EloraFergusToday asked candidates in the upcoming municipal election to tell us a little bit about themselves and their platform.
Name: Melanie Lang
Occupation: Principal of Melanie Lang Consulting and I’m proud to be running as a candidate to represent County Ward 6.
How long have you lived in Centre Wellington?
I am a 17-year Fergus resident with my husband Paul, and our two daughters, Hannah and Beth. I understand the importance of public service and bringing people together to work through common challenges. I was raised in Quyon, Quebec, a small rural village situated along the north shore of the Ottawa River in the Municipality of Pontiac within the Outaouais region of western Quebec. I come from a long line of entrepreneurial thinkers and community builders. Both my father and father-in-law were involved in public service as multiple-termed councillors and mayors of neighbouring municipalities. We were raised to always look for opportunities to become involved, support our community, and contribute to ways that enhance our day to day. This values-based approach is how we choose to raise our family, shape our professional selves and become involved in our community.
My commitment to community guides my research, fuels my business leadership, and drives my involvement with organizations like Givesome, and previously with the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, the Centre Wellington Community Foundation and 4H-Ontario.That commitment will guide my role as county councillor for Ward 6. I will always look for ways to contribute to the healthy growth and development of community, businesses and organizations in our surrounding area for Centre Wellington
Do you reside in the ward you are running in? No, I live at the boundary of County Ward 4 and County Ward 6. When I decided to put my name forward for county councillor, it was important to stay in Centre Wellington as I know this area best and feel as though I can speak to the issues facing residents here to best represent them.
Why are you running in this election? I’m hearing from residents there is an appetite for change, increased transparency, and greater accountability. As a results-oriented leader with nearly two decades of progressive business experience driving innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development, I’m running to represent Ward 6 as county councillor to build collaborative partnerships across our multiple levels of government, be a responsive voice for residents, advocate for our diversity and elevate our eclectic community.
The Standing Committees that I am particularly interested in and align with my skill set include Economic Development, Roads and Social Services. These are the areas where I see an opportunity to increase our social impact, enhance our financial stewardship and build a better and stronger community.
What qualifies you to represent your ward? As a strategic and collaborative leader, I have a strong background in business, education and politics that I believe would be valuable as your Ward 6 Wellington County councillor. I understand the challenges we need to address and the opportunities we can capitalize on.
I was the founding executive director of the John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise at the University of Guelph. I’m principal of Melanie Lang Consulting, where I focus on strategic planning, leadership development and facilitation. I’m an engaged business professional with nearly two decades of experience as a collaborative business and community advocate who has earned a reputation of being fiscally oriented and socially impactful.
I have extensive experience as a board member and chair of numerous not-for-profit and charitable boards, including previously as chair of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce Board and board member with the Centre Wellington Community Foundation. Through these efforts, I have stewarded economic development initiatives through diverse forms of volunteering, committee projects, community embedded programs, and stakeholder engagement activities.
I was named one of the City of Guelph’s ‘Top 40 Under 40’ in 2012 for my role as an educator and community developer and was recognized as a 2015 and 2016 YMCA-YWCA Woman of Distinction nominee for education and training and business and entrepreneurship.
Why should people vote for you? I believe in thoughtful development, fiscal responsibility and social progressiveness. I also know that our communities are experiencing some of the worst health, social, environment and economic crisis we’ve seen in a long time. Now more than ever we need our multiple levels of government working together to ensure policies and programs are operationalized locally where they can have an impact and benefit our friends and neighbours. For nearly two decades, I worked at the intersection of academia and industry, where I directed a renowned innovation and entrepreneurship centre, leading hundreds of students, client projects and fuelling businesses and big ideas. My philosophy on building businesses with impact is the same approach I take when tackling community-based issues: Get to the root of the problem, collaborate with people who can help and co-create solutions.
I’m committed to working across the County and with our local CW Township to maintain thoughtful consultations, transparent processes, and thorough communications – and most importantly, listening to our residents.
What do you see as the main issues facing residents of the ward? Ward 6 is geographically dispersed across a large area encompassing primarily rural with increasingly urban development. I believe in thoughtful development, but our growing community needs to ensure it has the infrastructure, health and education capacity to meet existing needs. That includes our water, roads and social services. Additionally, access to rural broadband and rural transportation is critical to ensuring residents can access services between Fergus and Elora and more broadly across Wellington County.
