How do you intend to advocate for renters in your ward?
Renters in our ward are squeezed from two directions — rents rising faster than incomes, and a shrinking supply of affordable units. My advocacy would work on both, through four commitments:
1. Grow the affordable supply through partnership. I'd work with nonprofits, developers, and upper levels of government to bring more units online — no single level of government can solve this alone, and the ward needs partners at the table, not a lone councillor making asks.
2. Expand and target the Housing Stability Fund. I'd push to maintain funding to the Housing Stability Fund, which helps low-income residents in the City and County of Peterborough pay overdue rent and utility bills. .
3. Trade incentives for guaranteed affordability. For new apartment or condo developments, I'd seek agreements setting aside 10–20% of units as affordable in return for property tax relief. Similar to Toronto's Rental Housing Supply Program, a working model: under streams like
Affordable Rental and Rent Controlled Housing Incentives (ARRCHI), developers get capital grants, development charge waivers, and property tax exemptions for setting aside at least 20% of units as affordable rental housing. I'd need more homework before committing to the exact percentage and incentive package for Peterborough
4. Adopt a renovation licence and relocation by-law. Hamilton passed the first by-law of its kind in Ontario: landlords issuing an N-13 eviction notice to demolish, repair, or renovate a unit must apply to the City for a renovation licence within seven days, before work begins. This gives the
City visibility when an N-13 is issued, so tenants can be connected with supports and can exercise their right to move back in.
What is your opinion on the state of transit service in Peterborough? What changes would you like to see? *
Peterborough's transit system is not working for the people who depend on it most, and I say that as someone who has spent this campaign organizing to change it rather than just talking about
it. I'm one of the only candidates in this race who has mobilized people here to improve transit. What I heard at the door and from friends — and what drove the rallies, the petition, and the delegation to council — is deep frustration with how transit is run, especially since the system
was overhauled into this decentralized grid.
The petition we presented said it plainly:
Peterborough overhauled its entire transit system under the guise of COVID-19. The new grid is unreliable — routes and hours keep changing, daily cancellations go unexplained, and travel times have grown, leaving long waits at transfer points with no shelters and late buses. Riders
are missing appointments, work, and school, while empty buses circle the city. That last point is the one that should worry council most. Empty buses aren't a sign that people don't want transit — they're a sign the system stopped being usable, and riders are paying more for worse options.
What I'd push for:
- Fix reliability first. That means working directly with ATU transit workers on recruitment, retention, and scheduling — the people running the buses know where it breaks.
- Restore accountability to riders. Route and schedule changes should come with public data on ridership, on-time performance, and cancellations — so council and the public can see what's
working instead of being told it is.
Moving forward, I'd bring the same activism that got us to the council chamber. We need a better system — better for the workers who run it and better for the people who ride it.
Explain your priorities for transportation and active transportation.
My priorities for transportation are a city where cars, motorcyclists, public transit users, pedestrians, runners, people with mobility issues (i.e., those in wheelchairs or using walkers or canes), and cyclists can move from place to place safely. This includes a Peterborough transit system aligned with the City's Master Transportation Plan, which prioritizes transit
improvements: investing in transit infrastructure and service enhancements to encourage public transport use and improve reliability.
I also agree with the Peterborough Biking Advisory Committee (P-BAC). One of their goals is to promote cycling as a means of improving individual and community health and well-being, access to transportation choice, and social and economic equity. About P-BAC
It would be great for Peterborough to have inclusive transportation designed with gender, age, and diversity in mind—across public transit, walking paths, and planning decisions. To create this safe network for everyone, we need traffic calming measures and school safety
zones.
Where do you stand on the arts and cultural economy in Peterborough? *
Peterborough's creative life sits at the centre of how our city works — not as decoration on top of it, but as identity, quality of life, and economic driver. I don't come to this as an observer: I've performed with the Kawartha Community Orchestra, play fiddle with Fiddle Sticks, serve on the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra board, previously served on the Peterborough Theatre Guild board, and continue to work as an actor and model with Strutt Central. That's why I speak about the arts with a practitioner's understanding of what organizations need to survive and grow. And, the arts pay for themselves many times over. Musicfest alone brings in over $4.3 million in annual economic impact — that's visitor spending in local restaurants and shops, jobs for technicians and performers, and revenue that stays in Peterborough. Culture is economic
development, and it should be funded like it.
Our natural environment is part of that same economy. Healthy, protected landscapes support public well-being, strengthen the local economy, and preserve what makes Peterborough worth
living in. Culture and environment aren't competing priorities — they're the two things people cite when they explain why they're here.
My commitments:
- Champion increased support for arts organizations, performers, festivals, and creative spaces.
- Expand opportunities for public art, youth arts programming, and accessible cultural events.
- Protect natural spaces through sustainable planning, environmental stewardship, and climate-resilient city policies.
- Promote green infrastructure and clean-air initiatives that safeguard community health.
