After 20 years on council, Andrew Foulds’ passsion for the city and the Current River Ward continues to grow. <\/p>\n
THUNDER BAY \u2013 Twenty years after he was first elected to represent Current River, Andrew Foulds says he continues to run out of a sense of duty to the community, calling it a privilege to serve and saying he cares deeply about Thunder Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the city of Thunder Bay is not perfect, But I think there are some really great things and I think we\u2019re on the verge of really great things. We have some significant challenges \u2026 and I guess I want to be part of a leadership team, a decision-making team, that listens to constituents, responds to constituents and is part of the team that moves the city forward,\u201d said Foulds, who returned to Westgate Collegiate this school year in a vice-principal role.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn essence, maybe setting the policies and conditions for the next 20 years, for our children, and in my case, maybe even grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n
After five terms in office, Foulds still believes he\u2019s got something to offer the people of Current River and the city as a whole.<\/p>\n
During his tenure, Foulds said the refurbishment of the Current River dam is one of his proudest accomplishments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThousands of people walk around Boulevard Lake and that dam, widening it, making it more accessible, having the viewing platform, was a big deal. Never mind the fact we had to structurally reinforce it. If we look at some other things, at Boulevard Lake Park, whether it\u2019s the new playground, whether it\u2019s the volleyball, pickleball\/tennis courts, those are phenomenal,\u201d Foulds said, adding he also helped bring new equipment to Centennial Park and upgrades to Cumberland Street and the Arundel Street corridor.<\/p>\n
Looking forward, Foulds said the current council has started to close the infrastructure gap, which is estimated to be $30 million annually, but more work needs to be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually think the next council needs to take a look at what our increases are in that investment. And I also think we need to take a look at the engineering standards of our infrastructure, because I do believe the impacts of climate change,\u201d Foulds said. \u201cWe\u2019re having a longer freeze-thaw in the spring than\u00a0we\u2019ve ever\u00a0had and that\u2019s really beating up our roads.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green space is also on the veteran councillor\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
He was one of just three councillors, along with Rajni Agarwal and Michael Zussino, to vote against rezoning 791 Arundel Street to allow two seven-storey apartment buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreen spaces are not something we should take for granted, and it is something I\u2019m hearing people value. It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s that small park in your neigbourhood that families can go to and have a picnic or throw the ball around,\u201d Foulds said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr if it\u2019s the larger parks or regional parks. Certainly, in my ward, green spaces are important. They\u2019re valued. And they serve, in my view, a broader public service.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just Current River residents raising their arms either, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to take that seriously \u2026 I want them to be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foulds said he\u2019ll also continue to push for the province to turn over the former Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital lands to the city and let the community decide what to do with the property, which is currently zoned for development at the order of the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s hope that the public would have some input on protections,\u201d Foulds said.<\/p>\n
The election is Oct. 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 20 years on council, Andrew Foulds’ passsion for the city and the Current River Ward continues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,316970],"class_list":["post-920599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-thunder-bay-municipal-election-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}