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COMMITMENT ONE
COMMITMENTS
Honest affordability and responsible taxes.
Barrie residents deserve to understand their full tax bill, not just one part of it.
For four years, the Mayor has claimed that the “operating” tax rate increased by zero percent. In fact, this Mayor has passed tax increases averaging more than 4%, increasing the property tax bill on a typical Barrie home by about $803 - the highest tax increases in decades. Policing, the library, County services, and the infrastructure levy are all part of what residents actually pay.
I will make sure we are talking about the whole picture, and commit to delivering lower tax increases.
Property taxes still rose 2.89% in 2023, 4.82% in 2024, 4.31% in 2025 and 3.95% in 2026 — despite claims of a 0% City increase.
Residents deserve to understand why.
Committed to:
Before every budget, I will make sure residents can clearly see what is changing across their entire tax bill, including City operations, service partners, infrastructure contributions, and major reserve commitments.
It will be in plain language and easy to find.
Barrie is facing significant infrastructure needs, and some of our capital reserves are already under pressure.
I will conduct a line-by-line review of the 2027 budget to identify savings, efficiencies, and spending that needs a closer look, and commitments that may need to wait.
The results of that review will be public.
Barrie has made a significant investment in reducing development charges to encourage housing construction. While we need more housing, there is no way to ensure this taxpayer subsidy actually goes to residents, instead of being kept by developers.
I will review the program against measurable results. So far, average rents in Barrie have NOT gone down, and the price of new homes has not changed substantially either.
Are we seeing sustained housing growth? What type of housing is being built? Are savings reaching buyers and renters or padding the profit margins of developers? What costs are taxpayers absorbing when those charges are waived?
If the program is delivering, we should be able to show it. If it isn’t, we should be prepared to change it.
Policing is the largest cost on your tax bill, and the police budget has increased a stunning 33% over the last four years.
I support Barrie Police and want officers to have the resources they need to keep our community safe, but Police costs are rising far faster than other services. Police costs should not rise faster than the Fire Department, Roads, or other municipal costs.
I will make sure we review significant budget increases carefully. Overtime, vacancies, technology, equipment, capital spending, and other operating costs are all fair areas to review.
The goal is to make sure police have the resources they need while taxpayers get good value for what they are spending. But nobody can afford 33% budget increases.
YOU CAN'T TRUST A BUDGET THAT YOU CAN'T EASILY READ OR MAKE SENSE OF.
COMMITMENT TWO
Safe communities with real solutions.
None of us want to see people living outside in tents.
A 21-year-old Barrie resident wrote to me recently. He bought his first home downtown, the only place he could afford. On Canada Day, he administered Narcan to someone who had stopped breathing on his front lawn, in front of children playing on the street.
He didn’t ask for that responsibility. Nobody should have to be in that position.
After years of working in affordable housing and community services, one thing is very clear to me: we are not going to solve homelessness by simply moving people from one place to another.
None of us want to see people living outside in tents. It is distressing to see people struggling, and we would all feel more comfortable and safe if we all had a stable home to return to each day. We need to focus much more on what happens after the tent is cleared.
The reality is that the Mayor’s declaration of a homelessness emergency has failed. It’s actually made things worse: there are now more homeless people in Barrie than before the emergency was declared, and the reality is clear just by driving through downtown.
Chronic homelessness costs the system an estimated $100,000+ per person annually in emergency services, policing, and healthcare. Supportive housing costs $40,000 - $60,000.
The math makes the case.
Committed to:
Housing First means helping people move into permanent housing and connecting them with the mental health, addiction, healthcare, and other supports they may need to remain housed.
Other communities have shown that this approach can improve housing stability while reducing pressure on hospitals, police, courts, and emergency services.
I will work with the County of Simcoe, shelter and housing providers, healthcare partners, the province, and the federal government to get additional long-term supportive housing built in Barrie.
I will bring together the people closest to both the problem and the solutions: the City, County, healthcare providers, police, housing and homelessness organizations, mental health and addiction services, people with lived experience, and others doing this work every day.
The goal will be practical.
What is working? Where are the gaps? What needs to change? Who is responsible for moving each piece forward?
Everyone agrees that something needs to be done, but crisis-based approaches that prioritize the visibility of homelessness only delay real solutions, wasting time and money. One year into an encampment state of emergency, there are more people living homeless in our city than before. Sustainable progress requires learning from other cities' proven models, not opting for quick optics.
I don’t want another table that simply talks about the problem. I want the people with knowledge, experience, and solutions in the same room, working toward clear outcomes.
I will push for public reporting that goes beyond how many encampments were cleared or how many calls were made: moving the same person’s tent 23 times and calling it 23 successful encampment clearings helps no one.
How many people moved into housing? How many remained housed six months or a year later? Where are people falling through the gaps?
Those are the outcomes that tell us whether our approach is actually working.
SUCCESS MEANS FEWER PEOPLE LIVING OUTSIDE, FEWER PEOPLE CYCLING THROUGH CRISIS, AND MORE PEOPLE SAFELY AND STABLY HOUSED.
COMMITMENT THREE
Services that work for you.
A city isn't just its skyline or its announcements.
It’s the bus that gets you to work. The road in front of your house. The recreation centre you use. The sidewalk you should be able to travel safely.
What I’m hearing from residents is that some of the everyday services they rely on are not working as well as they should.
Why would we spend tens of millions on vanity projects Downtown when people can't even get down their street in the winter?
Those services deserve our attention too.
Committed to:
This past winter, Barrie’s streets were impassable for weeks. This is a direct result of underfunding snowplowing and other basic services.
I will make sure Barrie’s streets get snowplowed properly. I will redirect funding from corporate subsidies to operational funding in Barrie’s budget for winter control, basic road maintenance, and core municipal services that have been starved by this Mayor.
