Garnet Thompson – Councillor of City of Belleville, ON

Garnet Thompson is a councillor of the City of Belleville. First elected in 2006, he has served on council for 4 terms. As a councillor, he is a part-time employee of the City.

He was re-elected to council in the City of Belleville in the 2022 municipal election.

Garnet Thompson has lived in Belleville since 1974. He attends Eastminster United Church.

• Member Since: February 2006
• Salary (2019): $30,851

Education

• Renfrew Collegiate Institute

Community involvement

• Alzheimer’s Society Belleville Hastings for around 20 years
• Hasting Long Term Care (re Hastings Manor and Centennial Manor)
• Hastings Quinte Social Services – Chair
• Hastings Quinte Emergency Services
• Library – present board member and past chair
• Past member of the bring Hockey back to Belleville
• Archives – Part of the team to bring the Archives to the Library
• Past member of the Thurlow community Centre
• Volunteers regularly at the food bank

Career

Thompson worked in retail men’s wear for 50 years (Tip Top, Jack Fraser’s, Lafferty’s).

Roles as member of council

• City of Belleville Lighting Committee – Chair (former Christmas Lighting Committee)
• Quinte Source Protection Committee
• Past member of the Mayor Implementation Committee
• Centre and south Hastings Waste Services Committee
• Traffic Advisory Committee
• Accessibility Advisory Committee – Chair
• Belleville Inclusion Committee – Chair
• Active Transportation Committee
• Bay of Quinte Marketing Committee – Vice Chair
• Past member of the Glanmore National Historic site Advisor Committee

• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
• Finance Committee
• Library Board
• Regular Council
• Transportation Committee

Voting history

2018 election priorities

The four main issues he is focused on are tourism, affordable housing, infrastructure and long-term care beds.

“Housing is a big issue, especially with the large number of students coming in to Loyalist. They’re always looking for apartments or a house to share and we are short of housing for apartments, whether it be for students or people just moving to our city.” “we’ve got to try and deal with it through social services, providing housing for the needy, so we’ve got to be a little more diligent through the social services to mandate the provincial government to provide us more money to provide some of that.”

• See projects in the works over the last few years to completion, particularly infrastructure and waterfront development.
• More aggressive approach to waterfront improvement including adequate washroom facilities, upgrades at Victoria Park, additional restaurant(s) and more attractions that would appeal to youth. Some could be done with private partnerships to save tax dollars. Also, we need to make a better connection with downtown etc. to draw people south of the tracks to see our great facilities.
• Continue our campaign for affordable housing. We have some initiatives in place already but there is still a lot of work to do.
• Continue work with long term care.
• Continue as chair of the committee which oversees our wonderful Christmas lighting initiatives.
• Continue promoting Belleville with its perfect natural location as a tourism destination in itself, not just a gateway to the County. Furthermore, I want to present our city as a place to stay and live, not just visit.

I’m also advocating for the development of more affordable housing and more long-term care beds, whether that’s from the private sector or from government support there is a real need here and I’m going to continue to push to achieve those goals. – Source

2022 election priorities

I love this community. I understand it as well as anyone. But we face some growing pains as people in larger communities – and I’m thinking of Toronto – recognize that Belleville is a highly desirable place to live. This brings a new set of problems. I want to keep on working for Belleville to help our city retain its community values.

From his pamphlet:

MOVING FORWARD WITH YOU

GARNET’S GOALS FOR BELLEVILLE 

• OPEN COMMUNICATION
• Creative Affordable Housing
• Improved Accessibility for all
• Active Transportation (Walking Trails & Bike Lanes) – better use of the waterfront for public activities

On how the city can improve recruitment and attraction of healthcare workers

Issues & views

Personal life

Garnet Thompson has been married to Grace for over 35 years. They have 4 children and 6 grandchildren.

Electoral record

2018

2014 election results

Meetings

Contact

• Phone: 613-438-6016
• Email: [email protected]
• Campaign Facebook, Facebook
• Linkedin

Over to you

What do you think of Garnet Thompson as a councillor/candidate for Belleville?