- Support partnerships that strengthen both cultural vibrancy and environmental sustainability.
What is your opinion on the City's current approach to homelessness, especially encampment evictions? *
Homelessness will not be solved by the City acting alone, and it will not be solved by short-term thinking. My position starts there: this is a problem that demands partnership and patience, neither of which has been in great supply. I believe evicting people from encampments is inhumane. The City's Parks and Facilities By-law prohibits tenting and camping on public parks and municipal property without a permit. A
councillor can disagree with a by-law and still be bound by it — so the honest answer isn't to promise I'd ignore it. It's that council must work together to find suitable accommodations forunhoused residents, and that dismantling an encampment without somewhere for people to go
isn't a solution. It's a relocation of suffering.
What's working, and worth building on. The recent launch of the Peterborough HART Hub broughtorganizations together to move 50 people from the modular homes on Wolfe Street into
transitional housing. Dave Smith, MPP, worked to secure $21 million for an integrated transitional housing model, and that investment matters. Bringing multiple agencies together around wraparound supports is exactly the model that helps people move toward stability — and
it proves collaboration here isn't theoretical.
What I'd press for:
- Fully implement and support Housing First Peterborough, building on the Coordinated Access System started in 2019, with the clear goal of preventing and reducing homelessness and ending chronic homelessness. Housing first, supports wrapped around it after — that order matters.
- Council working in partnership with the organizations already doing this work: Fourcast, One City, Brock Mission, Elizabeth Fry, PRHC, CMHA, and others — while pressing the provincial and federal governments for the funding that real housing and shelter solutions require.
Municipalities cannot fund their way out of a provincial and federal failure.
My commitment is to both halves at once: immediate action to support people in need, and a long-term housing strategy that works for the entire community. Encampment evictions without
housing lined up are neither.
How would you change the public's perception of the City of Peterborough if elected? *
The perception problem in Peterborough is real, but it isn't evenly spread — and that's the key to fixing it. Ask residents about this city and they'll describe something thriving: over 100 parks, 36 km of multi-use trails across 366 hectares of green space. The negativity concentrates almost
entirely on our downtown core. My approach is to be honest about that gap, fix what's broken downtown, and let the rest of the city speak for itself.
Investments that already change the story. MP Emma Harrison and Mayor Jeff Leal recently announced a joint investment of more than $7.5 million to extend the Little Lake Loop multi-use trail to the Del Crary Park corridor. That's the kind of thing that moves perception — visible,
shared, and funded by partnership rather than property tax alone. As councillor, I'd work to bring more joint provincial, federal, and private investment into the city.
Filling our vacant storefronts. The DBIA represents more than 400 downtown businesses, but too many storefronts sit empty. In 2017 the DBIA ran Win This Space Peterborough —. One winner,
Tiny Greens, is still in business today. That's a program with a track record, and we need more of them to approach full occupancy downtown.
Making empty units expensive to sit on. I'd advocate a Municipal Vacant Home/Unit Tax, as Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Vancouver, and Sault Ste. Marie have done — typically 1% to 3% of assessed value. Housing shouldn't be a speculative holding when people need somewhere to
live.
A cleaner, safer downtown that employs people who need work. I support council backing the $25,000 downtown street-cleaning pilot. That's a program that improves the street and the person doing the work. I'd like to see Peterborough Square host a community safety hub,
modelled on Toronto's Dufferin Mall hub where Neighbourhood Community Officers have a dedicated space to connect with residents and address local concerns. Visible policing deters crime — but the real value is trust built through ongoing engagement, crime prevention, and
outreach.
The foundation underneath all of it. None of these hold if people don't have somewhere to live.
The most important thing we can do for downtown perception — and for downtown itself — is provide affordable housing for unhoused residents with wraparound supports. Clean sidewalks and occupied storefronts are what a city looks like when its housing crisis is being addressed,not a substitute for addressing it.
What are your financial priorities and how will you balance funding needs across city services?
My view on financial priorities is that City Council must be financially responsible and accountable to Peterborough taxpayers. We need to be efficient, transparent, and have affordability measures in place.
To balance financial priorities, we should avoid funding large projects—such as Multi- Use Sport Entertainment Center MUSEC—with municipal tax dollars unless there are committed funds from provincial, federal, and private sources. For major projects like MUSEC, we should consider public–private partnerships and refrain from relying on local taxpayers to
shoulder the costs. Any major project of this kind should be deferred until adequate external funding is secured.
My priority is to direct public money to essential public services that residents use every day: libraries, police, community services, arts and culture, housing and shelters, emergency services, public transit, road maintenance, and waste management. These are the foundations of a healthy, vibrant community. We can generate more revenue for the city by:
● Increasing the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) from 4% to 5%. In 2023, the City collected approximately $863,000 in net MAT; the City retains 50% as general revenue to support the capital program and remits the remaining 50% to the eligible tourism entity (Peterborough Tourism Municipal Services Corporation).
