On Oct. 24, voters across Waterloo Region in Ontario will head to the polls to elect city and regional councillors, mayors and a regional chair.
Residents of Cambridge, the region’s second-largest city, will elect councillors in eight wards in addition to a mayor to form city council.
There will probably be at the very least three latest faces in place, as Ward 4 Coun. Jan Liggett is running for mayor and Ward 5 Coun. Pam Wolf is looking for considered one of two seats on regional council. Ward 3 Coun. Mike Mann has chosen not to hunt re-election.
Five people have entered the race to interchange Mann in Ward 3, including former MPP Belinda Karahalios in addition to Michele Braniff, Tracey Hipel, Corey Kimpson and Nate Whalen.
To assist voters ahead of this election, Global News has reached out to all of those running for regional or city council, mayor or regional chair in Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo with available online contact info. Those running for office were emailed a listing of seven questions and in the approaching days, the responses for each candidate who replies will probably be shared.
What follows are the responses received from those running for councillor in Cambridge, with the candidates being listed in alphabetical order:
Michele Braniff
Q.1 Please give a temporary background of yourself including what you do for a living and the way long you will have lived in the world? (Should you are an incumbent, please state how long you will have held the position.)
My husband and I purchased a house together in Preston in spring of 2020. It’s the second marriage for each of us and we needed to postpone the date because municipal offices were all closed and we couldn’t get a wedding licence. Three months after the unique date, we had a backyard wedding in early September. Before moving to Ward 3, I had lived in one other a part of Cambridge for just over nine years. I worked for a few years on Dickson Street and was manager of Lutherwood Family Counselling, and in that capability worked with many partner agencies locally. I actually have also participated as an artist in art programs and the Mayor’s Celebration of the Art and as Artist-in-Residence on the Cambridge Centre for the Arts.
I moved to Cambridge because I like the town. I like the river and green spaces, the local businesses, the art scene, the neighbourhoods and the friendliness of the people. I like the way in which the business community supports neighbourhoods and the way in which that non-profit organizations collaborate to raised serve the City. The connection between a city and its citizen is a vital element to create a spot that’s welcoming and enhances the well-being of all its residents.
My profession has given me an amazing deal of experience and helped me develop useful skills to be Ward 3 Councillor. I actually have been a lawyer, mediator, entrepreneur and professor at each the community college and university levels. In my graphic facilitation business, clients included Waterloo Well-being, The Crime Prevention Council and other non-profit organizations collaborating and advocating for increased health, well-being and resilience for youngsters, families, adults and neighbourhoods.
Q.2 Why do you think you’re the precise person for the job?
I made a decision to run for Ward 3 councillor because I would like to place residents at the guts of our city. A welcoming and accessible city is all in regards to the relationships. City council must function with collaboration, respect and consensus-building and residents need effective communication with their ward councillor. City staff have expertise and continuity with City services and I might seek relationships with staff to complement my networks for and in regards to the city.
In my experience on the front line and as a manager providing mental health services, I gained insight into how systems can let people down with gaps in service or bureaucratic barriers which are impersonal and hard to navigate. People thrive on connections to others; relationships sustain us to grow to be healthier and more resilient. As a graduate student at University of Waterloo in a program about social innovation, I used to be also a manager at a non-profit organization and my focus was on transform mental health service systems to be truly client-centered. Especially throughout the isolation of the pandemic, we now have all learned how relationships are essential for our well-being and resilience. This relationship-based deal with transforming systems will be scaled as much as apply to city programs, neighbourhoods and city hall.
City council has a responsibility to facilitate strong citizen leadership, participation and engagement by minimizing red tape and other barriers to communication. I actually have had the privilege of participating in citizen advisory committees for the Stronger Together initiative in November, 2018 and, most recently, on the Youth and Older Adults Sub-Committee for the Cambridge Wellness Advisory Council. These have been excellent initiatives for citizen engagement; they will be expanded and revised with the intention to maximize opportunities and impact by citizen consultation on City decisions. Citizen recommendations should be fast-tracked and prioritized for improvement of grassroots democracy. Once I coached small business start-ups, we emphasized that customer support feedback was more beneficial and cost-effective than hiring outside business consultants. The town can even profit from enhancing the communication channels in order that citizen feedback will be integrated into Council decision-making.
I talked to a girl whose “twenty-something” son had identified a necessity for signage in a faculty zone to make the road safer. His mother talked about what number of months and the way again and again her son reached out to the town. We want to make it easier for residents to connect with the town.
