Word on the Doorstep-Week 1

I might be a little behind on these installments, but alas that is the realities of a busy campaign. 

The first week of campaigning started in the Valley. It was still warm, and very randomly humid, which certainly slowed me down. I felt like I was getting my sea legs in terms of how to approach people at the doors. I think I went through a few variations of my introduction before landing on something I felt was open ended. I wanted everyone to feel like they could ask me anything, air their concerns or simply review my card and reach out later. I know so many people are busy or tired of politics so I didn't want to hold anyone hostage at the door. I do hope none of you felt this way!

I heard many residents air their grievances about increased traffic down 10 and through the intersection. How their little private beaches have become “instagram famous” and they are not able to enjoy the summer as they once were. I do believe this is an unfortunate and unavoidable consequence of social media and the bustling tourism industry the County has now. But, that does not erase how people feel and that the County has changed in ways we cannot do anything about whether you feel is positive, negative or somewhere in the middle.

Yet on the other hand I talked to people who say this summer they felt a drop in their business. 

Change is inevitable. My goal is to move forward with decisions that are conscientious of the impacts of how it will change the County. I want to make sure I echo my neighbours and residents of Athol. I want to make decisions by thinking of the people and our future, which will require tough decisions and changes. However, something important and often overlooked is what we already have and making sure we don't lose this in the journey forward.

My worry is that we become a place that is too busy to enjoy as a tourist or as a resident. The consequence of this is losing the income that sustains not only STA’s but also small business and restaurants. These businesses and residents who have employees, families and are already struggling. We cannot change to the point we are completely unrecogniseable or we lose the reason people travel, move and stay here.

The last thing I want is to make a decision which takes income away from those who rely on it. Prince Edward County is a top tourist destination because of our community, agriculture and environment. Protecting and preserving this is essential to keeping our residents and our industry. 

Otherwise we risk turning into the very thing people come here to escape from.

It is imperative to recognise what we have so we can protect it. 

I continued Week 1 by meeting residents on Brummell Road and Kelly Rd. Many of them brought up agriculture concerns. We shared concern that once the agricultural land is developed we cannot get it back. Many residents have also shared concerns for our ever increasing cost of living crisis, more on my thoughts on this in a later installment.

Becoming a self sustaining nation has been quite the hot topic when it comes to international politics. But, what about strengthening local production and agriculture. A strong economy for everyone starts with people spending their money close to home. That money stays in the community. We have all heard, when you buy local it means the owner can pay their employee and that employee or owner can maybe- enrol their child in local sport, or attend a local production, or buy dinner from a local restaurant and the cycle goes on. It doesn’t leave and go to someone's multimillion dollar bottom-line. 

The point here is when we lose local producers we weaken our economy. I want to do what we can to strengthen “inter-county” trade if you will. I want to strengthen agriculture and continue to do what we can to incentivise young farmers so we can keep our agricultural industry strong. I also want to bring jobs to the county so we can have four season jobs and a reason to stay here for young people and young families. Some of these things take time to see the long term effects but I hope we can start to see the numbers turn soon.

The hope is that if elected, my values and goals can be used to influence policy changes and amendments that can set out a ripple effect to create a strong County for generations to come.

Speak Soon,

Emily Jane Pickstock

2026 Candidate for Athol Councillor