About Clark Somerville

Growing up on a farm just outside of Acton, Clark saw first-hand the value that agricultural and rural areas play in the vitality of our communities.  Clark has served as a Halton Hills Local Councillor and Halton Regional Councillor for over 17 years His ward encompasses both urban and rural areas, and as a result Clark has continuously advocated for protected the countryside and the Niagara Escarpment from being designated for future highway corridors and growth areas.

Municipally, Clark has served as a member of the Halton Regional Police Services Board, Chair of Halton’s Health and Social Services Committee, Vice President of the Halton Community Housing Corporation and a variety of other committees.

Clark has worked with various community groups such as Poverty Free Halton, and has been an advocate for accessible and affordable housing.  He has supported transit passes for low income earners as well as worked to ensure that all official plans include inclusive neighbourhoods and affordable housing options

During his 5 years working on FCM, Clark has served as the Vice Chair of the Social Economic Development Committee as well as the Rural Forum.  He also served as Chair of the Housing Committee and has been a member of the Municipal Finance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, Municipal Infrastructure and Transportation, International Relations and the Corrections Canada Working Group along with the DFAIT Working group on trade issues.  He was instrumental in founding the “Men4Women” Group that annually raises money for the Mayor Andree Boucher Memorial Scholarship.  Clark also led a fundraiser for the Angel Street Women’s Shelter, in Iqaluit, which brought much needed supplies to the residents of that area.

“I feel my background and unique perspective provides me with the valuable tools to be the 3^rd Vice President of the FCM, “ said Clark Somerville .  “As a Local and Regional Councillor, I understand the issues facing our communities, whether its immigration services, affordable housing, transit or other services that matter to our residents. There is a need for us to continue to work in partnership with the Provincial, Territorial and  Federal government to ensure our communities are sustainable.”

It’s important  that whoever is elected, understand  the uniqueness of all the areas of our country.  Canada’s rural communities have huge housing challenges as well as infrastructure needs that could cripple their ability to pay.  As our natural resource sectors grow its essential to ensure that the rural communities have the necessary services in place.

“I have the experience and the balance as a Councillor who represents a largely rural and urban area, in the fast growing Greater Toronto Area, to understand and work with all areas of the country.  I believe in being open and approachable and always welcome feedback on all the issues,” commented Clark Somerville “I look forward to and appreciate your support.”

À propos de Clark Somerville

 Ayant grandi sur une ferme juste à l'extérieur de Acton, Clark a vu de première main la valeur que les zones agricoles et rurales jouent dans la vitalité de nos communautés. Clark a servi de Halton Hills Conseiller local et régional pour plus de 17 ans sa paroisse englobe à la fois les zones urbaines et rurales, et en conséquence Clark a toujours pousser en faveur de la protection de la nature et de l'escarpement du Niagara d'être désigné pour corridors routiers futurs et les zones de croissance.

Localement, Clark a servi en tant que membre de la Commission des services de police régional de Halton, présidente du comité des services sociaux et de santé de Halton et, vice-président de la Société de logement communautaire de Halton et une variété d'autres comités.

Clark a travaillé avec divers groupes communautaires tels que la pauvreté gratuite Halton, et a été un défenseur de logements accessibles et abordables. Il a soutenu les titres de transport pour les personnes à faible revenu ainsi que veillé à ce que tous les plans officiels comprennent quartiers inclusifs et des options de logements abordables.

Au cours de ses cinq années de travail de la FCM, Clark a servi comme vice-président du Comité de développement socio-économique ainsi que le Forum rural. Il a également servi en tant que président du Comité du logement et a été membre du comité des finances municipales et le Comité intergouvernemental sur les relations, les infrastructures municipales et transports, relations internationales et le Groupe de travail sur les services correctionnels du Canada avec le groupe de travail du MAECI sur les questions commerciales. Il a contribué à la fondation du groupe "Men4Women" qui soulève chaque année des fonds pour la Bourse d'études pour la maire Andrée Boucher.  Clark a également mené une collecte de fonds pour le refuge de l'Ange, rue des femmes, à Iqaluit, qui a apporté des fournitures indispensables pour les habitants de cette région.

