Last night, I participated in the Guelph Mayoral Candidate Townhall hosted by the Guelph Wellington Coalition for Social Justice (GWCSJ) at the Italian Canadian Club. The event was a vital community forum, and I am grateful it was also broadcast live on CFRU.
During the town hall, I kept a running list of the critical topics raised by you, the residents of Guelph. True accountability in leadership starts with transparency, which is why I am sharing my unedited, handwritten notes from the stage.
If we are going to deliver on the promise of Change To Grow, we must tackle these issues openly. Here are the topics we discussed and what I recorded on my notepad:
- The CFRU stream and recording of the event.
- Developing an urban park.
- Improving student engagement and processes.
- Protecting our water.
- Guelph food, shelter, and access to food.
- Reducing emissions and conducting a technology review.
- Finding federal and provincial rebates.
- Reaching out to corporations regarding innovation.
- Addressing construction delays taking too long.
- Applying penalties and increasing oversight on projects.
- Parking at the Farmers Market and plans to build it bigger.
- The implications of Strong Mayor powers on transparency and accountability.
- Paramedic pay.
- Transparency, combating disinformation, and establishing a dashboard.
- Homeless housing.