With my skills, training and experience in law, mediation, mental health / resilience and social innovation, I’m uniquely qualified to remodel city hall and city council to put residents at the guts of the town.
Q.3 What do you’re thinking that is an important issue facing your ward and the town as a complete?
My biggest priority is to deepen political conversations inside council and with the residents of Ward 3 because our social, political, economic and environmental challenges are much too complex to be solved by polarized politics or fragmented responses. We want a coherent plan that recognizes interconnecting causes, impacts and effects. There are lots of challenges for Cambridge: some arise from decreased funding support from higher levels of presidency; others are related to global developments, comparable to the climate crisis, increased migration / urbanization and pandemics. Businesses, non-profits and skilled service organizations depend on research to make evidence-based decisions and municipal government needs to make sure policy relies on research for global insight to design local solutions to our challenges.
Too often, challenges will not be recognized until there’s a crisis; reacting to a crisis is usually poorly planned, over-simplified and inefficient. A more practical response is upstream considering, which is about exploring the explanation for the issue and putting in preventative measures, comparable to early childhood education, youth programs, literacy training or age-friendly design features.
For instance, while out campaigning, I used to be told by voters within the neighbourhood a couple of small park on Lawrence Street. The basketball nets are in shreds; the tennis court nets were missing all summer and neighbours said that the lights were out. A well-maintained park is a spot for teenagers to play and neighbours to assemble while one which is poorly maintained or left in darkness is unwelcoming and eventually becomes unsafe. There’s research that basketball courts and programming reduces youth crime.
We’re navigating between the proverbial “rock and a tough place” and must define the challenge accordingly. I might due to this fact define my priority as galvanize city Council to develop a method to maximise resilience and sustainability of people, families, neighbourhoods and the town while ensuring strong and sustainable fiscal policy. My first priority is to make sure that city council functions collaboratively and applies evidence-based research and best practices to develop revolutionary and artistic local solutions to place people and planet first.
Q.4 Looking down the road, what are your long-term goals for the town?
For me, my vision of a successful term of office would come with:
- Our beautiful riverside city ranked as considered one of the happiest in Canada, measured by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing which evaluates the wellness of populations based on community vitality, democratic engagement, the environment, healthy populations, living standards and education. Resilient children, families and neighbourhoods who’re welcomed and protected. Food security, reasonably priced housing, a living income, clean water and fresh air will probably be protected as human rights in a city built on equity and social justice. A city that’s protected, sustainable, walkable and friendly: a lovable City.
- I would like to see the City of Cambridge develop a Bioplan for restoration and protection of green spaces. The town can invite residents, researchers and other stakeholders to a series of roundtables. Perhaps this will probably be a part of a COVID recovery plan.
- By the late 2020s, the City of Cambridge may have substantially aligned its policy, land use planning and programs for innovation with: (1) the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals; (2) standards for a Reconciliation Economy for sustainable and equitable management of resources between Indigenous and Settler People and (3) Circular economy principles. The circular economy has been explored at government of Canada web-sites and gained world-wide attention with the adoption within the Amsterdam Circular Strategy 2020-2025. A circular economy seeks to retain and get well value of resources by reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing, or recycling products and materials.
Q.5 What’s your platform?
My platform is to put to put residents at the guts of the town for resilience, sustainability and dealing together. City Council decisions have to be based on:
- evidence and research for global best practices
- true cost accounting which incorporates each short- and long-term impact on children, families, city infrastructure and the environment
- upstream considering to stop problems before the challenges grow to be worse.
Q.6 What do you prefer to do in your spare time?
I actually have a morning yoga routine and spend quite a whole lot of time planning and caring for my pollinator garden. I’m an artist with a deal with mixed media paintings and concrete sketching. I enjoy cycling, walking, cross-country skiing in Cambridge, nearby parks and canoeing and kayaking on the Grand River.
Q.7 What’s your favourite thing about living in your city/ward?
I like the range across the town with historic Galt, Preston, Hespeler and Blair and the fashionable buildings, greenspaces and the rivers which weave the town together. Mostly, I like the friendliness of the people and the way easy it’s to cycle from one neighbourhood to a different!
Belinda Karahalios
Q.1 Please give a temporary background of yourself including what you do for a living and the way long you will have lived in the world? (Should you are an incumbent, please state how long you will have held the position.)
I actually have lived in Preston for over 7 years with my husband Jim and our 6-year-old son Victor. I’m the Party President for the Latest Blue Party of Ontario, and the previous Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Cambridge (2018-2022). Prior to politics, I worked for a healthcare charity.
