Mayoral candidate Colin Brown says Gananoque needs ‘collaborative’ approach to tackle infrastructure, costs

Editor’s note: To help voters to be better informed, Brockvilleist has sent invitations to profile all of Gananoque’s mayoral candidates in advance of the municipal election, which will be held on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. We will publish the profiles as we receive responses. Below is our profile of candidate Colin Brown. You can view a full roundup of all our Gananoque municipal coverage here.

Current Gananoque councillor Colin Brown is hoping to bring a fresh approach to governing the town should he succeed in his campaign to become mayor in October’s election.

Brown has found himself, along with his fellow council members, at odds with the current mayor, John Beddows, and believes that he can offer a more collaborative, bottom-up approach to tackling the town’s most pressing issues.

He says that should he become mayor, changing the dynamic of council’s decision-making process would be a top priority.

“I think one of the biggest [issues] is just lack of leadership at the head of the table, lack of communication and lack of willingness to work with other individual members of council,” Brown told Brockvilleist.

“I think we all need to collaborate. Everybody that’s at the seat of the council table has a different experience from their life. Wherever they’ve worked, certain things that they’ve been involved with, and by bringing all those minds together, I believe that you can accomplish far more as a team than an individual.”

Gananoque council had a very public disagreement with Mayor John Beddows last month, accusing Beddows of divisive leadership, refusing to accept criticism and damaging relationships with council and staff after Beddows penned an open letter to council (posted to his Facebook page) accusing them of restricting his ability to perform his duties as mayor.

“I believe that if you’re elected by the community and the residents, to cost the taxpayers over half a million dollars in legal fees when you can just say sorry and recognize your mistakes and move on, I don’t think it was the right way to go about things, said Brown.

Brown, alongside his brothers and parents, owns and operates several hotels and commercial properties throughout Gananoque, while also serving on council.

As a businessman himself, he sees the town’s overall business environment as needing improvement.

He says taxes, capital costs and overall spending are all too high to be conducive to attracting new industry.

But for Brown, attracting businesses to set up shop in town means first handling the basics; mainly the town’s aging and neglected infrastructure.

“Right now, what we’re faced with is battling aging infrastructure and making sure it’s properly maintained,” said Brown.

“People need to have peace of mind when they turn their tap on and get water coming out of it. They need to be able to flush their toilets, and you need to be able to drive on your streets without running through potholes that are destroying your vehicle.

Maintenance of the town’s infrastructure has lagged since the pandemic, and it is showing up in tangible ways for residents such as exorbitantly high water bills.

For Brown, improving infrastructure in a way that is also fiscally responsible involves multiple measures.

He is against selling off municipal assets as a primary method to reduce costs, a proposal advocated for by Mayor Beddows.

Brown believes targeted cutting of budgetary waste is the right way to go.

“I think you really need to look at the budget, you need to look at expenses and expenditure.”

“How can we cut the fat there and how can we make more value for the tax dollars that are being spent. Let’s look at our expenses. I know from my personal business experience that you have to make tough decisions sometimes when things are tight.”

Brown also stressed moving away from imposing tax hikes on residents year after year to pay for the town’s delayed improvements.

“If you want to make this place attractive for residents and potential residents, you can’t be having massive 10 per cent tax increases every year when you’re facing $500,000 legal fees.”

Increased regional transport is another issue Brown feels strongly about. He says that Gan’s economy can’t survive if it can’t reliably bring in labour from Kingston and elsewhere to work in its hospitality and summer tourism sector.

He would commit to working with the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands and the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville to expand a truly regional transit network.

He also wants to look at the water rate bill structure. Brown and other candidates that Brockvilleist spoke to cited exorbitant water charges as a primary issue that residents want to be addressed.

If elected, Brown says he’ll advocate and work with council for a water rate review and do a better job of communicating with residents about the water bills they receive.

Brown explained that that when he’s door knocking, water rates are one of the top two topics that people mention.

The other?

“Legal fees” noted Brown, steering back to the topic of the current mayor’s leadership.

“That’s what people are people are talking about.”

He stressed that his local business acumen and charitable work for CHEO give him the experience and social license needed to successfully balance the need for managing Gan’s infrastructure while also upholding transparency and avoiding having to resort to strong mayor powers and battles with council.

Brown says he has a straightforward approach to conducting himself with people.

“Treat others as you want to be treated,” he said.

“Recognize your mistakes and move on.”