London, Ont. voters will head to the polls on Oct. 24 to decide who the city’s next mayor, and who their next city councillor, should be.
Ten candidates are vying for the mayor’s office, while 61 others are running in 14 ward races across the city.
Six council seats are guaranteed to see new occupants in the next term, with London Mayor Ed Holder and five councillors opting not to seek re-election.
Among the departures are Ward 3 Coun. Mo Salih, Ward 4 Coun. Jesse Helmer, Ward 5 Coun. Maureen Cassidy, Ward 7 Coun. Josh Morgan, and Ward 11 Coun. Stephen Turner. (In the case of Ward 7, Morgan is instead running for mayor.)
A full list of mayoral and ward candidates can be found on the city’s website, along with other election-related information.
To help voters ahead of election day, Global News reached out to those running and asked that they complete a short, five-question survey.
Global News will publish the responses received, ward by ward, over the coming days, with candidates listed in alphabetical order.
You can find all of the published ward candidate responses on this page.
Below are the responses received by the candidates running in Ward 10, located in the city’s southwest. The Ward covers London’s Westmount area.
Global News has not received responses from candidates Claire Grant and Michael McMullen. This article will be updated should additional responses come in.
- John Kuypers
- Kevin May
- Paul Van Meerbergen (incumbent)
John Kuypers
Q.1: Over the summer, the group The Forgotten 519 put out a call to action to come up with urgent solutions to address London’s homelessness crisis. If elected, how would you tackle homelessness, addiction and mental health issues in London?
I will propose acquiring a city-wide network of 100 group homes, staffed 24/7 by two employees. Each home will house 4-5 homeless people. Each will receive counselling to get back on their feet. This may mean government income support if work is not possible, or job training if work is possible. Mental health counselling will also be available.
This is the model used by the Ontario government with Community Living and it works. The homes must be integrated into normal neighbourhoods throughout the city. Caring citizens will quickly learn that their neighbourhoods remain safe and unchanged.
I have worked at Toronto City Mission and have seen low income people gathered into large high-rise ghettos. This does not work for the mentally ill. It creates dangerous living conditions and promotes crime and drug use. Tent cities are equally dangerous.
Q.2: London business owners have recently highlighted some of the economic challenges they’re facing particularly in the downtown core. What strategies do you propose to revitalize London’s downtown core to help businesses thrive?
My strategy is based on another successful downtown rebuild where Toronto (I’m not from Toronto by the way) moved the Skydome and Maple Leaf Gardens downtown. Once their downtown had EVENING crowds, the restaurants moved in and so did the downtown condo residents. Safety at night was also a positive outcome.
For London, the only venue that has regular evening crowds is the casino. I propose that we move our casino downtown, perhaps into the London Museum or a similar structure. We have plenty of parking and a high-rise parking garage can be added if needed.
I also propose that we build a waterfront social district in Ivey Park that looks at the Forks of the Thames River. Waterfront districts are major tourist and resident attractions in every city that has a river or lake. Why London has not done this is a baffling mystery to me. Once in place, the business growth will naturally follow.
I also propose that we infill the former Casino location with new medium density housing.
Q.3: Affordability in the housing and rental markets is the most pressing issue for many Londoners. If elected, what changes would you push for to ease the burden on Londoners when it comes to the cost of living?
The cost of living is mostly caused by factors outside the control of City Council. Federal monetary policy caused inflation and now it is causing high interest rates. The good news is that housing prices are falling as a result. I believe in free market pricing for real estate for the mainstream population.
For those in low incomes, I believe in supporting London-Middlesex Community Housing where we build or acquire properties that are rent-geared to income. Right now, LMCH has about 3100 housing units. This is a tiny supply of the 186,000 housing units that exist in London. More need to be acquired or built.
Finally, the City can press developers for lower-cost housing, including offering lower development fees and approving innovative tiny houses. These are taking root in other parts of the world. When land is expensive, homes need to shrink to remain affordable.
Q.4: London is in the process of building three legs of bus rapid transit, but challenges remain for the north and west end of the city. What is your vision for the next phase of public transit in the city?
I am not a transit expert. London was clearly not originally built with distinct transit lines in mind. The BRT requires a major upheaval of certain roads. For the North and West routes to proceed, this upheaval needs to be addressed in order to go ahead. My understanding is that this is why the North and West routes were not approved. I am open-minded to innovative solutions.
Q.5: What is your vision for London in the next 10 years and how do we get there?
My vision is for London to embrace that it is a MAJOR city within North America. Right now, city council thinks and acts like London is a small town. Councillors are part-time and paid accordingly. City Council gets snared in the weeds of micro-issues that should be handled by City staff. This creates huge dysfunction at Council. It processes an average of 1 motion every 2 ½ minutes and approves 98.9% of all motions (past 2 year record). It only meets 17 times a year. Big issues remain unaddressed. Decisions are half-measures. Infrastructure still pours raw sewage into the Thames River. Roads like Southdale and Bradley are half-built. Meanwhile, the city is sitting on more than $800 million in available and unallocated capital, growing by nearly $200 million every year.
Success in any organization starts at the top. We need a new mindset with a grander vision. This is my career hallmark across three major companies, eight boards and dozens of public and private clients. Without a vision, we shall lose our way.
