Tom Sweeney looking to serve the community as Regional Councillor

August 4, 2022 · 0 Comments

Sweeney is running for Regional Councillor, Wards 1, 2 and 3 in this October’s election

By Zachary Roman

Being of service to Caledon is very important to Tom Sweeney.

Sweeney’s mom was a teacher for over 30 years in Caledon, and he said through her job she became involved in a lot of volunteer work. Growing up and seeing that inspired Sweeney and it was one of the reasons he decided to start doing some volunteering of his own in Caledon.

Now, Sweeney has been involved with the Caledon Lions Club for 12 years; currently as secretary, though he’s served as president in the past. When Sweeney’s kids were in scouts, he volunteered there for years too.

Sweeney is running for Regional Councillor, Wards 1, 2 and 3 in this October’s municipal election. He said running for councillor feels like the next natural step for him as it will be a way for him to increase the service he provides to the community.

Sweeney said he wants to work to help his Caledon neighbours through any issues and problems they may be having.

Sweeney has lived in Caledon for his entire life, and his two sons are the sixth generation of his family to live on the Sweeney property near Caledon Village. The Sweeney family moved to Caledon from Ireland in the 1840s, and farmed their property until Sweeney’s father retired from farming. Sweeney began his professional career in the logistics industry and enjoyed it, rising to a managerial position. About 20 years ago, he decided he’d like to work a job that let him be outside, and started his own masonry business in Caledon, which he has been running successfully ever since.

Describing himself as fact-based, Sweeney said big changes are coming to Caledon whether we want them or not, referencing the Region of Peel’s estimate that Caledon will grow to a population of 300,000 by 2051.

He said Caledon’s small communities, villages, and hamlets need to have their way of life and rural feel, protected from this growth. Still, Sweeney said he can see opportunities for change that would benefit quality of life for people in those communities.

“I’d like to see the community get ahead of it; we know there are changes coming. While I appreciate that we want to combat some of the negative aspects of growth, at the same time I want to be at the table, I want the community to be at the table in order to help negotiate changes that are acceptable and that fit the community,” said Sweeney. “I don’t want to see Caledon become something that is so different that we… don’t feel like we live in the same place.”

Sweeney said Caledon to him is the place where he feels the happiest. Having lived here his whole life, he thinks the Town’s rolling hills and forests are what makes Caledon feel like Caledon.

“Caledon in my mind is just a good place to be,” said Sweeney. “Even when I go away and enjoy vacations, I really like it when I come back and [I’m] on home turf.”

It’s not just the landscape, however, as Sweeney said Caledon’s character comes from the community itself. Over the years, he said he’s been so impressed seeing all the great things small non-profits, charities, and community groups have been able to accomplish in Caledon.

Sweeney said in the age of social media, there can be a lot of talk and not a lot of action in politics.

“I want to see some change to that, in that we don’t just talk about it, that we actually try to take some action. It doesn’t always work. We know that it can’t always work. But we have to do our best to make the attempt anyway,” said Sweeney. He describes his leadership style as hands-on, and said in his working life as a manager he never asks someone to do something that he wouldn’t be comfortable doing himself.

Sweeney said one of his skills as a leader is the ability to identify the right people who have the right ideas to fix a given issue. In doing this, Sweeney said he is able to save resources and time, and make the best possible decisions.

He gave a simple example of this from his career in logistics.

“What I learned, as I went through and got into management, if I wanted to know the best course of action to get these trucks loaded, or to do a specific task, I wasn’t going to go and ask a guy that sat at a desk all day,” said Sweeney. “I was going to ask the players on the floor, the men and women that worked there and say, ‘Look, I need your help, I need your advice. I need your skills to help me make the right decision’.”

If elected, Sweeney said he would want people to think of him as a facilitator or representative. When representing constituents at Town or Regional council, Sweeney said he wants to bring peoples’ issues to light and work within realistic parameters to get things done. Sweeney said he is a realist, that he’s not going to tell someone “he can get green cheese off the moon.”

“I don’t want to mislead people into believing that something can happen that can’t… I really want to just represent and come out and be strong in that leadership,” said Sweeney.

He added he doesn’t want to see well-meaning community members spending valuable time and resources for nothing. In those types of situations, Sweeney said he’d do his best to find another path that could come to a similar result, by going to the right leaders in the community for the job.

Sweeney commended Caledon’s current Town council for their work addressing problems during the difficult times of the pandemic. Something he’d like to see more advocacy for in the future is getting high-speed internet to all parts of the community.

“The one thing I’d probably like to see the most… is tightening up the interaction between the councillors within the wards to ensure that each little community… they get the attention that they require,” said Sweeney.

When talking about communities such as Inglewood, Belfountain, Terra Cotta, Cheltenham, Caledon Village, and Alton, Sweeney said it’s important for them to find common ground. While each individual village or hamlet may not have a large population base to bring issues to Council, if they can all band together on common goals, real changes they want to see can be achieved, said Sweeney.

If elected as Regional Councillor, Sweeney said he’d want to unite with the councillors of Wards 1, 2 and 3 and become a strong team to tackle issues across the wards. An example of a shared issue Sweeney sees across Wards 1, 2 and 3 in Caledon is traffic congestion and speeding.

At the regional level, Sweeney said Caledon needs to make it very clear that it’s part of the Region of Peel and willing to come to the table and help, since the number of regional councillors Caledon will have in the next term of Council compared to this one is decreasing by two.

During his life in Caledon, Sweeney said he’s often seen people using their own personal resources to try and get things done in their communities. While he commends their effort, he said the Town’s resources should be used for community improvement and that it’s up to councillors to work with those community members and let them know they’re there to help.

Sweeney said he wants to see Caledon’s small businesses continue to thrive, noting Caledon’s independent coffee shops and restaurants are great places for people to gather and be part of their community.

Throughout his life, Sweeney said he’s been able to act as a facilitator between people, find common ground, and get things done. Those interested in learning more about Sweeney’s platform can reach out to him by email at [email protected] or by phone at 519-278-0678.

“Any sort of connection that I can make with the population would be fantastic, because I’ve got to get out there and be able to speak to people,” said Sweeney. “I’d like to speak to people because I want to hear from them… we’ve had a real hard time over the last couple of years, and I think as a community, we need to grab on to what we like… and use those things going forward.”