Born and raised in Cornwall, Ontario, Mayor McNamara and his family have called Tecumseh home since 1981.
After working at Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd. as a Power Engineer for 28 years, Gary retired in 2011. He has been married to Heather for 47 years, is the father of two grown sons, and proud grandfather of four.
Residents of Tecumseh first elected Gary to Tecumseh Town Council in November 1991. He was then voted in as Deputy Mayor in 1998, and as Mayor for the Town in 2003. Re-elected to the position of Mayor in 2006, acclaimed in 2010, re-elected in 2014 and acclaimed once again in 2018, Gary has successfully, and with the highest level of integrity, held this office for 15 years.
Gary’s County colleagues entrusted Gary by voting for him as Deputy Warden of the County of Essex from 2000-2003 and again for the 2010-2014 term. In December 2018, they reaffirmed their confidence in Gary’s abilities, electing him as Warden for the County.
Regionalism and Car Culture
You can listen to the full episode here Thursday at 7pm or on your favourite podcasting platform!
To frame the conversation below are some topic areas.The first half of the show is standardized (more or less) with each guest talking through these themes.
- The first part begins with you, as we introduce you as the guest. Who are you? Your path to becoming Mayor of Tecumseh and Warden
- Describe your municipality as a whole. Paint a picture for someone who has not been to your town or community before or has only seen it as a sign on the side of a road.
- What is working, and what is not, what are you building towards?
- What is your region, how does the relationship work with Essex County. You are the first Warden we have had on the show, speak to that.
- Finally, how does your community fit into SW Ontario as a whole?
The second part of the show we dig into more specific discussions.
- Between 2011-2016 Tecumseh shrank in population, between 2016-2021 barely grew while the rest of Essex Country grew faster than provincial and national averages. What happening?
- City/County relations/structure – Waterloo Region which is integrated with cities on regional councils vs Windsor-Essex Model.
- I like to assume that COVID is getting close to wrapping up. What should we be watching in Tecumseh in 2022? What about Essex County as a whole?
- Obviously it is a provincial election year, what is one policy issue you want to hear from parties?
- If you could wave a policy magic wand, what would you change?
- What is an event or reason for a listener to come to your community in the next few months?
SW Ontario Council Watcher 