Q.2 Why do you think you’re the precise person for the job?
I’m the very best person for the job. For 4 years as MPP, I used to be not afraid to rise up for Cambridge residents and to face on principle. I won’t be bullied into voting against my conscience or turning a blind eye from doing the precise thing. I’m running to defend taxpayers and advocate for principle and the opinions held by Cambridge residents just as I did as Cambridge MPP. Cambridge residents shouldn’t feel that their legitimate questions regarding the selections made by city hall or Queen’s Park will probably be ignored and even worse, vilified.
Q.3 What do you’re thinking that is an important issue facing your ward and the town as a complete?
Affordability. Cambridge city councillors voted in favour of an egregious 4.24 per cent property tax increase for 2022 (greater than triple the prior yr’s increase) along with a rise within the water rate and capital debt. That is reckless and unsustainable spending especially considering rising inflation.
Q.4 Looking down the road, what are your long-term goals for the town?
I will probably be specializing in cutting wasteful spending and saving taxpayer money to make sure no latest or increased taxes. We must also not be silenced or attacked for wanting to debate policy proposals based on the facts and questioning whether ideological top-down proposals are having the intended results.
Q.5 What’s your platform?
A freeze on property taxes, to fight against a drug injection site from being imposed against the need of residents, increased transparency almost about city council decisions and city spending. Please visit http://www.votebelinda.ca
Q.6 What do you prefer to do in your spare time?
I enjoy being outside; I like to cook, and when I actually have time, I like reading. But my favourite thing is the time I get to spend with my husband Jim and our son.
Q.7 What’s your favourite thing about living in your city/ward?
I like so many things about Cambridge and Preston. I like that Preston has a lot green space and that we’re near Riverside Park and the soccer dome. We now have such old beautiful buildings in Preston and a few improbable restaurants and other small businesses. The people in Cambridge are different too, we’re friendlier, more chatty, more open to saying hello to 1 one other on the road. After working at Queens Park for 4 years because the MPP, I can say for certain that we’re different here, and that’s thing that I hope we never lose.
Corey Kimpson
Q.1 Please give a temporary background of yourself including what you do for a living and the way long you will have lived in the world? (Should you are an incumbent, please state how long you will have held the position.)
Born and raised in Cambridge, I’m a lifelong resident of Ward 3. I’m a business owner and I also work in a part-time capability at a local people health centre. I’m prepared to represent the community in a full-time capability at city hall.
Q.2 Why do you think you’re the precise person for the job?
I actually have been an lively and engaged community member for a few years, serving as a volunteer on the Preston BIA, Preston Towne Market Planning Committee, Cambridge Memorial Hospital Patient and Family Advisory Committee and faculty councils throughout the ward. I bring a novel perspective as a business owner, worker, volunteer and resident and I actually have the flexibility to collaborate with others and convey about positive change. I actually have been recognized internationally for my dedication and innovation by The Beryl Institute because the recipient of the 2020 Modern Patient and Family Advisor Award for the work I actually have done at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.
Q.3 What do you’re thinking that is an important issue facing your ward and the town as a complete?
In speaking with community members, I actually have learned that there are a lot of areas of concern. In Ward 3, many community members are concerned with feelings of safety and security of their neighbourhoods, specifically within the downtown area of Preston. That is echoed throughout the City as we must balance the needs of a growing community with the resources we now have available to us. As a city councillor, it’s my job to represent the community members and advocate to make sure their voices are being heard and thought of when decisions are being made.
Q.4 Looking down the road, what are your long-term goals for the town?
We must work along with our regional, provincial and even federal counterparts to make sure that our community has access to the programs and services our residents needn’t only to survive, but to thrive. We must make sure that the resources are present to permit our community to grow while at the identical time recognizing and celebrating our unique character and history.
Q.5 What’s your platform?
Thriving healthcare and business, community safety, integrative neighbourhoods and reasonably priced housing.
Q.6 What do you prefer to do in your spare time?
Spare time, that’s one! In all seriousness, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, volunteering, walking my dogs and attending trivia night on the local pub!
Q.7 What’s your favourite thing about living in your city/ward?
I like our neighbourhood. We now have probably the most wonderful people around us who’re all the time able to assist. There are three generations of us living in the home I grew up in. My neighbours across the road remember the day my parents brought me home from the hospital. I can walk to our principal street and might see the probabilities just waiting to take shape with some latest projects and concepts. There are latest families moving into the world and they bring about fresh, latest energy. It’s just an amazing place to be.