● Negotiating a higher revenue share from the OLG Peterborough casino. In the fiscal year ending March 2026, the City received a total of $2,651,125, including a fourth- quarter payment of $597,293.
● Adjusting user fees and service charges by increasing them by 1–2%. In 2024, these generated almost $75 million.
● Modestly increasing revenue from government grants and partner municipalities (e.g., a 0.7% increase). According to the 2024 Treasurer's report, the City received about $155 million from these sources.
● Introducing Municipal Vacant Home/Unit Taxes (VHT/VUT), implemented by cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Vancouver, and Sault Ste. Marie. These typically charge 1% to 3% of the property's assessed value.
What is your approach to community safety? Do you support
investments in social services alongside or instead of
traditional policing?
My approach to community safety:
I support a “safety-first” model that combines effective, accountable policing with strong investments in social services and prevention. Many crises are driven by mental health, addiction, poverty, or isolation; the right responder at the right time keeps people safer and reduces repeat calls.
What this looks like in Peterborough
● Integrated responses: Build on partnerships that pair officers with mental health professionals and addictions specialists to de‑escalate crises, conduct wellness checks, and connect people to care.
○ Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams (MCIT): Officer + CMHA/PRHC clinician
responding to mental‑health crises, reducing ER visits and repeat calls.
○ Addiction Specialist Team (with Fourcast): Constable + addictions counselor doing outreach and foot patrols; link people to treatment, supportive housing, and counseling.
○ Victim Services Unit: Immediate support, referrals, and resources for those affected by crime or tragedy.
● Best‑practice learning: Continue evaluating successful community‑policing and social support models used in comparable cities (e.g., Community Resource Units) and adapt what works locally.ie Research other communities for example
COMMUNITY RESOURCE UNIT - St. Thomas Police Service
Bottom line
Yes — I support investing in social services alongside traditional policing. A balanced, coordinated approach sends the right help to the right call, reduces harm and repeat crises, and keeps our neighbourhoods safer and healthier.
What specific actions will you take to implement and accelerate existing climate plans?
I support the City of Peterborough’s Climate Action Plan, which aims to develop impactful projects, programs, and policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to climate change. In 2025, the Climate Change Action Plan 2.0 – Pathway to Net Zero 2050 (CCAP2.0) was approved by City Council. To implement these climate plans, of
the CCAP2.0 to decarbonize key polluting sectors in Peterborough by 2050, I would collaborate with environmental groups in Peterborough, such as but not limited to-
1. Green Up - where their vision is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)- with such programs- Green Economy Leader, where businesses in this track are ready to commit to a comprehensive process in which they are coached to measure their greenhouse gas emissions, develop a plan to address them, and then work to achieve a reduction target.
2. Peterborough Biking Advisory Committee (PBAC) has one of its goals to
promote cycling as a means of improving individual and community health and well-being, access to transportation choices, and social and economic equity.
3. Friends of Jackson Park- where they believe parks are essential to the
livelihood of the city and the well-being of its people, especially in the
Northcrest ward, where open park space is limited.
4. Participate in the Peterborough Environmental Advisory Committee (PEAC) where there are many Climate initiatives and programs in Peterborough to reduce GHG) such as Better Home Peterborough.
5. I would support the Shifting Gears program in May every year to encourage biking, walking and carpooling, as well as a no-car day once a month, where citizens would be encouraged to take transit, walk and if they must drive, to consider carpooling.
How will you advance meaningful reconciliation at the municipal level?
In December 2019, through Report CLSHR19-005, Council voted unanimously to join the Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities (Coalition) and signed a declaration supporting diversity and inclusion. The Coalition is a network that brings municipalities together to improve policies against racism, discrimination, exclusion, and intolerance, to undertake initiatives to eliminate all forms of discrimination, and
to build open and inclusive societies. CRRC was a catalyst for Peterborough council signing the Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities (CIM) while I was (I still am) the chairperson of CRRC. I am fully in support of and implementing the goals that result from signing the CIM, which are -
The City's actions to date towards reconciliation are in four main pillars:
Relationships and Partnerships-Education, Awareness, and Cultural Competency Policies, Programs, and Service Delivery
Recognition, Representation, and Commemoration
To accomplish the above pillars, the implementation of the next steps documented by Shelley Knott, Indigenous Advisor, City of Peterborough plan, as reported in Actions to Date Toward Truth & Reconciliation, Report CAOPC25-004. Some of these next steps are:
a. Host informal meet-and-greets and listening circles and establish quarterly roundtables with Indigenous leaders and City leadership.
b. Encourage City staff and Council to participate in Indigenous cultural
competency training, land-based learning, or Treaty education sessions.
c. Provide training on the Indigenous Inclusion and Impact Assessment
framework when developing new programs and services.
d. Establishing Indigenous Relations Offices or liaison roles;
e. Number of public assets with approved Indigenous names added (annual).
f. Number of signage replacements or new signs incorporating Indigenous names.