Media Resources

Laurie Russell is a candidate for District Councillor representing Wards 1 & 3 in the 2026 municipal election. A long-time Georgian Bay resident with deep expertise in financial stewardship and organizational leadership, Laurie is running on a platform of honest taxes, fiscal accountability, clean water protection, and real infrastructure investment — putting the families, seniors, business owners, and property owners of Wards 1 and 3 first.

Laurie Russell has spent her career building financial accountability into complex organizations and driving change that actually sticks. For more than 30 years she held senior executive roles at JP Morgan, ABN AMRO, and CIBC — overseeing complex budgets, managing risk, negotiating agreements, and improving governance across Canada, Europe, and the United States. For the past six years she has applied that same discipline closer to home — leading a community in Muskoka with shared roads, infrastructure, budgets, contracts, long-term maintenance planning, and relationships with developers, engineers, and government officers. Running a community like that is a lot like running a small municipality. Her neighbours elected her to do it three times. She brings that practical, on-the-ground experience to this campaign — alongside the financial and governance credentials that are rarely found around a municipal council table. She is running because the people of Wards 1 and 3 — year-round families, seniors, seasonal cottage owners, island residents, and local business owners — deserve a councillor they can trust. One who shows up, reports back honestly, and never lets their interests be an afterthought at either the Township of Georgian Bay or the District of Muskoka table.