My Platform
My three main pillars are Every Community, An Office You Can Reach, and From Your Street to City Hall.
I chose these three commitments because they focus on things a councillor can take direct action on. Residents deserve more than promises that depend entirely on convincing the rest of Council to vote a certain way. They also deserve commitments that their councillor can begin acting on from day one and that residents can hold them accountable for throughout the term.
Every Community
Bay Ward is made up of many unique communities and neighbourhoods, each with its own priorities, challenges and character. No resident should feel forgotten, and no neighbourhood should feel disconnected from City Hall because of where they happen to live.
When I reviewed four years of publicly disclosed ward expense records, I found significant differences in the amount of identifiable direct spending going toward community events and initiatives in different areas of Bay Ward. I believe we can do better. My goal is to dedicate approximately $80,000 annually toward neighbourhood engagement, community events, accessibility initiatives, youth programming and resident outreach throughout the ward.
This is not about taking opportunities away from one neighbourhood to give them to another. It is about making sure every neighbourhood has opportunities. I would host and co-host more events throughout Bay Ward and hold bi-weekly community sessions that rotate through different communities instead of expecting residents from every part of the ward to always come to the same place.
Every resident should regularly see their councillor, their ward office and their ward budget at work. Where you live in Bay Ward should not determine whether you feel represented.
An Office You Can Reach
Residents shouldn't have to send an email and hope somebody eventually reads it. If elected, I will establish a dedicated councillor's office within Bay Ward, with consistent public hours and clear ways for residents to reach their councillor and staff.
The office would provide in-person support and service in English, French and Arabic. When residents contact the office, requests would be categorized, tracked and directed appropriately so that issues do not simply disappear into an inbox. The important thing to me is that residents know where they can go, who they can contact and what is happening with the issue they raised.
I would continue using email, social media and a weekly electronic newsletter, but online communication cannot be the only way residents hear from their councillor. I would deliver at least one printed ward newsletter directly to residents every year so people who do not regularly use social media, email or the internet can still know what is happening in their neighbourhood and across Bay Ward.
I would also establish Community Voice Stations at participating community centres, local businesses and other accessible locations throughout the ward. Every station would have the same questions during the same consultation period, with paper forms for residents who prefer them and a QR code for those who want to respond digitally. There would always be space for residents to raise something that is not part of the current consultation.
Feedback from these stations would be collected regularly and summarized publicly. They would not replace conversations, town halls or proper public consultation, but they would give another option to someone who may not have the time, ability or interest to attend a meeting or write an email.
Government should be accessible. Residents deserve to know where they can go when they need help and trust that someone will be there to listen.
From Your Street To City Hall
A councillor's job is not simply to tell residents what City Hall has already decided. A councillor should bring residents into the conversation before decisions are made, carry those concerns into committee and Council, and then report back on what happened.
Whether the issue is traffic, development, transit, infrastructure or a community project, residents deserve clear information and meaningful opportunities to participate. I would use community meetings, Community Voice Stations, newsletters, online engagement, direct consultation and the ward office to gather resident input before major decisions.
When I vote on significant issues, I also want residents to understand why. I would explain what information influenced my decision, what I heard from residents and why I ultimately voted the way I did. If someone brings an issue to my office, I want them to know what happened afterward as well. Even when the answer is not the one we hoped for, residents deserve an explanation.
Working together should not only mean asking residents what they think. It should mean showing them what came from it. When I speak at committee or Council, Bay Ward residents should know where my position came from.
My role is to listen locally, advocate across the city and bring your voice from your street to City Hall.
Where I Stand
Transit: Reliable, Affordable and Ready When Things Go Wrong
Ottawa needs a transit system residents can trust. Affordability matters, but an affordable bus or train is not useful if it does not arrive when people need it.
I support lower transit costs, expanded affordability programs and longer transfer windows, while also pushing for clearer public reliability standards. My goal would be to move OC Transpo toward approximately 90 to 95 percent on-time service and make sure residents can easily see whether the system is actually meeting its targets.
