Will eight years be enough for city councillor Dan McWilliams?
Most workday mornings begin the same way for City of Peterborough Deputy Mayor Dan McWilliams.
Up at 4.30 AM. Drive from the house in Cavan Monaghan to the YMCA on Aylmer Street for 5.30 AM. Get outside and power walk for ten kilometres. Arrive at work at McWilliams Moving and Storage on the Kingsway before 8 AM.
That remarkable routine – especially for one who has been receiving his CPP payments for a few years now – is a pattern as certain as the man himself.
Far less certain, however, is the decision he will soon have to make about his political future. Councillors have until July 27 to register as candidates. After two terms and eight years on the job, McWilliams will soon decide whether to carry on or call it a career.
Unlike any other city councillor, Dan McWilliams has steadfastly maintained his private sector conservative cred, urging the city to get out of businesses such as recreational services, child care and marina management unless they can operate on a full cost recovery basis.
He is also council’s acknowledged bulldog as the protector of taxpayer dollars. He votes consistently with the mayor and is proud to do so.
He thinks that too many councillors concede to constituency interests at the expense of city interests. He worries about councillors who take city staff opinions as gospel and are timid in challenging them.
He has the same forthright attitude about provincial politicians, arguing that the city’s failures to successfully complete projects such as the parkway and the annexation of neighbouring lands have much to do with a reluctance to stand up to provincial masters.
I first met McWilliams during his rookie election campaign in 2010. A well connected conservative, a highly successful businessman and a titan of the old school, he is a south end Peterborough boy through and through.
A few months into his first year in office, knowing that the city’s social services might have been a bit outside his public policy wheelhouse, I invited him to a tour of Brock Mission – Peterborough’s emergency shelter for homeless men. It was an emotional eye opener for Dan, both in terms of the rough physical conditions of the place and the rough personal conditions of the men. I
think the visit caused a slight tacking in the McWilliams course. In our recent chat, he made plain that his years on city council have given him the opportunity for engagement with a wider range of people and a deeper understanding of their needs. He noted that he has gained a more meaningful appreciation of the ceremonial aspect of his job; improved his skills as a listener; and become increasingly open to new perspectives and ideas. Politics can have that effect: when you earnestly represent a wide range of people, you widen yourself.
He chooses the power of personality over the power of paper. DAVID GOYETTE ON COUN. DAN MCWILLIAMS
His take on his biggest accomplishment over the past eight years might surprise some. It is, he says, dealing with the individual needs of local people.
The best part of the job has been representing those people; the worst part of the job has been his disappointment when the system won’t allow him to get things done for them.
The McWilliams business card tells the story. In 2010, the city provided him with a box of 250 city business cards. It remains unopened to this day, because he chooses the power of personality over the power of paper.
McWilliams is refurbishing a 1930, 30foot antique wooden boat built by Morris Boat Works in Hamilton. Its name – “Last Call” – may be a sign of things to come.