Campaign Priorities
This campaign is built on four main priorities identified through active and ongoing engagement with Ward 5 residents.
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 remote First Nations, grassroots organizations, and leading 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.
As Ward 5's councillor, I will 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, residents will have a say on issues that matter most to them at every stage of the policy cycle.
Living up to our Reputation
Guelph is a deeply green city; although, this ethos is not properly reflected on Council. With the impacts of climate change causing increasing extreme heat, storms and wildfires, the time to act is now. Environment is a huge focus of this campaign, which will impact all of my decision-making on Council.
Specifically, I commit to working in collaboration with experts in our community such as Guelph Committee for Active Transportation (GCAT) & Transit Action Alliance of Guelph (TAAG) to improve public and active transportation. I also commit to a moratorium on AI data centres for the immediate future to preserve our local water and energy resources. Finally, we must restore, in part or in full, the 40% cuts to our City's climate infrastructure budget.