Jonathan Bos
City/Township Council · North Dumfries Ward 4
Back to candidatesHousing & Homelessness 3 questions
Housing & Homelessness
- Partner with non-profit and supportive housing providers
- Focus primarily on market housing to reduce overall pressure
- Prioritize clearing encampments to maintain public access to shared spaces
- Assign clear municipal responsibility for public-space management
- Publish ongoing performance metrics (e.g. housing placements, shelter bed access)
Please describe one concrete policy, program, or decision you would support to address both encampments and permanent housing.candidate's own words
This is not specifically a problem in my ward
Getting Around 4 questions
Getting Around
- Most of our rural roads lack adequate shoulders
- even for walking. I'd like to see this improved especially as traffic increases
- Use transit to shape land use
- Invest in rapid transit to anchor growth
- Prioritize expanding coverage area
- Prioritize maximizing operational efficiency
- Prioritize lower-cost or incremental transit improvements
No, maintain the current system where property owners clear adjacent sidewalks
Improve existing subsidies and discounts, but maintain fares for most riders
Please describe one criterion or principle that should not be compromised when making transit investment decisions.candidate's own words
Farmland access
Please name one specific street, corridor, or project where you would prioritize these changes.candidate's own words
Clyde Road, east of Cambridge
Climate & Sustainability 3 questions
Climate & Sustainability
- Addressing climate change is not a priority at this time, given other more urgent issues facing local governments
- Maintain current standards: additional requirements are best set at the provincial or federal level
- Require an assessment of impacts on aquifer recharge
Describe one concrete policy, incentive, or decision you would prioritize to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Where possible, explain how it balances environmental goals with fiscal responsibility.candidate's own words
Developing unused industrial sites is a great way to slow the spread onto agricultural land. Ag land use is an environmentally friendly and sustainable way to sink carbon
Food Systems & Security 3 questions
Food Systems & Security
- Leave local food livelihoods to the private market
- Encourage and support local landowners to rent to newcomer farmers
- Develop a local food strategy, including research on how land-use change affects the food system
- Partner with other levels of government to develop local food hubs that reduce costs and barriers for small businesses
- Promote and support low-barrier spaces for local producers to distribute and sell food
- Support local food procurement for school food programs, including processing/preparation infrastructure, food literacy, and youth learning opportunities
- Make public lands (Regional and municipal) available for sustenance food provisioning, including in urban and peri-urban spaces as cities expand
- Enable access to land and resources for local people who want to grow their own food (e.g. the community-garden model)
- Our agriculture sector is well equipped to provide food for whoever needs it. Community food plots
- however
- are a great use of underutilized municipal lands
Please describe one concrete policy, program, or decision you would support to strengthen the local food system.candidate's own words
North Dumfries has huge potential for small farms to thrive. Happy to promote local food production and consumption by connecting producers to consumers. Market space or even online hub is a great start.
Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on food systems?candidate's own words
I work in production agriculture daily. I don't look at small producers as competition or inefficient. They need support from our municipal governments in the form of promotion, reducing red tape, etc
Growth & Planning 4 questions
Growth & Planning
- Limit outward growth unless full lifecycle infrastructure
- Require detailed cost and risk analysis before approving
- Proceed with outward growth to address housing supply
- Use development phasing tied to infrastructure capacity
- Prioritize infill and intensification where infrastructure
- promote infill and brownfield development
- Use public engagement to inform design, not to veto density
- Phase or adjust density in response to neighbourhood concerns about design or servicing capacity
- Approve density where infrastructure capacity already exists
- Pair density approvals with targeted infrastructure upgrades
- Accept short-term constraints in order to meet housing demand
Budget & Taxes 5 questions
Budget & Taxes
It should be more transparent and accessible
- Moderate, predictable tax increases to maintain service levels
- Prioritize not increasing taxes and service fees
- Reduce discretionary programs to protect core services
- Prioritize maintenance and state-of-good-repair over expansion
About the Candidate3 questions
About the Candidate
Why are you running for this position?candidate's own words
I have always had an interest in politics, but mainly focused on Agriculture policy at the provincial level. After the councillor representing this ward decided not to run this term, he encouraged me to put my name forward for the position. I am excited for the opportunity to steward the resources shared by my community.
How does the current two-tier structure of municipal and regional government affect the Region's ability to make coherent decisions on housing, planning, and infrastructure?candidate's own words
This is interesting. My ward is rural, and one of the most pressing concerns today is traffic and speeding. I consider this a downstream effect of broader municipal planning as poor traffic flow within the main arteries pushes traffic to the rural roads as a shortcut
Please describe one specific area where you think the governance structure helps or hinders good decision-making.candidate's own words
Insufficient experience to answer