Je croie que ma jeunesse et mes expériences et la perspective unique me fournit les outils précieux pour le 3ème vice-président de la FCM », a déclaré Clark Somerville. «En tant que conseillère municipale et régionale, je comprends les problèmes auxquels font face nos communautés, qu'il s'agisse de ses services en matière d'immigration, le logement abordable, de transit ou d'autres services qui comptent pour nos résidents. Il est nécessaire pour nous de continuer à travailler en partenariat avec les gouvernements provinciaux, territoriaux et fédéral pour que nos collectivités soient durables ".

 Il est important que celui qui est élu, comprenne le caractère unique de toutes les régions de notre pays. Collectivités rurales du Canada ont des problèmes de logement énormes ainsi que les besoins d'infrastructure qui pourrait paralyser leur capacité de payer. Comme nos secteurs des ressources naturelles poussent il est essentiel de s'assurer que les communautés rurales aient les services nécessaires en place.

«J'ai l'expérience et de l'équilibre comme un conseiller qui représente une zone essentiellement rurale et urbaine, dans la région du Grand Toronto et sa rapide croissance, de comprendre et de travailler avec toutes les régions du pays. Je crois qu'il faut être ouvert et accessible et toujours recevoir des commentaires sur toutes les questions », a commenté Clark Somerville" J'ai hâte de vous entendre et je vous remercie de votre soutien. "

New federal long-term infrastructure plan must provide secure, predictable funding for Ontario rural communities, says FCM(26/02/2013)

TORONTO - The federal government's new long-term infrastructure plan must provide secure, predictable funding for rural municipalities, said Federation of Canadian Municipalities' board member Clark Somerville, to delegates gathered today in Toronto for the 2013 Combined Conference of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) and Ontario Good Roads Association (OGRA).

"Predictable funding is key for good planning, but it is also essential for Canada's long-term economic prosperity," said Somerville. "Without predictable and long-term funding partnerships, it is impossible for rural municipalities to maintain infrastructure that is used not only by rural citizens, but also by the industries operating in rural Canada that form the backbone of our economy and contribute to over 50% of Canada's exports."

Like larger cities, rural communities need a full range of public infrastructure, from roads and water supply networks to libraries and community centres, to protect their quality of life and foster new economic development. With secure, predictable funding, municipalities will be able to budget efficiently and develop long-term repair and replacement plans for aging infrastructure such as roads and bridges, water and wastewater facilities.

"Rural Ontario's contribution is vital to our national economy," said Somerville. "To secure Canada's long-term economic growth, we need rural Ontario communities to have the infrastructure and services to support growing businesses and working families, and compete globally."

The federal government has committed to have the long-term plan in place before current federal infrastructure funding programs expire in March 2014. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) says Canada needs a twenty year plan with predictable funding to fix its crumbling infrastructure. FCM is proposing new investment through predictable programs that will ensure matching provincial and municipal dollars, cut red tape and further leverage private sector investment.

In addition to the ROMA/OGRA conference, FCM is taking part this week to the annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, where it will speak to the importance of long-term, predictable infrastructure funding for rural communities.

The Highway to Hell...

is paved with good intentions…
I have updated this posting as the GTA West is getting closer to having comments filed with the MTO.
Kudos to Halton HIlls resident Peter Motem for the mock up of the sign...

The MTO has picked the worst possible solution and have ignored reality and obvious ones.
They have ignored that they could build out 401 from Tremaine over to Winston Churchill with 12 lanes by going to a urban cross section instead of a rural cross section. That means they need no more road width and can build it in there present road allowance.
They have also ignored the fact that GO will be coming to Kitchener and have not provided for increased rail traffic.
It is the same old "paving paradise".

