Residents First Insights
One of the most rewarding parts of this campaign has been the conversations I've had with residents across Pickering. Whether it's at the door, at community events, or over a coffee, people have shared thoughtful questions and important concerns about the future of our city.
Many of those conversations have revealed that municipal issues are often more complex than they first appear, and that there is a lot of information residents simply aren't given.
I've created this page to help change that.
Here you'll find straightforward, easy-to-understand information on some of the issues that matter most to our community. My goal is to explain how these issues affect Pickering, what authority Council actually has, and where I stand.
This is a living resource that will continue to grow throughout the campaign as I meet more residents and hear more ideas. I encourage you to check back regularly over the coming months as new topics are added.
Because good decisions start with good information.
| |
On Wednesday, July 29, I had the opportunity to attend Lakeridge Health’s All-Candidates Durham Region Health Update at Oshawa Hospital.
There was a lot of information packed into the session, but one issue kept coming back to me throughout the presentation: growth.
Durham is already one of the fastest-growing regions in Canada, and our population is expected to reach roughly 1.3 million by 2051. Here in Pickering, we are projected to have one of the highest growth rates in Durham, with our population expected to grow to more than 250,000.
With that kind of growth, there is no doubt we need to be thinking about what it means for access to healthcare. More residents means greater demand for family doctors, emergency departments, hospital beds, rehabilitation, mental health services and everything else our healthcare system provides.
That is probably why two parts of the presentation resonated with me so much. Both are trying to address a very real concern around our growth and access to care.
The first was what is being planned right here in Pickering.
A new stand-alone post-acute care and rehabilitation facility is planned for our city. We were told that moving this project forward is important because a completely new hospital, like the one planned for Whitby, can take roughly 10 years to build.
Post-acute care may not get the same attention as an emergency department, but it is an important part of creating more capacity in our hospitals. Patients who no longer need an acute-care bed, but still need rehabilitation or medical support before going home, can receive that care in the proper setting. That frees up hospital beds for patients who need acute care.
The second thing that really caught my attention was the approach being taken to our shortage of family doctors.
The Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program is training future family doctors right here in Durham. Students learn in our hospitals, work alongside family physicians in our communities and build relationships here throughout their training.
The thinking is pretty straightforward: if we educate doctors here, train them here and connect them to the community, we have a much better chance of keeping them here.
That really made sense to me, especially when you think about how quickly Durham is growing.
There were also some encouraging updates, including shorter emergency department wait times and ambulance offload times, less reliance on agency nurses, and continued expansion of mental health, pediatric, surgical and community-based care.
Healthcare is primarily a provincial responsibility, but municipalities still have an important role to play through partnerships, physician recruitment, planning for growth and making sure our communities are ready to support the healthcare services and professionals we need.
If our population is going to grow this quickly, our healthcare capacity has to grow with it. We can’t build communities first and then spend years trying to catch up with the services residents need.
Thank you to Lakeridge Health for inviting candidates in and for a very informative discussion about where healthcare in Durham is headed.
| |
1. What is the issue?
Growth is one of the most important issues facing Pickering, and residents rightly expect their elected officials to have a strong voice in how our community develops.
One of the most common misconceptions is that Council can simply approve or reject any development proposal based on public opinion. In reality, planning decisions in Ontario must follow the Planning Act, provincial planning policies, municipal Official Plans, zoning by-laws, and other legislation. Council has an important role, but it must exercise its authority within this legal framework.
Every planning decision requires Council to consider:
- Provincial legislation and planning policy
- The City's Official Plan
- Existing zoning by-laws
- Technical studies
- Public input
- The long-term interests of the community
Understanding those rules helps explain why some applications are approved, modified, refused, or appealed.
2. Why should residents care?
Development decisions shape our community for decades.
They influence:
- neighbourhood character
- traffic
- parks
- schools
- recreation facilities
- infrastructure
- local businesses
- property values
- quality of life
Residents deserve meaningful opportunities to participate before decisions are made. Community input helps identify local issues that technical reports may not fully capture and can influence how projects are designed and refined.
The earlier residents become involved, the greater the opportunity they have to shape the outcome.
3. What authority does Council actually have?
Council has significant responsibilities in shaping how Pickering grows, but it also operates within rules established by the Province.
Council can
- Adopt and update the City's Official Plan.
- Pass and amend zoning by-laws.
- Review and decide many planning applications.
- Require technical studies.
- Negotiate conditions and community benefits where permitted.
- Listen to residents before making decisions.
Council cannot
- Ignore Ontario law.
- Refuse an application simply because it is unpopular.
- Make decisions that conflict with provincial planning legislation.
