Kitchener — Ward 10

1. Partner with other levels of government to develop local food hubs that reduce costs and barriers for small businesses
2. Promote and support low-barrier spaces for local producers to distribute and sell food
3. Encourage and support local landowners to rent to newcomer farmers
4. Develop a local food strategy, including research on how land-use change affects the food system
5. Leave local food livelihoods to the private market

Please describe one concrete policy, program, or decision you would support to strengthen the local food system.candidate's own words

To address food insecurity at its root, Kitchener must combine social procurement with low-barrier access to municipal infrastructure for local food producers. I will champion a municipal program that opens city-owned commercial kitchens and underutilized community centre facilities during off-peak hours for local food entrepreneurs, non-profits, and newcomer caterers at low or no cost. Pairing this with a streamlined municipal licensing process for home-based and micro-food businesses allows resident cooks, bakers, and urban growers to generate independent income, build local wealth, and supply fresh, culturally relevant food directly to their neighbourhoods. Furthermore,we should never stop reframing affordability from the limited gaze of the unhoused and newcomers. Solutions and conversations must be reframed around working-class income stagnation and retirement- and working-class poverty; we must connect food production directly to municipal purchasing power. I support incorporating local food sourcing into a city-wide Social Procurement Policy, ensuring that municipal catering, event contracts, and city-funded programs prioritize local urban farms, food cooperatives, and equity-deserving food producers. By converting city infrastructure into shared processing spaces and using municipal procurement to guarantee local market demand, Kitchener can foster a self-sustaining local food economy that lowers costs for working families and drives grassroots economic mobility.

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on food systems?candidate's own words

Kitchener and the RegionI should consider to refuse to accept a definition of sustainability that treats environmental health as an elite luxury or restricts its focus strictly to crisis management. Real municipal sustainability must be reframed around the everyday economic survival of Kitchener’s working class and seniors on fixed incomes, who are caught between stagnant wages, rising utility bills, and severe retirement poverty. When working families and pensioners spend an escalating percentage of their income just to keep the heat on and put food on the table, environmental policy must deliver direct financial relief and protection, not added cost burdens or performative slogans. This requires ensuring that green transition initiatives work for tenants and fixed-income homeowners rather than against them. Programs like RetroFitWR and Kitchener Utilities financing must be built with strict tenant safeguards so energy retrofits lower monthly utility bills for working families without giving corporate landlords a loophole for "green renovictions" or above-guideline rent increases. For our seniors, aging in place sustainably means keeping municipal utility rates predictable, expanding urban shade canopies along Ward 10 pedestrian routes to lower cooling costs during extreme heat, and ensuring city green investments do not drive up property taxes for those on fixed pensions. Equally important, protecting our local environment means protecting working-class pocketbooks from corporate grid exploitation.

Other priority not listed abovecandidate's own words

I would be open to discussing embedding local food procurement targets into municipal and regional purchasing agreements, directing institutional contracts toward local growers and Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives.

1. Promote and support low-barrier spaces for local producers to distribute and sell food
2. Partner with other levels of government to develop local food hubs that reduce costs and barriers for small businesses
3. Encourage and support local landowners to rent to newcomer farmers
4. Develop a local food strategy, including research on how land-use change affects the food system
5. Leave local food livelihoods to the private market

Please describe one concrete policy, program, or decision you would support to strengthen the local food system.candidate's own words

Facilitate access to commercial kitchens and harmonize regulations for home-based food businesses across Waterloo Region

1. Promote and support low-barrier spaces for local producers to distribute and sell food
2. Partner with other levels of government to develop local food hubs that reduce costs and barriers for small businesses
3. Encourage and support local landowners to rent to newcomer farmers
4. Develop a local food strategy, including research on how land-use change affects the food system
5. Leave local food livelihoods to the private market

Please describe one concrete policy, program, or decision you would support to strengthen the local food system.candidate's own words

I will continue to commit recourses to the recovery and long-term strength of the Kitchener Market as a place where local farmers, food producers, entrepreneurs and residents connect. Following the 2026 fire, the City kept the Market operating, invested in temporary infrastructure and reduced vendor rents while businesses recovered. I want to make sure the rebuilt Market remains accessible to small vendors and continues connecting residents with locally produced food. I will also continue supporting community gardens through neighbourhood programs and consider opportunities for additional gardens where residents identify demand and appropriate land is available.

Would you like to provide any additional context for your views on food systems?candidate's own words

Food insecurity is fundamentally connected to income and affordability, so municipal programs alone cannot solve it. The City can still play a useful role through partnerships, community infrastructure, land, neighbourhood programs and support for local food producers.

Other priority not listed abovecandidate's own words

My focus would be on protecting low-barrier opportunities for local farmers and food producers to sell directly to residents, supporting community gardens, and working with partners where municipal land or infrastructure can strengthen the local food system