Panel Members

• Douglas Downey (Chair)

  Douglas Downey is a partner in a six lawyer, central Ontario law firm. As a Certified Specialist in Real Estate Law by the Law Society of Upper Canada, he has completed transactions of great complexity. He lectures for Laurentian University at Georgian College; has taught the Real Estate Bar Admission Course for the Law Society of Upper Canada; and occasionally lectures for the Schulich School of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario on law related topics.

  Mr. Downey has served six years as Councillor with the City of Orillia and three years on the Board of Directors of Ontario Small Urban Municipalities. He continues to stay active in the community as Immediate Past-President of the Kiwanis Club of Orillia and Vice-President of the Orillia and District Chamber of Commerce.

  Mr. Downey obtained his Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilfrid Laurier University; Master of Arts, specializing in Judicial Administration, from Brock University; and a Law Degree from Dalhousie University at Halifax. He is currently completing a Master of Laws in Municipal and Development Law through Osgoode Hall Law School.

• Sandra Barrett

  Sandra Barrett has been involved in public life at many levels, and was elected Councillor of Ward Six for the newly amalgamated City of Kawartha Lakes in 2000. She is past-president of the Fenelon Falls District Chamber of Commerce and has chaired the Village Improvement Committee for the past six years.

  Chair of the Trent Severn Advisory Committee since 2004, Sandra Barrett was also chair of the Executive of the Board of Governors of Sir Sanford Fleming College, a member of the Board of Health and of the District Health Council. She has been involved in number of strategic planning initiatives and is an advocate for the preservation and protection of cultural heritage resources.

• Greg Bishop

  Greg Bishop is a land use consultant with extensive experience in all aspects of planning including severances, plans of subdivision, variances, rezoning, and official plan amendments.

  He was a member of the Ontario Municipal Board from 2000 –2004, and served as Vice-Chair in 2003 and 2004. Mr. Bishop taught surveying, Autocad and the use of global positioning systems at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay, and has been a registered Professional Engineer since 1982 and an Ontario Land Surveyor since 1986.

  A member of the Haliburton County Environmental and Planning Committee, he has a Bachelor of Science Degree, in the Survey Engineer Program, from the University of New Brunswick.

• Dean Peters

  Dean Peters developed extensive project management, team building and analytical skills during a career with Ontario Hydro/Ontario Power Generation and several machinery manufacturers.

  Since retirement, he has focused on community service and has been involved in establishing a residential hospice, as well as a multi-use recreation facility, in the Municipality of Trent Hills. Now Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Trent Hills, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Lower Trent Conservation Authority and several other committees.

  A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan in Mechanical Engineering, Mr. Peters is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.

• Doug Rollins

  Doug Rollins was a community member of the Ontario Parole and Earned Release Board until his four-year term was completed on April 8/07 and, until Jack Parrott’s death in 2005, managed (along with Jack Parrott) a considerable portfolio of property for the John M. Parrott Foundation.

  A member of Provincial Parliament representing the riding of Quinte from 1995 to 1999, Mr. Rollins served as the vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Administration of Justice and was the chair of the Standing Committee on Finance.

  He was educated at the Ontario Agricultural College and the University of Guelph and worked as a farmer after graduation, purchasing a local gas station in 1974. Mr. Rollins is chair of the Quinte Exhibition and Raceway, the Belleville Waterfront Festival and Victoria Park.

• Professor Thomas H. B. Symons

  Professor Symons has had a distinguished career as a writer, teacher and administrator in the fields of Canadian Studies, contemporary intellectual and cultural issues and international academic and cultural relations.

  He is a Companion of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of Ontario. The Founding President of Trent University, he was educated at the University of Toronto and at Oxford and Harvard Universities. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Geographic Society of Britain, he has been awarded honorary degrees by 14 Canadian universities and colleges.

  Professor Symons has served as Chairman of the Commission on Canadian Studies, Chairman of the Commission on French Language Education in Ontario, Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the National Atlas of Canada and Chair of the National Library. Chair of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada for 10 years, he is now chair of the Peterborough-Lakefield Police Commission.