Goderich Council Candidate: Charles Oliver

By: Kate Smith

Due to an error in publication, this article stated that Charles Oliver was responsible for a budget of $1 million while in charge of North American distribution for Labatts. In correction, Mr. Oliver was responsible for a budget of $1 billion while in this role. Below is the profile piece with the appropriate correction, as provided by Mr. Oliver:

With a mother who was born in Goderich to Scottish immigrants, and a father who was a farm boy from Brant County and a Second World War veteran, Charles Oliver and his partner Holly Smith – who grew up in Goderich – moved to town four years ago.

Since moving, Oliver has built a wonderful life, enjoying all that Goderich has to offer and giving back by volunteering at the Legion, joining the Board of the Goderich Memorial Community Centre and as Co-chair of the Goderich Economic Development Committee.

Running for council for Oliver is a natural extension of his commitment to service to the town.

As a newcomer, Oliver wants to be able to use his experience in over 35 years in business to assist the town in tackling problems and building a strong community.

“I believe that my career experience coupled with my knowledge of the town and the challenges we face, makes me an excellent choice for council,” admitted Oliver.

“Because of my experiences, voters will be putting someone on council who knows how to get things done, as well as someone who will ask challenging questions to ensure that we are making the best decisions in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.”

Born in London, Oliver dreamed of becoming a doctor. When he was 16 years old, his father died suddenly, so Oliver set his sights on going to university, and raised the money for that himself, along with student loans.

After completing his undergrad at the University of Toronto, Oliver applied and was accepted to the Ivey School of Business at Western University.

He spent two years studying and learning how to run a business, how to use numbers to make decisions and analyse problems.

Following his studies, Oliver began working for large multinational companies including Unilever, Walt Disney and Labatts North America. His career was split by time in both marketing and logistics.

During his time at Labatts, Oliver was managing all breweries, distribution and purchasing for all North America. He had a team of 4,000 employees and managed an operating budget of $1 billion.

After leaving Labatts, Oliver had a goal of running his own company, which he did, until retirement.

Never having served in public office before, Oliver believes his strong work ethic and a commitment to be prepared for meetings, his ability to seek out various points of view on an issue and weigh pros and cons of an issue and his deep experience on how to manage finances, particularly how to build and manage to a budget are all key skills for council.

“I have a lifetime of experience of exercising these skills and I want to put them to work for the Town of Goderich,” Oliver explained.

“I have a strong work ethic. I have always enjoyed keeping busy and anything I commit to, I give it my all and see it through the end. I am passionate about making life better for all of us in this town.”

A proud member of the Goderich Legion – to honour his father’s service as a navy veteran in the Second World War – Oliver is a member of the executive team, serving as the financial security administrator, on the board of the Memorial Community Centre.

“This town has a proud history of volunteering, sometimes in service groups, or charitable organisations, sometimes showing up to help a neighbour in need,” said Oliver.

“What an amazing community we live in.”

Oliver believes he would be a strong candidate from his time managing millions of dollars in budgets and thousands of people.

Oliver thinks council needs people who know how to properly build a budget and then hold people responsible for performing against that budget.

“I have a long track record of knowing how to manage that process, and I want to take a leadership role on council to apply that skill on behalf of residents,” said Oliver.

Despite the fact Oliver is a newcomer to this town, he has been involved in the community, in large projects and in engaging in discussions with town staff and the sitting council.

Understanding how the governance of this town works, Oliver describes himself as an honest and confident candidate, who is willing to actively listen, debate and respect differing opinions, in order to come to sound decisions for the town.

“If you want someone who is passionate and experienced, as well as respectful of others, vote for me,” stated Oliver.

“After a lifetime of learning and working that way, with me, you know that what you see if what you will get.”

Oliver says if elected, he would like to have a discussion of council’s performance on both activities and budgets. He believes this should be done on a quarterly basis.

According to Oliver, this is how he ran every business he worked in, and it meant no surprises.

That leads to top priority issues for Oliver.

Topping that list is finances and budgeting. Oliver believes increasing taxation is not something anyone wants to do, so says council should ensure through budgetary scrutiny that the town is spending money in the correct manner and priorities are in order.

Other primary issues include prioritising shared service agreements, and the potential for economic development.

“We are blessed to live on a unique piece of land. We have the only deep-water port on Lake Huron. We have the largest underwater salt mine in the world. We have an agricultural capability that is the envy and supplier to the world,” said Oliver.

“We have a beautiful town, incredible potential and an abundance of service industrial land.”

Oliver says his core values are grounded in the belief that residents in Goderich all want to live in a caring, safe community, where families can and want to settle and enjoy the surrounding geography.

What Oliver is not tolerant of, is people who do not respect bylaws, put in place to create the society described above.

“The need for safe communities intersects the responsibility to support those who are suffering from challenges that make safe integration difficult,” said Oliver.

“Our job at the municipal level on these issues is to put pressure on our provincial ministries and continue to send delegations to meet with agencies and higher levels of government to express our frustrations with this situation.”

As a councillor, Oliver says he will turn values into action and vote in favour of solutions that are within council’s control and add his voice to any delegation asking for support.

While he has only lived here a short time, Oliver feels like Goderich is his home.

He has reconnected to family roots, made wonderful friends here in a short amount of time, and although he thought retirement would be quiet, he is busier than he was when working.

If elected to council, Oliver stresses that he is able to contribute, and that’s all he wants from being on council.

“I will do my best to represent you, and to make the best decisions with other people at the table,” added Oliver.

“I will treat with respect and hopefully earn your trust in return. I would be honoured to serve as your representative and leave the town in better shape.”

Each candidate was presented with the same interview questions. What is presented in these profiles, is a result of the responses received.