Campaign Priorities
These are living priorities that are continuously evolving based on conversations with constituents in the community.
Projects & Funding Sources
Guelph has the highest taxes of similarly sized cities in the region. It's time to start exploring other options.
Critical projects require funding, but I do not support continuously using yearly above-inflation increases to property taxes as the only source. I've worked professionally in grant writing for the past 7 years, raising over $1 million in provincial and federal funding for community projects. I want to bring that same approach to City Council, ensuring more of the tax dollars we already send to Queen's Park and Ottawa come back home to Guelph for much-needed development.
We're a growing city with growing city needs, and I will ensure investment dollars go towards actual needs by focusing on eliminating city-wide inefficiencies and non-critical projects.
Cost of Living in Guelph
Food: A new $3 billion federal investment in food security presents a huge opportunity for Guelph. I will help bring this funding to our city and 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 eat every day. Faced with these challenges, self-reliance is more important than ever and this starts at the municipal level.
Housing: The current "build more" strategy to address the housing crisis has failed to meaningfully restore a state of affordability in Ontario. There are other ways that we can support tenants and new home buyers outside of accelerating construction, including through vacant home and commercial building taxes (which are already underway), as well as grounding our path forward in research-based assessments of needs and impacts rather than reactive blanket building approvals.
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.