While the land in that area is under tremendous pressure from developers. It is still productive farmland. It will be under more pressure if it is near a major highway and the developers will push for housing.
My vision is for crops of wheat, corn or beans not houses!

A year ago they had 2 options for us to cinsider. What they did was pick them both!
At Council we voted the other night to adamantly oppose the 4-3 option. The 4-2 can bring a needed bypass to Norval.
The 4-3 may end up bringing some economic development to Halton HIlls but at what price?

My vision is for a sustainable agricultural area in Halton HIlls, not freeways or more then likely toll roads across our remainging farm land.


What it means to Halton HIlls is that our farmland south of 10 SR will be effectively frozen for 3 to 5 years. Also all the houses and businesses in this area will have to have MTO approval for any application they wish to file. How would you feel if it was your land?

We wil be out with post cards preaddressed to the Minsiter, Look for us around town th enext few weeks.
Here was the original posting.



Over the last couple of years the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has been looking at options to move goods, people and services across the gridlock that is southern Ontario. A variety of areas were looked at and it was focused down on a couple. One that will have an impact on us will be the GTA West Corridor study.


The GTA west study has looked at a variety of options that impact us here in Halton Hills from a northern route across the of the GTA to connect basically, Kitchener with the 400. This first option would be located north of Acton and would be a 8 lane 400 series highways. It would traverse the Niagara Escarpment, the Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Moraine. There have been a lot of concerns from Guelph Eramosa mayor Chris White as it would wipe out a large swath of the best farmland in the area and could have a detrimental effect on the greenbelted farmers. The study is not recommending it go forward.
Two options are going going forward and I will summarize them below. The first one would start at the 401/407 (option 4-2) and then head north and cross into Brampton around 10 SR. This is a study area that is similar to what has been looked at by a separate study called HPBATS or the Halton peel Border Area Transportation Study. This study came out of the regions Official Plan as Peel and Brampton had appealed it as we did not agree with there vision of solving traffic from the rapid growth was to dump it into our area.
I was one of the first at Council to object to how they were advertising in our papers requesting the area east of Trafalgar south of Georgetown be frozen while they figured it out. Even a meeting with the Peel Regional Chair showed there desire to ram this threw. Peel would not even talk about the Norval bypass but they finally saw the light! I am glad all of Council showed the same concern and we have taken a long time to get to today’s MOU of working together. This route may have a great benefit to Halton Hills as we could have greater exposure on a 400 series highway for our industrial area. Mayor Rick and I have attended a multitude of meetings and open houses on this one and will keep working on it. It has a price tag of over 600 million. Not one cent has been assigned.
The one with the most dramatic impact on us would start around the 401 at Tremaine Road across the bottom of Halton Hills, cross into Brampton and connect north in a area around Mayfield. This is the option 4-3 written about in the local papers. http://www.insidehalton.com/community/haltonhills/article/853565
This route would cut across all of our agriculture area and would be the deathknell of our farming community in the south part of Halton Hills. A 400 series highway would put tremendous pressure for the area to be urbanised. To have the straight rows of corn and soybeans to be replaced by rows of houses, cars and big box stores. The area would be lost forever and our rich history of farming would be lost. There are some who would benefit as they could flip there land to other speculators. The land owners of today would not as this would be a 20 to 30 year plan.
Our Council is sending a strong message of opposition to this plan to the MTO and the Ontario government. We need to hear from you and your thoughts. Some people have taken the time to write us and the papers about it. Comments and concerns can be sent to any of us and also should be sent to the study team. More information can be found at http://www.gta-west.com My fear as it relieves a choke point at tremaine on the 401 is that the staff at the Province will think it is a wonderful thing to have 12 lanes of traffic there.
I will have more on agriculture tomorrow.

The road to hell…

is paved with good intentions…
I have updated this posting as the GTA West is getting closer to having comments filed with the MTO.
The MTO has picked the worst possible solution and have ignored reality and obvious ones.
They have ignored that they could build out 401 from Tremaine over to Winston Churchill with 12 lanes by going to a urban cross section instead of a rural cross section. That means they need no more road width and can build it in there present road allowance.
They have also ignored the fact that GO will be coming to Kitchener and have not provided for increased rail traffic.
It is the same old "paving paradise".