What do you see as the main issues facing residents of Centre Wellington on a broader scale? I’m hearing several issues facing residents of Centre Wellington and across the county, two of which I’ll highlight here, although would welcome the opportunity to share what I’ve heard regarding our health care and education systems at a further time.
Centre Wellington depends 100 per cent on groundwater through aquifers, which includes both municipal and private wells. As Centre Wellington continues to grow, as per Ontario’s 2021 updated Places to Grow Act, we need to secure a sustainable and reliable source of water. Water management is a county-wide responsibility and will need to be managed carefully as surrounding municipalities search for alternative sources to service projected growth, which includes residential, industrial and agriculture uses.
Given the existing and projected growth of our community, roads and options for active transportation are a significant asset to ensuring accessibility and safety within the area. The latest Wellington Road Master Action Plan (RMAP) outlined projected capacity ratios on County Roads to 2041. The evaluative framework needs to be transparent and inclusive of our natural, cultural and socio-economic environment along with our cost capabilities. Additionally, this will require a collaborative and consultative approach, as our area encompasses township, county and provincial roads, each with its own oversight, responsibility and cost structure.
What is the most important thing you want to see changed in Centre Wellington? While it’s imperative to identify and acknowledge the inequalities within our community, and the gaps that exist between the Township and County levels of government, what’s more important is finding ways we can collaborate to close those gaps and create transparent processes that build accountability and trust. Water security, affordable housing, health care and infrastructure (ex. roads) are examples that will require coordination between all levels of government if we are going to see change and progress in Centre Wellington.
What services need to be improved in Centre Wellington? Wellington County was designated the consolidated municipal services manager for Wellington County and the City of Guelph and encompasses Ontario Works, Child Care Services and Social Housing Services. Access to community-level affordable housing, access to safe and reliable childcare and delivery of financial and employment programs that enable residents an opportunity to reach their employment goals are critical. These social services are essential to safeguarding the healthy growth of our vibrant area and need focused attention to ensure they can meet the needs of our diverse and growing community.
Is Centre Wellington growing too fast, just the right amount, or not fast enough? The Ontario’s Places to Grow Act was updated in 2021 and now mandates the urban areas of Fergus and Elora grow to 56,000 residents by 2051. This projected growth does not align with our infrastructure, health care or social services capacity. I believe in thoughtful development, although the evaluative criteria for expanding our roads, water usage, health care and social services are not in-line with our capacity to support the current size of our community.
What can be done at the local level about the rising cost of housing? Lack of inventory is one of the contributing factors to the rising cost of housing. While the County currently offers programs to incentivise affordable housing, we have an opportunity to explore alternative and innovative models of development that doesn’t compress and jeopardize our agriculture land. An important factor to remember is that we need a system-thinking approach to addressing this issue, access to housing requires access to transportation, strong rural broadband, downtown bylaws that don’t discriminate against residents, and supportive tenant regulations.
Do you support building a new $27 million operations centre? Our roles as Councillors are to listen to the needs of the constituents within our respective ridings. While the building of the operations centre falls within the CW Township purview and therefore outside of county jurisdiction, I see it as my responsibility to connect residents with the appropriate channels to ensure communication is thorough and decision making processes are thoughtful. I look forward to hearing from more residents about this and listening to what they’d like to see.
How do we make Centre Wellington an even better place to live? We have so much to be proud of in our community. Some of what I’m hearing from residents is how to maintain our beautiful heritage while accommodating growth and development. Across the county, efforts are being made to ensure we create a strong vision for the future that celebrates our heritage yet provides a welcoming environment that can support those who live, work and play here. Having a consultative and collaborate relationship with the Township and County Planning departments will help ensure our growing need for greenspaces, walkability, active transportation and infrastructure align with our water management, roads, and social services. There is more than one way to make Centre Wellington an even better place to live, and it’s important to create transparent and thorough consultative processes to ensure people’s diverse voices are heard, innovative ideas are considered, and an integration of various planning tools are optimized. As your Ward 6 County Councillor, I look forward to working alongside my fellow residents to ensure we co create a thriving diverse, equitable, inclusive and sustainable community.
Any link to an election website or social media account:
Voters and residents can find me at:
www.melanielang.ca
Twitter: @MelanieDLang
IG: @lang_countyward6
FB: https://www.facebook.com/LangCountyWard6
