MY PLATFORM
Port Hope has good plans. I helped build several of the strategies that guide this municipality. Here is what I will deliver.
AFFORDABLE
Everyone I talk to is feeling the squeeze. Inflation is rising, housing is out of reach for too many people, and Port Hope is facing nearly $100 million in infrastructure costs with almost no industry to help carry the load. That falls on homeowners. This needs to change.
What I'm committed to: Building a Port Hope where the tax burden is shared fairly, housing is available across the full spectrum of need, and our economic base is strong enough to fund the community we want to be.
What I’ll do:
• Support the delivery of Port Hope's Economic Development Strategic Plan, which I helped develop, targeting growth in agriculture, tourism, energy, manufacturing, and small business
• Pursue new industrial investment that generates tax revenue and creates jobs without compromising Port Hope's character
• Prioritize the Official Plan update to make it easier and faster to build housing of all kinds, including ARUs, affordable rentals, and innovative housing types
• Advance the recommendations from the Northumberland Inter-Municipal Taskforce on Innovative Housing Solutions report, which Port Hope Council has already endorsed
• Advocate for Port Hope's interests at every level of government on housing funding, infrastructure grants, and development charge reform
What I’ve already done: I supported a dedicated 2.6% infrastructure levy to stop the cycle of deferred costs. I co-chaired the Inter-Municipal Taskforce on Innovative Housing Solutions and co-created its 2025 report. I helped pass a motion affirming housing as a human right.
ADAPTABLE
Port Hope is changing whether we accept it or not. Our farmers are being held back by bylaws written for a different era. Our hamlet residents are worried about their water. Urban residents want clarity on what is happening with their properties under PHAI. And across the municipality, outdated policies are making it harder to build the community we want to live in.
What I'm committed to: Modernizing Port Hope's bylaws and policies so they work for the way we live today, while guiding us towards a better tomorrow.
What I’ll do:
• Lead the Official Plan update with a plain-language, community-first approach that removes barriers to diverse housing and supports growth that secures Port Hope’s future
• Reform agricultural bylaws so rural landowners can expand housing on their properties, operate farm stands, and sever small parcels of land without being treated like urban residential properties
• Advocate for an accelerated, resident-centred approach to the PHAI cleanup, giving property owners clear information and meaningful agency over the cleanup on their land
• Support policies that protect monitoring wells and aquifers in hamlet areas, ensuring safe and intentional growth that doesn't outpace water infrastructure
• Implement the Waterfront and Riverwalk Master Plan as part of a broader strategy to develop Port Hope's downtown core and waterfront as economic and community assets
• Pursue road brush maintenance standards rural residents need to protect their farm equipment on municipal roads
What I’ve already done: I helped make sustainability a core pillar of Port Hope's Strategic Plan. I supported subwatershed studies before growth is allocated in rural settlement areas. I helped spearhead the redesign on Walton Street that resulted in tree-based stormwater management.
ACCESSIBLE
Too many residents feel like Port Hope's municipal government speaks a language they just don’t get. Documents are written in technical jargon. Decisions are made before residents understand what is being decided. There’s a sense that if you don’t already know how things work, you’re on the outside.
That is not what a healthy democracy looks like. And it is not what Port Hope deserves.
What I'm committed to: Making it genuinely easy for every resident, whether you live in town, on a farm, or in the hamlets, to understand what Council is doing and why.
What I’ll do:
• Build an AI-powered plain-language portal so any resident can ask any question about their municipality and get a clear, accurate answer immediately, without needing to know who to call or what department to contact
• Implement a Centralized Community Service system that tracks resident concerns, identifies patterns across the community, and ensures nothing falls through the cracks
• Replace guesswork in Council decision-making with statistically relevant, demographically representative community data
• Establish advisory committees that draw on expertise from across Port Hope's urban, rural, and hamlet communities, so the people most affected by decisions have a genuine voice in shaping them
• Ensure all public-facing documents and communications are written in plain language explaining what it means and how it will affect you
• Publish a performance and accountability dashboard so you can track Council’s progress on its commitments year over year
What I’ve already done: I championed Port Hope's EDI policy with 10 Guiding Questions embedded into every staff report. I co-created a nationwide AI in municipal government symposium. Port Hope's 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, which I supported as a sitting councillor, already commits the municipality to AI tools for resident information and plain language communications. I will make good on that commitment.
WHERE I STAND
Question: Where do you stand on new nuclear at Wesleyville?
Port Hope needs industry. That is not a political statement, it is a financial reality. We are facing nearly $100 million in infrastructure costs with almost no industrial tax base to help pay for them.
The Wesleyville nuclear project could represent real financial opportunity for Port Hope. It could also represent significant risk to our environment, our sense of place, and additional costs to our long-term financial burden. I am can’t pretend those tensions don’t exist.
Here is where I stand: Port Hope must have a seat at the table. I fought to ensure that. Through tough negotiations, we’ve secured a dedicated funding envelope so Port Hope can lead its impact assessments rather than relying on others to determine our fate.
I supported the MOU with OPG as a practical tool to protect Port Hope's interests and fund the independent expertise we need to make informed decisions.
I hold real questions about what this project will mean for our community. I am not ready to say yes, and I am not saying no. What I am saying is that Port Hope deserves to make this decision with full information, on our own terms, and not be rushed into it.
It’s still early days. If this was a relationship, we’re at the “do you want to go on a date” stage, not the “let’s pick out wedding rings” stage.
Question: Will my taxes go up?
I will be honest with you: infrastructure costs and inflation are coming regardless of who’s Mayor. The roads, pipes, and facilities this community depends on have to be maintained and replaced. There is no version of responsible municipal governance that makes that free.
What I can change is who carries that burden.
Right now, almost all of it falls on residents because Port Hope has virtually no industrial tax base. Every dollar of new industry, every new housing unit, every economic development win reduces the share you pay. That’s the strategy.
I will not promise to lower taxes. I will promise to build the economic base that gives us the best chance of keeping them as manageable as possible while delivering the services Port Hope residents need and deserve.
Question: What will you do about the PHAI cleanup?
The Port Hope Area Initiative has been part of life in this community for a long time. Residents deserve clarity, agency, and honesty about what is happening on and under their land.
As Mayor, I will advocate for an accelerated, resident-centred remediation process that gives property owners clear, plain-language information about what the cleanup means for their specific property, meaningful input into the process on their land, and assurance that they will not face financial hardship as a result.
I will also push to align PHAI remediation work with the municipality's infrastructure renewal priorities, so that wherever possible, the cleanup creates value for the community rather than simply disrupting it.
What I will not do is make promises about outcomes that are determined at the federal government. PHAI is a federal program. My job is to protect Port Hope's interests within it, advocate loudly for residents who are navigating it, and make sure no resident feels like they are facing it alone.
Question: How will you actually make housing more affordable?
Housing affordability is a problem that no single level of government can solve alone - that’s just the reality. But there’s a significant amount Port Hope can control, and I intend to use every tool available.
Here’s the plan: update the Official Plan to allow more housing types as of right, so builders do not face costly and time-consuming rezoning applications for straightforward projects. Implement the recommendations from the Northumberland Housing Taskforce report I co-created. Use our new Land Disposal Policy to get municipally owned land into the hands of non-profit housing providers faster. And build the industrial tax base that creates the fiscal room to invest in housing incentives without simply passing the cost to existing residents.
Housing is not just an economic issue. I supported the motion affirming it as a human right. That values commitment shapes everything else.