What Michelle has heard
Ward 2 Priorities
Over the past six months, the most common priorities Michelle has heard from Ward 2 residents are affordability, livability and environment.
Check out the specific issues below as well as ideas Michelle has to tackle them.
Affordability
Solutions to supporting our most marginalized neighbours include dispelling stigmas, preventing homelessness, lead by paying a living wage and building a range of truly affordable and social housing options.
Food insecurity is a result of high housing & transportation costs; we can lower the costs of other essentials, support volunteer food providers, expand community gardens, support sliding scale grocers, incentivise zero food waste and more.
Michelle believes we must return to defining affordable housing as 30% of gross family income as well as protect our supply and build more using city property and federal grants. Meeting the large scale of the need will require help from upper levels of government.
Michelle also believes property tax levies should not exceed wage inflation, can be minimized by increasing revenue from investments, tourism etc., and spread out more equitably with tax breaks for low-income seniors, ODSP recipients and small businesses.
Livability
Investing in roads versus transit & active transportation has unfortunately become a wedge issue province wide but the solution for both as well as service infrastructure is the same – prioritize & invest now or pay more later.
For example, having more direct, reliable and frequent transit routes have a good return on investment; they reduce traffic problems as well as wear and tear on roads.
Michelle supports the Vision Zero goal of eliminating road fatalities and is advocating for an awareness program similar to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to achieve it.
Arts and culture are also important to Guelph constituents, and Michelle supports calls for the city to create a separate grant category, increase access to in-kind supports and hold regular structured meetings with community organizations.
Environment
To protect our unique groundwater supply, Michelle supports up-to-date climate modelling, protecting recharge areas, continuing conservation strategies and a moratorium on new AI datacentres until safeguards are in place.
Michelle is a strong advocate for converting the former reformatory lands into a National Urban Park to protect greenspace as well as biodiversity and indigenous reconciliation.
We need to prioritize being climate ready and meeting our climate goals – it costs more to ignore than to mitigate the associated issues.
Achieving our goals for Guelph
Being a good councillor is a full-time job, and it will be Michelle's focus. Constituent participation in decision making is important, and she will help advocate for solutions that balance lived experience, expertise and innovation. Michelle will also help build consensus among councillors.
Michelle's background in multivariable problem solving and education will be an asset on council and in communicating with residents. She volunteered in political organisations for 8 years and her social media feeds are known for respectful community consensus building.
Guelph is known for its innovators, volunteers, activists, artists, athletes and more. Michelle will help protect and enhance the novelty, empathy, green reputation, creativity and leadership our city is known for.