I want a London that attracts high-paying jobs, offers a healthy outdoor-focused lifestyle and offers affordability that lets people of all incomes enjoy a satisfying standard of living and quality of life.
Kevin May
Q.1: Over the summer, the group The Forgotten 519 put out a call to action to come up with urgent solutions to address London’s homelessness crisis. If elected, how would you tackle homelessness, addiction and mental health issues in London?
Nearly 3000 people in London are experiencing homelessness and many others are struggling with the higher cost of living, mental health and accessibility. We must be ready to work with other levels of government and community partners to provide support networks throughout the city for the most vulnerable people in our community.
Predictable funding for social supports and crisis response and a permanent winters housing solution must be considered in the next budget.
Q.2: London business owners have recently highlighted some of the economic challenges they’re facing particularly in the downtown core. What strategies do you propose to revitalize London’s downtown core to help businesses thrive?
Our downtown core was once the heart of our city. Businesses thrived, we attracted tourists and it was a family-friendly environment. Today, many Londoners don’t feel safe and find it difficult to find reasons to spend their time downtown. Ultimately, the most effective way to revitalize our downtown core is to increase the number of people living there by increasing density.
To ensure that downtown is a place where people want to live we must work with property owners to remove barriers, provide incentives, to attract new tenants, including a much needed grocery store, and protect the businesses from property damages and break-ins. We need to also utilize Dundas Place more effectively to create a more walkable environment to increase foot traffic.
Q.3: Affordability in the housing and rental markets is the most pressing issue for many Londoners. If elected, what changes would you push for to ease the burden on Londoners when it comes to the cost of living?
The housing shortage weighs heavily on Londoners minds. Young people are feeling left out of the housing market, and parents worry that their children and grandchildren will be forced to choose another city to live in, as the possibility of renting or owning a home becomes increasingly out of reach.
With nearly 40,000 new homes required to achieved affordability before 2030, there is no one-size fits all solution. We will need to be flexible and prioritize inward and upward growth, increasing density and infill with a focus on student and affordable housing.
We can be open to innovative approaches that will stream line the planning process for key projects and consider multiple zoning options, where appropriate, such as as-of-right zoning, zero lot homes and co-op’s. We need communities that are walkable and surrounded by amenities and other options that allow us to address “the missing middle” and rent geared to income housing.
Q.4: London is in the process of building three legs of bus rapid transit, but challenges remain for the north and west end of the city. What is your vision for the next phase of public transit in the city?
London is one of the busiest, bus only transit systems in Canada. Despite this, it is near the bottom in funding among comparable cities. Unnecessary delays in growing our transit system can be costly, have negative impacts on our ability to provide affordable housing, create barriers to employment and adversely impacts our environment.
By committing to predictable funding, equal or greater to revenues generated by fares, we can improve reliability, accessibility and frequency. This will give Londoners a real alternative to moving around the city.
Q.5: What is your vision for London in the next 10 years and how do we get there?
If we are ambitious and forward-thinking we can build a resilient, sustainable London that is safe, inclusive and accessible for all ages and abilities. We can grow, strengthen and create opportunities for all Londoners if we work together and make bold choices, laying the ground work for future generations to thrive.
Making decisions today, on transit, housing, accessibility, social services and more, will help make life more affordable in the future.
Paul Van Meerbergen
Q.1: Over the summer, the group The Forgotten 519 put out a call to action to come up with urgent solutions to address London’s homelessness crisis. If elected, how would you tackle homelessness, addiction and mental health issues in London?
Homelessness, and mental health issues are serious all over the province. Through AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) we must insist that the Ontario Government step up to the plate and become more engaged. The federal government as well. It will take a multi pronged effort to tackle these issues head-on. The problem is larger than a single municipality.
Q.2: London business owners have recently highlighted some of the economic challenges they’re facing particularly in the downtown core. What strategies do you propose to revitalize London’s downtown core to help businesses thrive?
Much of the problems outlined in question 1 directly relate to this question. We can’t possibly revitalize the downtown core without remedying the homelessness, addiction and mental health situation in the downtown core.
Q.3: Affordability in the housing and rental markets is the most pressing issue for many Londoners. If elected, what changes would you push for to ease the burden on Londoners when it comes to the cost of living?
Affordability in housing and rental markets will only be encouraged if we make a real effort to remove red tape and planning blockages from the housing construction industry to increase housing stock and therefore lower home prices
Q.4: London is in the process of building three legs of bus rapid transit, but challenges remain for the north and west end of the city. What is your vision for the next phase of public transit in the city?
The pressing issue for London Transit; start and expand bus routes to industrial areas to allow working folks to get to their places of employment.
Q.5: What is your vision for London in the next 10 years and how do we get there?
My vision for London over the next 10 years is the following. Making housing prices more affordable by a real reduction in the time and burden it takes to approve new home developments. This will increase housing stocks thereby lowering prices. We need to ease the movement of people and goods around London through a real improvement in our road system. We need to improve our ability to control crime and personal security through a proper refunding of police. We need to keep spiraling taxation in check by focusing on core, basic priorities and not frivolous spending.
— Candidate questions by Global News’ Jaclyn Carbone and Maya Reid.