While the land in that area is under tremendous pressure from developers. It is still productive farmland. It will be under more pressure if it is near a major highway and the developers will push for housing.
My vision is for crops of wheat, corn or beans not houses!

A year ago they had 2 options for us to cinsider. What they did was pick them both!
At Council we voted the other night to adamantly oppose the 4-3 option. The 4-2 can bring a needed bypass to Norval.
The 4-3 may end up bringing some economic development to Halton HIlls but at what price?

My vision is for a sustainable agricultural area in Halton HIlls, not freeways or more then likely toll roads across our remainging farm land.


What it means to Halton HIlls is that our farmland south of 10 SR will be effectively frozen for 3 to 5 years. Also all the houses and businesses in this area will have to have MTO approval for any application they wish to file. How would you feel if it was your land?

We wil be out with post cards preaddressed to the Minsiter, Look for us around town th enext few weeks.
Here was the original posting.

Over the last couple of years the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has been looking at options to move goods, people and services across the gridlock that is southern Ontario. A variety of areas were looked at and it was focused down on a couple. One that will have an impact on us will be the GTA West Corridor study.


The GTA west study has looked at a variety of options that impact us here in Halton Hills from a northern route across the of the GTA to connect basically, Kitchener with the 400. This first option would be located north of Acton and would be a 8 lane 400 series highways. It would traverse the Niagara Escarpment, the Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Moraine. There have been a lot of concerns from Guelph Eramosa mayor Chris White as it would wipe out a large swath of the best farmland in the area and could have a detrimental effect on the greenbelted farmers. The study is not recommending it go forward.
Two options are going going forward and I will summarize them below. The first one would start at the 401/407 (option 4-2) and then head north and cross into Brampton around 10 SR. This is a study area that is similar to what has been looked at by a separate study called HPBATS or the Halton peel Border Area Transportation Study. This study came out of the regions Official Plan as Peel and Brampton had appealed it as we did not agree with there vision of solving traffic from the rapid growth was to dump it into our area.
I was one of the first at Council to object to how they were advertising in our papers requesting the area east of Trafalgar south of Georgetown be frozen while they figured it out. Even a meeting with the Peel Regional Chair showed there desire to ram this threw. Peel would not even talk about the Norval bypass but they finally saw the light! I am glad all of Council showed the same concern and we have taken a long time to get to today’s MOU of working together. This route may have a great benefit to Halton Hills as we could have greater exposure on a 400 series highway for our industrial area. Mayor Rick and I have attended a multitude of meetings and open houses on this one and will keep working on it. It has a price tag of over 600 million. Not one cent has been assigned.
The one with the most dramatic impact on us would start around the 401 at Tremaine Road across the bottom of Halton Hills, cross into Brampton and connect north in a area around Mayfield. This is the option 4-3 written about in the local papers. http://www.insidehalton.com/community/haltonhills/article/853565
This route would cut across all of our agriculture area and would be the deathknell of our farming community in the south part of Halton Hills. A 400 series highway would put tremendous pressure for the area to be urbanised. To have the straight rows of corn and soybeans to be replaced by rows of houses, cars and big box stores. The area would be lost forever and our rich history of farming would be lost. There are some who would benefit as they could flip there land to other speculators. The land owners of today would not as this would be a 20 to 30 year plan.
Our Council is sending a strong message of opposition to this plan to the MTO and the Ontario government. We need to hear from you and your thoughts. Some people have taken the time to write us and the papers about it. Comments and concerns can be sent to any of us and also should be sent to the study team. More information can be found at http://www.gta-west.com My fear as it relieves a choke point at tremaine on the 401 is that the staff at the Province will think it is a wonderful thing to have 12 lanes of traffic there.
I will have more on agriculture tomorrow.