London Decides, a nonpartisan, volunteer-run election-info site with no endorsements and no ads, sent every mayoral and ward candidate the same five questions: the one thing I’d most want changed in London by the end of this term and what I’d give up to get it, a time in my life I needed a decision from people who mostly disagreed with me and got it, one thing the people I’d represent will ask for that council actually can’t decide, the issue I most want to be known for and the strongest argument against my own position, and one thing I’ve already done for people in London, before this campaign, that anyone can check.
Each question is quoted in full below, exactly as it was asked, followed by my full answer. Each one has its own link, so if there’s one you want to share, it’s easy to do.
All five questions, and my answers
What is the one thing you most want to have changed in London by the end of this term? Tell us what a resident would be able to see in 2030 that shows you did it, and what you would be willing to give up to get it.
Full costing, before every vote, every time. Right now, city staff can approve contracts up to six million dollars without a single council vote, and council never even sees a report on anything under $133,800. Below that line, taxpayer money moves and the people elected to watch it don’t find out unless someone files a freedom-of-information request, and even then the documents can come back redacted. By 2030, any Londoner should be able to open any city spending item and see the real cost before the money moves. Getting there means making enemies of whoever likes it this way: staff who’d rather not itemize, and any mayor who’d rather manage the message than open the books. I’m fine being the one who keeps asking the question nobody in that room wants asked.
A councillor is one vote of fifteen, and staff write the reports council votes on. Tell us about a time, in any part of your life, when you needed a decision from people who mostly disagreed with you and got it. Who did you have to bring around, what did you change in your ask, and what did you give up?
I’m developing Runnit, a social sports network and league/team management app. Getting anyone to actually switch from what they already use is a fight, even for free. Nobody wants to learn a new system on someone else’s word that it’s better. I stopped asking people to try it and started removing every reason to say no. I am helping administer a volleyball league and giving them free access. I helped a friend put his softball team on it the same way: I did the setup, waived their fees, and provide ongoing support. What I gave up was money the software could have earned, and hours of my own time. People don’t get talked into change. They get walked into it, by someone willing to carry the load until it’s proven.
Name one thing the people you’d represent will ask you for that city council cannot actually decide. Say plainly what you would tell them, who does hold that decision, and what you would do to move it anyway.
A parent came to me about school bus routes: a stop removed, kids walking a kilometre, and not being able to get a bus home after practice. I told them plainly: a city councillor has no say in that. Day-to-day routing is Southwestern Ontario Student Transportation Services, TVDSB’s bus operator. Policy sits with TVDSB’s own transportation office. Our elected trustee is Beth Mai, covering wards 7, 8, 9, 10, and 13, though TVDSB has been under a provincially appointed supervisor since last year, so trustees aren’t currently voting on board policy the way they normally would. What I can do anyway: point residents straight to TVDSB’s transportation office, and copy Beth Mai on it, since trustees still hear from residents and can push things along without a formal vote. I offered to make the introduction myself if needed.
Pick the issue you most want to be known for. Where do you feel torn on it, and what is the strongest argument against your own position?
Fiscal responsibility. No wasteful spending, full transparency on every dollar, and no tax hikes. What tears at me is saying no. A resident brings me something worth doing, and the math says the city can’t afford it without raising taxes, and I still have to say no.
Here’s the case against me. Refusing new revenue can mean deferring maintenance, and deferred infrastructure gets more expensive the longer a city waits. The same taxpayers pay for it eventually, just later, and for a bigger repair bill.
Prioritization is the fix. The full costing that I will be pushing for shows council the real cost of everything, so failing roads and pipes get funded first, and elective extras get delayed or cut.
Point us to one thing you have already done for people in London, before this campaign, that a reader could check and that shows how you would do this job. A web address is welcome.
Before I ran, I read the City’s own Official Plan and used it. In June 2025, a developer proposed 31 townhouses on Lambeth’s old McEachren school site, all its traffic routed through Marianna Drive’s single access point, while Lambeth’s one remaining public school is already capped and busing new kids out of the village. I wrote directly to Councillor Hopkins asking her to oppose the whole project, then sent a full written case at my Substack, built on the Plan’s own commitments to safe, healthy neighbourhoods and real community engagement. She acknowledged the first email and never answered the second. She voted yes four and a half months later.
That’s how I’d do the job: research, offer solutions, represent the will of Ward 9, and hold anyone to account who isn’t doing what’s best for residents.
That is every question, in the order they were asked. If you can help me sharpen my positions, please get in touch!