It’s Municipal Election Eve

While my term doesn’t officially end until Saturday, November 14, and our final Council meeting is on November 5, today feels like a good time to say thank you and good bye.

It has been my privilege to serve the residents of St. Catharines for the last eight years, and I am leaving politics knowing that thousands of you supported me in doing very important work at Niagara Region and for St. Catharines and Niagara’s 11 other communities.

Over the course of my eight years on Regional Council, I have been able to accomplish every single thing on which I campaigned, except – ironically 😒 – governance reform. While I don’t think all of the decisions out of the province about governance in Niagara are good ones, I want to be clear that I decided halfway through this term to not run again. My decision was not impacted by the governance decisions made for Niagara.

In achieving all of the work on which I campaigned, I would not have been able to do it without the support of residents, staff, and my colleagues on Council – always a majority and often unanimity. Together, we accomplished:

• Improved/strengthened Council expense policy;
• First-ever Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan (with the appropriate staff and committee supports);
• First-ever Niagara Poverty Reduction Strategy (aligned with all related plans and strategies);
• Amalgamated regional transit (a goal of many of my colleagues following the 2018 election);
• Regional Council and Niagara Regional Police Service Board support to explore a mental-health only response to calls for people in distress (currently with the Region’s Community Safety and Well-Being Action Tables);
• Developing and implementing a Lobbyist Registry;
• Declaration of intimate partner and family violence as an epidemic (resulting in service changes to our social housing initiatives);
• Acknowledgement of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of stigma and oppression as public health issues (resulting in improvements to the Region’s budget by-law);
• Endorsement of the work done by TOES Niagara and Brock University to develop The Code of Conduct for Human Trafficking Prevention in the Niagara Region; and
• Open (i.e., publicly recorded) voting of Regional Council’s appointment of the Regional Chair (in the term the province still allowed us to do that) and for Regional Councillor appointments to all agencies, boards, commissions, and committees.

We accomplished a lot in my time on Regional Council, and I am very proud of the work we’ve done.

I also had the opportunity to sit on a number of committees over the years, where I learned a great deal and was able to provide input into various services, programs, and other initiatives. It is often at the committee table where the work is done before a final decision is made at Council.

• Accessibility Advisory Committee (Chair)
• Audit Committee
• Corporate Services Standing Committee
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Committee (Vice Chair, then Chair)
• Downtown St. Catharines Community Safety and Well-Being Committee
• Linking Niagara Transit Committee
• Niagara Poverty Reduction Strategy Steering (then Advisory) Committee
• Niagara Regional Police Service Board (Chair, Finance Committee)
• Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee
• Procedural By-Law Review Committee (Vice Chair)
• Public Health and Social Services Standing Commitee
• Public Works Standing Committee
• Reaching Home Community Advisory Board (Co-Chair)
• Transportation Strategy Steering Committee (Chair)

I always enjoyed working with staff and am so appreciative of their insight and support as I did this work, and I enjoyed working with most of my colleagues and hearing their ideas and opinions about various issues as we made (sometimes) difficult decisions at Council.

Being an elected official is not an easy job, and – contrary to popular belief – it doesn’t pay a lot, which can make it especially challenging to keep doing the work when one is a single mother of two children (who are now both adults 😳) and navigating all that comes with that.

I believe my lived experience with homelessness, poverty, mental health concerns, and as a survivor of gender-based violence (as well as supporting people close to me who had similar experiences), along with my perspectives on racism, homophobia, transphobia, and disability (as I witnessed first-hand my loved ones having these experiences and did my best to support them) provided me a particular insight into the importance of much of the work we did in my two terms on Regional Council.

Of course, as many of you know, there were also some challenges I had to deal with related to how people behave toward elected officials who are women. This post isn’t about that, but I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude for the community members who spoke up in my defence; who sent me messages of support (when, truly, I needed them the most); who opened their homes to me the couple of times that things went so far that I needed that safety and security; and for the staff and few colleagues who cared, did what they could to protect me, and stood with me when it became important for me to call it out. Thank you.

Tomorrow, we learn who will represent us on our councils across Niagara, and I am looking forward to seeing who those representatives are. Whomever you vote for, please be sure to vote.

My advice to the councillors-elect and mayors-elect: Listen to residents, staff, and your colleagues and weigh their opinions and advice and take onboard that which makes sense to you. Be open to changing your mind on issues. Understand you can’t possibly be an expert in everything. Work with your colleagues to make your community better. Always make decisions that you can explain to your children, grandchildren, or loved ones while looking them in the eyes.

My advice to the candidates who weren’t successful this time: Keep trying. Learn more about the issues in your community and about municipal government. Join boards and groups that are meaningful to you to help build your community profile. Engage with the community and share what you would do differently and – where applicable – why you agree with a decision that has been made.

My advice to community members: Try to understand that being an elected official is not an easy job, people are coming to these roles with different experiences and perspectives, and (generally) the people in these roles really do have their heart in the right place. Keep your criticism focused squarely on political issues and decisions and never on who a person is, what they look like, or on their family and loved ones.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for permitting me to earn your support over the years to do the hard work.