city is a direct result people not being able to make or influence decisions which impact them personally.

The Williams campaign proposes to empower property owners to make decisions about their road and sewage maintenance by creating a yearly tax benefit of $1000 to be used for this purpose.

This would create construction jobs within the Sault Ste Marie community by creating more contracts for more businesses to compete over.

There may one day be a family maintenance business every few blocks servicing the surrounding neighborhoods.

In a similar move, Williams would attempt to remove municipal regulations on mass transportation such as taxies, busses, rail, Uber (etc.) and open the market to free competition.

After a private industry has arisen which can meet the needs of Sault Ste Marie, Williams would auction city assets in the transportation industry.

Likewise, as part of Williams’ plan to cut city expenditure by 40 percent and create a truly free market in Sault Ste Marie he would hold a community auction, and sell the Municipal recreation centers to local community members who wish to operate them.

This would create real competition between the different Recreation Centers, and result in lower prices and better service, as well as lowering public expenditures. 

In addition to these cuts to the Public Works department over four years, Williams would work to make the Municipal government and bureaucracy 90 percent paperless, and switch almost completely to digital record keeping and utilizing USB sticks instead of paper. 

Williams would also do anything in his power to reduce the salary and benefits of the Mayor, Council, Executives and administrators within the Municipal Government.

The Majority of cuts to be made by a Williams administration are aimed at government interference in the free market, wastefulness, discretionary spending, and the elites.

One Crabapple tree would be a fine thing for a family to make juice with, but Austin Williams envisions dozens of varieties of desert apples, pears and plums growing here in front of 99 Foster Drive free for the public.

A Williams administration would do more than just cut unnecessary expenses, but would work to make positive differences in the lives of the lower class.

Aside from creating jobs by ending monopoly service providers, Austin Williams has promised to partner with other local businesses and personally donate 60 percent of his Salary as Mayor if elected to create Permaculture ‘Food Forests’ around the city.

These projects will help teach the community and youth about how to grow their own food, create community spirit, and also alleviate some dependency on food banks in the future while also increasing nutrition in the community.

A Williams administration would also remove any impediments to self sufficiency of the home in the By-Laws, such as garden and small animal restrictions or beekeeping. 

If a person wishes to grow their own food to supplement their life, they should of course be allowed to in any way they wish!

The Government should not dictate how peaceful people live their lives.

**************************