Nate Whalen
Q.1 Please give a temporary background of yourself including what you do for a living and the way long you will have lived in the world? (Should you are an incumbent, please state how long you will have held the position.)
I’m 28 years old, a husband, homeowner, 2x business owner, ex-banker, and proud Preston Ward 3 resident and volunteer.
Q.2 Why do you think you’re the precise person for the job?
I’ve been a community leader all my life, led tons of of individuals and massive budgets, was a senior manager at considered one of the world’s largest firms, and dropped at life multiple organizations and projects using my strategic considering and talent to influence others.
I’m someone who genuinely cares about our Preston community, and I will probably be a powerful voice for you with the town, while prioritizing putting extra money in your pocket, taking a leadership role within the housing and homelessness crisis, and advocating for a thriving downtown Preston.
Q.3 What do you’re thinking that is an important issue facing your ward and the town as a complete?
Affordability – Persons are barely surviving with the rising cost of groceries, energy, mortgage/rent payments. The final thing we’d like is one other major tax hike as we’re already paying $250-$600 more per household than residents of Kitchener or Waterloo.
We want to do a line by line review of our City expenses and ask ourselves what is crucial and what will be paused or reduced, and hold City staff accountable to hurry up permits, cut red tape, and ensure housing developments get built quickly so folks can finally buy their first home or rent an inexpensive apartment, while at the identical time, supporting our most vulnerable in society to make sure they don’t should sleep in our parks or on the road.
Q.4 Looking down the road, what are your long-term goals for the town?
Over the medium to long-term, I’d prefer to see our city:
- Open for business: Let’s be generally known as a city that’s open for business with smart, fast permit approval processes, a competitive tax rate, and actively recruiting firms that bring many high paying jobs so our people can live and work here in Cambridge.
- Get a greater deal on the region and province: We must advocate to the region and the province to make sure there’s more autonomy, less burden on Cambridge taxpayers, and enhanced services comparable to healthcare, long-term care facilities and native addictions treatment and housing supports. With a growing population, Cambridge also needs to begin advocating for a fourth seat on our Regional Council so there’s adequate representation for our residents by the 2026 Municipal Election.
- Have thriving downtown cores: We proceed to have boarded up buildings here in downtown Preston and there continues to be opportunity for growth and making our downtowns more attractive. I envision a Preston Towne Centre that’s much more bustling – with more shoppers to match more things to do, cafes, shops, bars, restaurants.
- Cambridge as a destination: Many people in Cambridge go to Kitchener, Waterloo, or Toronto to rejoice or go to an event. We want to review our city plans to make sure Cambridge is a destination for an evening out or a convention that brings more folks and money into our City. We want to explore an area to host larger events and conventions, including the potential for a minor league sports team.
Q.5 What’s your platform?
1) More housing: Our neighbours shouldn’t should sleep in our parks. We want a City Council that prioritizes getting housing built and solving our homelessness crisis.
2) Lower taxes: We’re all feeling the pinch. The price of food, gas, and housing continues to extend. The final thing we’d like is more tax. We want a City Council that prioritizes putting more a reimbursement in your pocket. Lower taxes (property & water) means lower housing costs, for each homeowners and renters.
3) Thriving Preston: Our business owners should thrive and we deserve great shops, bars, and restaurants. We want a City Council that cares about constructing a thriving Preston Towne Centre.
Q.6 What do you prefer to do in your spare time?
In my spare time, I most enjoy spending time with my husband Axel, including going out for dinner, going for walks, or staying in and watching a latest episode on Netflix or Crave like I’m sure most couples do. If not with my family or working, I’m likely reading the news, volunteering, or working on a latest business idea.
Q.7 What’s your favourite thing about living in your city/ward?
I absolutely love living in Preston. Like many, I live in a 100+ yr old home that’s in a neighbourhood full of character, charm, and really friendly people (and dogs). Unlike many growing cities across Ontario, we still have a small town feel where people know one another, care about one another, and stop to ask, “how are you?” Being raised in St. John’s, NL, which is an identical size to Cambridge, I like how our community seems like a house away from (my original) home – and I would like to be a powerful voice for you at the town to assist ensure Preston stays the amazing, beautiful community it’s today for generations to return.
Global News has also reached out to Tracey Hipel but has not received a response as of publication. This copy will probably be updated as further answers arrive.
