Restaurateur Cameron Green enters mayor’s race
Co-owner of Kettle Drums, McThirsty’s
Local restaurateur Cameron Green is running for mayor.
Green, 36, co-owns Kettle Drums Restaurant as well as McThirsty’s Pint in downtown Peterborough.
He said he employs 50 people who live in rental accommodations, and he’s a landlord – which gives him insight into the struggles of renters.
The apartment vacancy rate is 1.1 per cent in Peterborough – one of the lowest rates in Canada – and Green said it’s critical to increase the number of available apartments.
“It will keep people in the community and make Peterborough better off,” he said.
Green will run for mayor against Coun. Diane Therrien, a councillor in Town Ward; she entered the race earlier this month.
Therrien, 32, told a packed room at Artspace on May 3 that her platform will focus on three fundamental priorities: jobs, taxes and infrastructure.
“We need to start focusing on the basics and we need to make sure we get them right,” she said.
Mayor Daryl Bennett hasn’t announced whether he’s running
for re-election yet.
But Bennett, 69, said recently in an interview on YourTV that he’s inclined to run again — although he won’t decide until after the provincial election on June 7.
Bennett is an owner of the Liftlock Group — a group of city companies that includes Capitol Taxi and several other businesses.
He had never run for office before winning the mayor’s seat in 2010; at the time he said he’d run the city like a business.
Candidates have until July 27 to file their nomination papers for the municipal election (which takes place Oct. 22).
Green opened Reggie’s Hot Grill on Hunter St. E. with Rejean Maranda in
2009; the restaurant had grown from a chip truck they operated in Lakefield.
They also opened El Camino’s tex-mex restaurant on George St., bought McThirsty’s Pub on Charlotte St. and opened Kettle Drums, their largest restaurant (on Hunter St.)
Reggie’s and El Camino’s were both later sold, leaving Green part-owner of Kettle Drums and McThirsty’s.
Meanwhile Coun. Don Vassiliadis filed nomination papers Wednesday to run for re-election to a second term in Monaghan Ward.
Vassiliadis, 45, was first elected in 2014. He’s a chef and the owner of SKH Catering Co. and used to own the Shish-Kabob Hut Greek restaurant (which closed and was demolished in late 2017 to make way for the city’s new urban park).
With Vassiliadis as chairman of transportation, the city has ushered in holiday bus service as well as free transit on New Year’s Eve.
Here’s a roundup of all who’ve filed their nomination papers so far for the election on Oct. 22: Coun. Diane Therrien for mayor. Cameron Green for mayor.
Paul Rellinger in Ashburnham Ward. Sheila Wood in Ashburnham Ward. Coun. Keith Riel in Ashburnham Ward. Coun. Gary Baldwin in Ashburnham Ward.
Coun. Dave Haacke in Northcrest Ward. Coun. Andrew Beamer in Northcrest Ward.
Zach Hatton in Northcrest Ward.
Kim Zippel in Otonabee Ward.
Brock Grills in Otonabee Ward.
Ryan Waudby in Otonabee Ward.
Dave McGowan in Monaghan Ward. Coun. Don Vassiliadis in Monaghan Ward.
Coun. Dean Pappas in Town Ward.
Kemi Akapo in Town Ward.