Elect Christopher Baines for Collingwood Council
Voting day Monday, October 26, 2026
Candidate for Collingwood Council
Eight years serving the boards and committees and the last four
years on Council.
EAGER TO CONTINUE AT THE COUNCIL TABLE.
Candidate, Collingwood Council
Chartered Mediator, 34+ years
First on the ballot
I’ve spent eight years serving Collingwood from the committee and board side and four years on council as your elected representative. I am asking for your vote to continue, here is why.
First on the ballot — and working to be first in your hearts.
What I’m backing
The priorities
Six specific issues facing Collingwood, each one headed for the council table, each one needing a vote to land the right way.
Stop the Third Street throughway
Linking Mountain Road straight through to Pretty River Parkway turns residential streets into a virtual throughway. Neighbourhoods take preference over traffic.
Fix the Cranberry Trail West flooding
Chronic, annual, and entirely predictable at Highway 26. Residents have reported it for years. It needs an engineered fix, not another study.
Water quantity & the Stormwater Master Plan
Get the Stormwater Master Plan implemented — with the tweaks that experience on the ground says it needs.
Implement Vision Zero
Design our streets for people, not cars. No death or serious injury on Collingwood roads is an acceptable cost of getting somewhere faster.
A ward system for Collingwood
At-large elections leave whole neighbourhoods without anyone who answers to them. Wards give every part of town a name at the table.
Fiscal Prudence
Greater fiscal prudence in financial planning moving forward.
In their words
Neighbours backing Baines
“Christopher has worked with our neighbourhood on flooding issues and has provided support and guidance with the Town and NVCA with this complex issue.”
Heather McCleary
Woodland Court, Cranberry Marsh
“As a small business owner I appreciate his advice and assistance with the Town’s red tape.”
Joseph Lawrence House B&B
Heritage B&B, Collingwood
“…Christopher has always helped our community when we asked for his help, and we appreciate that.”
Muhammad Riaz
Dollar Village, Collingwood
Duckmaster on duty
Christopher is Duckmaster for the Optimist Club’s annual Rubber Duckie Race.
Who you’d be voting for
A mediator, not a megaphone
More than thirty-four years as a Chartered Mediator means thirty-four years of getting people who disagree into the same room — and out of it with something workable.
That is the whole job at a council table. Collingwood does not need more speeches. It needs someone who can read a stormwater report, listen to the streets that flood, and find the decision that actually holds — then hold it through the votes that follow.
Christopher is married with two grown daughters and a noisy dog. He served four years on Collingwood’s Police Services Board and four on the Committee of Adjustment, and still practises as a mediator, specializing in family estate facilitation.
Around the table and around town
Where the work happens
34+
Years as a Chartered Mediator
8
Years on town boards, 2014–2022
4
Years on Council, 2022-2026
6
Boards & committees served
6
Priorities for the next council
Police Services Board (2014–2018). Committee of Adjustment (2018–2022). The Poet Laureate Selection Committee (2017), the Museum Advisory Board (2022 – Present), the Blue Mountain Watershed Trust board (2014 – Present) and the Cameron Street Public School On The Move committee. An official town fence viewer (2017) and the on-going Duckmaster for the Optimists’ Club’s Annual Rubber Duckie Race.
Christopher Baines