When major rail disruptions happen, riders should not be left scrambling to figure out what comes next. I would advocate for permanent R1, R2 and R3 replacement service plans that are ready to activate quickly, with established routes, stops, operator deployment plans and clear public communication. I would also push for regular reviews of significant transit disruptions, including what caused them, how long they lasted, how riders were affected, whether the same problem has happened before and what is being done to reduce the chance of it happening again.
Bus routes should also reflect how people actually use the system. When major route changes are being considered, residents should have meaningful opportunities to explain where they need to go and what is not working before changes are finalized.
With Stage 2 LRT construction continuing to affect Bay Ward, construction transparency is also non-negotiable. Residents deserve honest timelines, accurate updates and clear explanations when those timelines change. I use OC Transpo myself because I believe a councillor making decisions about transit should understand the system residents are being asked to rely on.
Infrastructure, Flooding and Long-Term Funding
Bay Ward needs better roads, sewers, drainage systems, recreational facilities and other critical infrastructure. The July 1 flooding, major power outages and the condition of roads such as Carling Avenue have shown how expensive and disruptive it can become when infrastructure fails or falls behind.
The City is reviewing what happened during the July flooding. I want to make sure that work results in clear recommendations, timelines, costs and public reporting, particularly for communities that were hit hardest. Reports are useful only if they lead to action.
I would advocate for Bay Ward's worst roads to receive priority based on their condition and the impact they are having on residents. I would also push for more preventative maintenance of community facilities so we are fixing problems before deterioration turns a manageable repair into a much larger bill. When power reliability becomes a recurring issue, I would work with Hydro Ottawa and other responsible organizations to push for better infrastructure planning, communication and accountability.
The larger challenge is how we pay for all of this. Property taxes alone cannot sustainably carry the infrastructure needs of a growing city, and municipalities should not constantly have to wait for individual grants or funding announcements from other governments.
I am proposing a new municipal revenue-sharing model that would redirect a small portion of existing federal and provincial income-tax revenue to municipalities without increasing the taxpayer's overall income-tax rate.
Under my current proposal, federal income-tax rates would be reduced by 0.25 percentage points and Ontario rates by another 0.25 percentage points, with the equivalent revenue directed to municipalities where the worker lives.
Ottawa needs stable and predictable revenue that grows with the economy. That would allow us to plan infrastructure years ahead rather than repeatedly waiting to find out whether another level of government will approve the next funding request. It would also help every worker see funding going directly to where they live.
Housing: Growth With Community Voice
Ottawa needs more housing. Renters, first-time buyers, seniors and young families are increasingly being priced out of communities they want to call home, and simply refusing to build more housing is not a solution.
At the same time, adding housing cannot mean ignoring infrastructure, affordability or the people who already live in a neighbourhood. For significant developments, residents deserve clear information before decisions are made, opportunities to ask questions and several ways to provide feedback. That could include community meetings, Community Voice Stations, online consultation and direct
contact with the councillor's office.
Growth also needs to come with realistic planning for roads, transit, sewers, parks and other services. I do not support giving developers broad financial reductions and simply hoping those savings eventually reach homebuyers or renters.
Where the City provides significant financial incentives for housing, I want to see clear public benefits and accountability attached to them.
I support building more housing, but I want that growth to be planned responsibly, supported by the infrastructure it requires and connected to the affordability problem we are supposedly trying to solve.
Renters and Tenant Advocacy
A large portion of Bay Ward residents live in rental housing. Housing policy cannot only focus on people buying homes or on how many new units are being constructed. We also have to support the people who already rent here.
When major rental redevelopment is proposed, tenants need understandable information about what is happening, what their rights are, what assistance may be available and what the process means for their home. I support stronger replacement-rental protections and would advocate for policies that preserve affordable rental housing when redevelopment occurs.
I would also support partnerships with non-profit housing providers to acquire and preserve affordable rental properties when opportunities arise. When residents are facing serious landlord and tenant issues, the councillor's office should be able to help connect them with qualified legal, paralegal and community resources.
A councillor cannot replace a lawyer or paralegal, but their office can make sure residents are not left alone trying to figure out where to turn.