- Ignore planning evidence.
Council should
- Be transparent throughout the planning process.
- Ensure residents are informed early.
- Carefully weigh community feedback.
- Ask tough questions of developers and staff.
- Always consider the long-term interests of Pickering.
That doesn't mean Council is powerless.
It means Council's decisions need to be well-reasoned, evidence-based, and legally defensible.
4. Where do I stand?
I support growth that strengthens our community rather than simply adding more buildings.
That means:
- Planning infrastructure alongside growth, not years behind it.
- Meaningful consultation before key decisions are made.
- Transparent explanations of how and why decisions are reached.
- Respecting existing neighbourhoods while planning for future generations.
- Using every tool available to Council to achieve the best possible outcome for residents.
Good planning isn't about saying yes to everything or no to everything.
It's about making informed, balanced decisions that leave Pickering stronger for the people who live here today and for those who will call it home tomorrow.
| |
1. What is the issue?
As Pickering continues to grow, new homes, apartments, businesses, and employment lands require additional infrastructure and municipal services. That includes roads, parks, recreation facilities, libraries, stormwater systems, water and wastewater infrastructure, fire protection, and other public investments that allow our community to function.
To help pay for this growth, municipalities collect Development Charges (DCs) from developers. Development charges are authorized under Ontario's Development Charges Act and are intended to recover a portion of the capital costs associated with growth. Before a municipality can collect them, it must complete a detailed Development Charges Background Study and pass a Development Charges By-law.
Development charges are one of the most important financial tools municipalities have, but they are not designed to pay for every cost associated with growth.
2. Why should residents care?
Growth affects everyone.
When growth is well planned and appropriately funded, it can bring new housing, new jobs, new businesses, and improved community amenities.
However, the financial reality is more complex than many people realize.
Pickering's 2025 Development Charges Background Study estimates approximately $1 billion in growth-related capital costs over the planning period. Under Ontario's current legislative framework, approximately $505 million can be recovered through development charges, while approximately $498 million must be funded through other sources. In other words, for every $1.00 of growth-related capital costs, the City must fund approximately 49.7 cents through other means (
Report to Council).
Those other funding sources can include:
- Long-term debt
- Reserve funds
- Grants from other levels of government
- Other municipal funding sources
This does not automatically mean higher property taxes. However, it does mean that growth creates long-term financial obligations that Council must carefully manage.
There's another important factor that often gets overlooked.
Infrastructure isn't always built at the same time growth occurs. Sometimes roads, water systems, or recreation facilities need to be built years before new residents arrive. Other times, growth happens in different areas than originally expected, creating new demands on existing infrastructure.
That's why planning matters just as much as growth itself.
This isn't really a debate about whether Pickering should grow. It's about making sure growth is planned responsibly and paid for as fairly as possible.
3. What authority does Council actually have?
This is where many people are surprised.
Council does not decide what Ontario law allows municipalities to recover through development charges. Those rules are established by the Province through the Development Charges Act and related regulations.
Council does, however, make several important decisions that directly affect how growth is managed.
Council is responsible for:
- Approving and updating the City's Development Charges By-law.
- Approving the required Development Charges Background Study.
- Determining which growth-related capital projects are included in the City's long-term infrastructure plans.
- Deciding when infrastructure projects proceed and how they are financed through development charges, reserves, debt, grants, and other funding sources.
- Managing the timing and phasing of growth to reduce financial risk wherever possible.
- Advocating to the Province when municipalities need additional funding tools or legislative changes.
Perhaps most importantly, Council has a responsibility to communicate openly and honestly with residents about the long-term financial implications of growth.
4. Where do I stand?
I support growth that is responsible, financially sustainable, and planned with residents in mind.
That means:
- Growth should contribute as much as possible toward the cost of the infrastructure it requires, wherever provincial legislation allows.
- Infrastructure investments should be carefully planned so that construction is aligned with actual growth whenever practical.
- Residents deserve clear, transparent information about the long-term costs, funding sources, and financial risks associated with major growth-related projects.
- Council should continually review whether growth is occurring where it was planned, and whether infrastructure investments are keeping pace in the most financially responsible way.
- Where provincial legislation limits a municipality's ability to recover growth-related costs, I will advocate for fair funding tools that better protect municipal taxpayers while continuing to support responsible housing and economic development.
Growth is essential to Pickering's future. But growth should also be financially responsible.
Before approving major growth-related infrastructure, Council should be able to answer three simple questions:
How will we build it? How will we operate it? And how will we maintain it over its entire life?
Residents deserve those answers before the decisions are made.
Growth should strengthen our community, not quietly shift today's costs onto tomorrow's taxpayers.