Vote Compass: 30 Propositions, 30 Responses

My full ratings and commentary for Ward 2 voters

Vote Compass asked candidates to rate local policy propositions on a simple four-point scale: Strongly Agree, Somewhat Agree, Somewhat Disagree, and Strongly Disagree.

While those ratings give a general sense of where someone sits on a proposition, they don't tell the whole story. Without commentary, a rating misses the practical context, fiscal realities, and local nuances that Ward 2 residents care about.

To give you the full picture, I’ve published my ratings alongside supporting commentary for all 30 Vote Compass propositions below.

1. Mississauga should offer businesses tax incentives to attract investment

Strongly agree:   From running a business for 34 years, I look at this from a practical standpoint. When we use targeted incentives to attract new companies to Mississauga, it expands our commercial tax base and creates local jobs right here in our community. Having a healthy mix of business investment simply helps share the local tax load so it does not fall so heavily on homeowners.

2. Mississauga should do more to combat climate change.

Strongly agree: At the city level, environmental work comes down to smart infrastructure. Mississauga can get real results by protecting our green spaces, expanding the tree canopy to absorb heavy rainfall and prevent local flooding, and synchronizing traffic signals so idling cars don't sit in gridlock. It is about sensible local maintenance.

3. Municipal workers are paid too much.

Somewhat disagree: Beyond broad studies that include all levels of government and the raw numbers disclosed in the Sunshine List (about 30% of Mississauga's workforce), I am not aware of any specific studies that compare Mississauga’s payroll directly with the private sector or other cities. It would not be appropriate to take a position on this. Budget oversight could focus on reviewing overall staffing levels and headcount growth to make sure taxpayers receive maximum value.

4. Private contractors are more efficient than municipal workers at delivering most municipal services.

Somewhat disagree: This blanket proposition doesn't easily apply across the board. Efficiency depends entirely on each project's specific scope of work. In some cases, private contractors provide specialized services or skills that city workers don't have. Every service should be looked at individually so we can compare the actual costs and choose whatever delivers the best value for taxpayers.

5. The mayor should never overturn council decisions.

Somewhat agree: This power exists under provincial law for a reason, but using it breaks down the teamwork and cooperation needed to run a city. Local government works best when there is mutual respect. A mayor should think carefully before going against elected ward councillors who know their neighbourhoods best, and use these tools only in rare situations.

6. Municipal buildings in Mississauga should fly the Pride flag during Pride month.

Strongly agree: It is 2026, people. Flying the Pride flag is a standard, well-established practice across Canada that shows our city is welcoming to everyone. There is no need to overcomplicate this or turn it into a political debate. It is simply a matter of basic respect for everyone in our community.

7. Municipal buildings in Mississauga should not fly foreign national flags.

Strongly agree: The original intention behind raising these flags was to celebrate Mississauga's many vibrant cultures. However, I completely understand and support the council's decision to end the practice after it began causing friction and division in our community. Our civic flagpoles should bring people together, so it makes sense to keep them focused on our shared Canadian, provincial, and city symbols.

8. Every municipal council meeting should begin with an acknowledgement of Indigenous people's ties to the land.

Strongly agree: I support the meaning behind these statements, but when a statement becomes an automatic script, doesn't it begin to lose its meaning? Respect should also come from active, ongoing collaboration with the Indigenous community on reconciliation initiatives.

9. Mississauga should keep historic street names and statues, even if they commemorate people who some would consider racist by today's standards.

Somewhat agree: In line with the current council's decision not to change Dundas Street, my main concern is the massive cost to local taxpayers. Renaming a single major thoroughfare in Mississauga can cost millions of dollars in sign replacements, map updates, and disruptions to local businesses, which makes no sense when families are already feeling the financial pinch. A practical solution is to stop naming public streets after people altogether.

10. Mississauga should ban residents from setting off fireworks.

Strongly agree: I fully support a ban, largely because of the terrible impact fireworks have on neighbourhood safety, pets, and wildlife. I know firsthand the immense stress it caused my own dog, Chloe (recently passed away). On top of that, enforcing temporary by-laws in the middle of the night is incredibly difficult and drains city resources. We really need to look at better, safer ways to celebrate our holidays as a community, like organized laser light or drone shows.