Ottawa Community Housing
Bay Ward includes significant Ottawa Community Housing communities, including Bayshore, Britannia Woods and Michele Heights. Residents in these communities deserve the same level of attention, accessibility and representation as every other resident in Bay Ward.
I would regularly visit OCH communities rather than expecting residents to always come to me. I would work directly with tenants, tenant groups, community organizations and Ottawa Community Housing to identify recurring problems and make sure those concerns are brought forward.
Maintenance, community safety, programming, accessibility and neighbourhood investment do not become less important because someone lives in community housing. Every Community means every community.
Homelessness: Hope, Dignity and Services
Homelessness is one of the most difficult challenges facing Ottawa. Clearing an encampment without addressing why people are there does not solve homelessness. It simply moves the problem somewhere else.
Every resident deserves dignity, and every resident deserves safety. I support evidence-based approaches that connect people with permanent housing, mental-health services, addiction supports and community resources. I support Housing First approaches and stronger partnerships with non-profit and supportive-housing providers.
I would also support community based responses for appropriate mental health and substance use crisis calls while ensuring police remain available when there is a genuine public-safety risk. Compassion and community safety are not opposing values. Ottawa needs both.
Community Safety: Prevention, Responsibility and Partnership
Community safety means more than responding after something goes wrong. It means creating neighbourhoods where residents feel comfortable walking, cycling, using transit and allowing their children to play outside.
Drawing on my background in security, Police Foundations, social services and bylaw work, I believe prevention, visibility, education, collaboration and appropriate enforcement all have a role to play.
I support safe cycling infrastructure, but safe streets also require everyone using them to follow the rules. Drivers and cyclists both have responsibilities. Dangerous driving should be enforced, and cyclists using the roadway should also be expected to obey stop signs, red lights and other traffic laws. I would explore whether cycling safety education could be used alongside enforcement in appropriate circumstances rather than relying only on fines.
I would work with residents, schools, community organizations, police liaisons, the Ottawa Safety Council and City staff to identify recurring safety concerns and address them before they become larger problems.
Traffic, Sidewalks and Active Transportation
Every resident deserves a safe way to move through their community. That means safer crossings, better sidewalk connections, improved accessibility and thoughtful active-transportation infrastructure.
I support cycling infrastructure, while also believing residents deserve meaningful consultation when significant changes affect their streets and neighbourhoods. Missing sidewalks near schools, parks, shopping areas and transit stations should not simply be accepted as permanent conditions.
Bay Ward also receives an annual Temporary Traffic Calming budget. I would work with residents and City staff to use that limited funding where it can have the greatest safety impact, particularly around schools, residential streets affected by cut through traffic and communities dealing with construction detours. Residents living on those streets often understand the problem better than anyone, and they should have a role in identifying where attention is needed most.
Youth and Community Programming
Every young person deserves opportunities to connect, learn and participate in their community. Access to programming should not depend on income, neighbourhood or whether a family can afford private activities.
I have experience creating and running youth programming, including establishing a youth centre in Stittsville. I want to use that experience to bring organizations together rather than expecting the City to solve everything on its own.
I would work with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club, Kiwanis, community associations and other youth-serving organizations to expand safe and affordable recreation, mentoring and social opportunities throughout Bay Ward. I would also pursue grants, partnerships and community initiatives that can bring programming into neighbourhoods where opportunities are currently limited.
Young people are not just the future of Bay Ward. They are already part of our community, and they deserve to have spaces and opportunities here today.
Accountability and My Two-Term Commitment
I believe elected office should be public service, not something someone owns indefinitely. I have committed to serving no more than two terms as Bay Ward councillor.
Eight years is enough time to build relationships, pursue major projects and be held accountable for delivering results. After that, I believe residents deserve the opportunity for someone new to bring their own ideas, experience and perspective to the office.
That commitment also puts a deadline on me. I would not be entering office thinking about how to remain there for decades. I would know from the beginning that I have a limited amount of time to accomplish what residents elected me to do, and I intend to use it.