Elect Dakota Cherry for Guelph City Council, Ward 5 this Fall!
Let’s come together to build a greener, more affordable and connected Guelph!
Campaign Priorities
This campaign is built on three main priorities identified through active and ongoing engagement with Ward 5 residents. While environment isn’t a specific priority of its own, it is interwoven throughout and foundational to every pillar of our platform.
Making Public Dollars Count
Guelph has the highest property taxes of similarly sized cities in the region, and partly owing to this, rent is equally unaffordable. It's time to start exploring other options.
Municipalities require funding for essential services, but relying solely on tax increases that are not in line with inflation is not sustainable. I've worked professionally in grant writing for the past 8 years, raising over $1 million for community-based projects. I want to bring this same resourceful approach to Council, pursuing and advocating for more provincial and federal funding, while directing municipal dollars toward residents’ most pressing needs.
This is what accountability means to me: responsiveness to community needs, a broader funding base, and greater impact for every public dollar spent.
Cost of Living in Guelph
Food: The new $3 billion federal investment in food security presents a huge opportunity for Guelph, which I plan to leverage to help make food more affordable. With a Master's degree in food security, I have studied proven concepts for lowering prices and regaining autonomy of local food systems. Canada is almost entirely dependent on volatile world markets (and leaders) for the food we rely on. Faced with these challenges, self-reliance is more important than ever and it starts at the municipal level.
Housing: Ontario’s current “build more” strategy has failed to meaningfully restore housing affordability. While new housing remains necessary, approvals alone will not solve the crisis. Municipalities must do more to support tenants and first-time buyers through measures such as vacant-home and vacant-commercial-property taxes, while ensuring development decisions are guided by evidence about affordability, housing needs, infrastructure capacity and community impacts.
Your Voice at City Hall
Throughout my career working with communities and researchers, I've learned that those closest to issues often have some of the best solutions for addressing them. I will bring this principle to City Hall, ensuring decision-making is transparent and community-led, not something residents are informed about after the fact.
I will also ensure residents have a direct voice in local decisions and clear information about what's happening at City Hall. Through regular in-community updates and opportunities to inform important decisions online and through in-person gatherings, residents will have a say on issues that matter most to them at every stage of the policy cycle.
Q&A
1. Should Guelph do more to combat climate change?
Yes. Combatting climate change is natural outcome of policies that can also reduce the cost of food, improve human health, as well as support local farmers, economies and people.
2. What about building more homes?
The current "build more" strategy to address the housing crisis has clearly failed to meaningfully improve the state of affordability. There are other ways that we can support our economy outside of accelerating the construction of homes, including through vacant home and commercial building taxes, which are already underway.
3. What is my stance on bike lanes?
As an avid cyclist myself, I know the convenience and safety that dedicated bike lanes provide. Guelph as a whole should be more commutable by bike, and not have safe travel options limited to key corridors around the University and downtown.
The range of bike lane implementations around the city (painted-line gutters, concrete block dividers, raised protected pathways etc...) shows the disconnect that exists between "decision-makers" and the residents who actually use the infrastructure each day. By consulting experts and engaging people in the community BEFORE shovels go in the ground, we can not only end up with better systems, but also avoid the significant cost of implementing solutions end-users dislike.
Plans of Action
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Nice to Meet You!
Who am I, and why am I running for Council?
Hello, my name is Dakota and I live in Ward 5 with my partner.
I am running for City Council because I’ve spent my life doing this kind of work, not because it’s been my job, but because it’s my calling and what I genuinely love to do. As a kid, I told anyone who would listen that I wanted to be the first female Prime Minister. I’d line up my stuffed animals, and my three younger siblings, and give passionate speeches about stray cats, climate change, or how Rob Ford wanted to get rid of cyclists.
That passion has never left me. I studied politics in Ottawa, worked at Indigenous Services Canada in the regional infrastructure and development branch, and even spent a year campaigning door-to-door for my aunt who is now a City Councillor in Rideau-Rockcliffe. I learned more in the year I spent knocking on doors than I did in my entire four-year political science degree. That experience taught me that the most meaningful change doesn’t come from the top down. It comes from the ground up: from neighbours talking to neighbours, from listening before acting, and from people showing up because they genuinely care. I’ve been doing community-based work ever since.
For the past eight years, I’ve supported nonprofits, social enterprises, and remote First Nations. I’ve written grants, designed programs, and helped grassroots organizations access over $1 million in funding. I helped set up a planning strategy for Hillside’s Indigenous Circle, and recently supported Guelph’s Community FEWD in securing a grant that will increase their ability to serve free or by donation meals across Guelph. During COVID, I also completed my Master’s degree studying food security and food sovereignty, supported by the Arrell Food Institute.
While degrees and work experience are important, I do feel it’s also necessary to mention the lived experience I bring to this role. The experience of being a young adult working multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet, of growing up underhoused in downtown Toronto, and of facing food insecurity firsthand as a child. These experiences shape how I approach public service, and allow me to better relate to the concerns of residents in Ward 5 and across the city.
But you aren’t just putting your trust in me, I am far from an expert on every topic. What I do have is a wide network of peers, that are experts in their respective fields, who never fail to pick up the phone on the first ring. Farmers, engineers, environmentalists, early childhood educators… together with you, we can build a Guelph where everyone feels seen, supported, and at home.
Thank you for taking the time to get to know me. I love you Guelph.