If you can’t deliver basic services, you shouldn’t be spending money on optional vanity projects.
I will pursue a $1 transit fare and a $25 monthly pass.
Before implementing it, I will make sure the financial plan is clear and public, including the cost, expected ridership impact, available provincial and federal funding, and what it means for the overall transit budget. I will bring transit staff and riders together to identify where Barrie Transit is not working well and which changes would make the biggest difference.
Affordable and reliable transit can help people get to work, appointments, school, groceries, and other services while making transit a more realistic alternative to driving.
Accessibility should not be something we add after a project is designed.
Whether we are talking about the waterfront, recreation facilities, sidewalks, parks, or other public spaces, every project should start with one basic question: can everyone use it safely and comfortably?
I will make accessibility part of the conversation from the beginning of City projects, not at the end.
I will also restore online access to the Seniors and Accessibility Advisory Committee so residents can follow its work.
Short-term rentals can serve a legitimate purpose, including for people temporarily displaced by fire, flood, or major repairs.
But neighbourhoods also deserve clear expectations when a property is being operated primarily as a short-term rental.
I will work with Council, residents, Tourism Barrie, and other stakeholders to bring forward a made-for-Barrie framework that looks at registration, clear expectations for operators, and practical enforcement.
The goal is balance: protect neighbourhoods and potential affordable housing stock without treating every short-term rental the same way.
Residents should be able to see what level of service the City is aiming to provide and whether we are meeting it.
I will work with staff in each department to establish and publish clear service standards for areas such as roads, snow clearing, transit, and parks, with regular reporting on how the City is performing.
If something is falling behind, residents should be able to see that too.
A CITY SHOULD WORK WELL FOR THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN IT EVERY DAY.
COMMITMENT FOUR
Smart growth that works for people.
Barrie can grow without losing what makes it livable.
A home isn’t affordable simply because it is priced slightly below market. It is affordable when the people who live and work in our community can actually afford to live there.
Barrie is growing, and we need new housing. But the reality is clear: Average rents in Barrie continue to rise, and home prices remain far out of reach. The City’s strategy isn’t working, despite tens of millions in subsidies to private corporations.
A person working full-time at a minimum-wage job earns about $36,600 a year. At 30% of income, that works out to roughly $915 a month for housing. That is a long way from what many people are seeing in Barrie’s rental market.
And this isn’t only about minimum wage earners.
PSWs, early childhood educators, retail workers, seniors on fixed incomes, and people living on one income are all feeling the pressure.
Barrie already has an Affordable Housing Strategy. Now we need to follow through.
Barrie received $25.6 million through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund.
Residents deserve to know exactly how many units that produces — and for whom.
Committed to:
Barrie needs a better mix of housing.
That includes rental housing, seniors housing, smaller units for single-person households, affordable ownership opportunities, and long-term supportive housing.
I will keep pushing for housing decisions that reflect the people who live here now and the people who will call Barrie home in the future.
Barrie’s Affordable Housing Strategy identified nine specific actions the City can take.
I will establish clear timelines and regular public progress reporting so residents can see what has been completed, what is underway, and what is falling behind.
Plans matter. Follow-through matters more.
When the City calls housing affordable, residents should be able to understand exactly what that means and who can actually afford it.
For City-controlled housing programs like the Community Investment Program (CIP), I will push for affordability measures that look at people’s incomes, not simply whether a unit is priced below the current market.
Development charges help pay for the roads, water systems, recreation facilities, and other infrastructure that growth requires.
Before supporting additional development charge reductions or waivers, I will require a public analysis showing the cost, the expected benefit, what taxpayers may have to absorb, and what results are expected in return.
If an incentive is working, we should be able to show it. If it isn’t, we should change course.
City-owned land is one of the tools we have to help address housing needs, and once it is sold, we do not get that opportunity back. Our Affordable Housing Strategy includes using surplus City-owned land for affordable housing, not selling it to the highest bidder.
Before we sell or commit major pieces of City-owned land, I will require a clear public discussion about what Barrie is getting in return and whether that land could help deliver housing that otherwise might not be built.
AFFORDABLE FOR WHO? THAT'S A QUESTION WE SHOULD KEEP ASKING.
COMMITMENT FIVE
Leadership that brings people together.
What I'm hearing at doors across Barrie is that people want a different kind of leadership.
Less division. More collaboration. More opportunity to understand and be part of the decisions affecting our city. People are very frustrated that the City won’t release basic information, like crime statistics and the cost of projects like the soccer stadium. And the Mayor has sidelined City Councillors.
Council is made up of people elected to represent every part of Barrie. Those voices should matter, especially when we are making major decisions about our future.
The citizens of this city elect Council to represent them.
Every one of those voices should be part of the conversation when major decisions are being made.
Committed to:
I will bring major decisions to the full elected Council whenever possible.
Every councillor represents Barrie residents, and different perspectives make for better decisions.
A small group should not decide major financial commitments when the full Council can be part of the discussion.
Strong Mayor powers exist, but they should not become the norm for major decisions.
Within my first 90 days, I will publish a clear Strong Mayor Powers Policy setting out how and when I would use those powers. Instead of giant flags, let’s get some roads fixed and supportive housing built.
I will restore online access to advisory committee meetings so residents can follow the discussions without having to attend in person.
People should be able to see how decisions are being shaped and hear the perspectives being brought forward.
Consultation should happen while there is still an opportunity to influence a decision, not after most of the decisions have already been made.
For major decisions, I will bring residents, councillors, staff, community organizations, and others with relevant experience into the conversation earlier.
That does not mean everyone will always agree. It means people will know they were heard before the decision was made.