11. Mississauga should try to keep property taxes low, even if it means fewer services for residents.

Somewhat agree: Holding the line on property taxes is a top priority, but we don't need to chop the frontline services families rely on daily. Running a business for 34 years taught me that when costs go up, you look inside for waste first. We can protect tax bills by cutting City Hall administrative waste and fixing the regional funding split, so Mississauga gets its fair share. We don't have to accept higher taxes or worse services if we bring real business discipline to local government.

12. Mississauga should rely more on fees for specific services rather than raising taxes to pay for them.

Strongly disagree: Shifting costs to user fees is a shell game because, at the end of the day, it still hits the same residents' wallets. If we push fees too high, we risk pricing local families and seniors on fixed incomes right out of our community pools, transit, and recreation programs. Public spaces should never become luxuries. We need to find real savings inside City Hall by cutting waste and overhead, instead of just changing the line item on how residents are billed.

13. Mississauga should apply an additional tax to vacant homes.

Somewhat disagree: In an established community like Ward 2, temporary vacancies are likely normal life transitions, such as estate probates, home renovations, or tenant turnover, rather than empty speculative properties. Creating a costly new administrative procedure to monitor and audit homeowners won't meaningfully address the housing crisis and adds unnecessary overhead.

14. Mississauga should encourage more multi-unit housing in neighbourhoods that are currently made up mostly of single-family home.

Somewhat agree: We are in a housing crisis, and we need to make sure the next generation can afford to live in Mississauga. I support gentle density, such as basement suites and townhomes that naturally fit into our existing neighbourhoods, like Ward 2. However, this housing growth has to be managed responsibly. It cannot overwhelm our local streets with traffic, crowd our schools or tax our infrastructure, and it must respect the character of our established community.

15. Mississauga should protect existing green space, even if doing so limits new housing development.

Strongly agree: Protecting our green spaces and parks is incredibly important to our community. Ward 2 is already largely built out, which means our remaining natural areas are finite and precious. In addition, as a strong advocate for our local wildlife, I believe we must protect their habitats.

16. Mississauga should cover the cost of programs for low-income residents, even if this means other residents pay more.

Strongly disagree: We need to support our most vulnerable neighbours, but local property taxpayers shouldn't bear this burden alone when everyone is already feeling the pressure of higher taxes. Provincial and federal governments are better suited to handle these social assistance programs, since they have the tax structures to fund them. Mississauga needs to lean on those higher levels of government instead of continuously asking our local residents to pay more.

17. Mississauga should install more bike lanes.

Somewhat agree: I support our city's 5-year plan to expand the cycling network, but we must learn from the Aquitaine Ave. pilot project and avoid removing existing driving lanes. Choking car traffic just causes gridlock. Let's focus on keeping the existing street lanes and building multi-use boulevard trails completely separated from traffic, so new routes can seamlessly connect with existing trails like the one along Lake Ontario. This keeps our commuters moving smoothly while giving cyclists, joggers, and walkers a safe place to share.

18. How much should Mississauga spend on policing?

About the same: I am incredibly grateful for our police services and the vital work our officers do to keep our community safe. While police budgets rise automatically due to legislated costs, my main concern is the funding disparity that exists now. We pay 62% of the budget compared to 38% for Brampton, yet Brampton's population is about the same, and the number of reported incidents is similar. Is it fair for Mississauga to be paying disproportionately more?

19. Mississauga should respond to public drug use with support services rather than police enforcement.

Somewhat disagree: This shouldn't be an either-or choice. I really think we need a balanced approach. I support expanding the partnerships we already have, pairing police officers directly with mental health professionals to handle these situations. This will help address addiction challenges by offering compassionate healthcare while still keeping the police enforcement we need to make sure our parks and streets stay safe for everyone.

20 Mississauga should spend more money to provide shelter spaces for people experiencing homelessness.

Somewhat agree: We absolutely need to support people who are homeless, especially during freezing winter months. Our shelter system is currently completely overwhelmed and running at 290% capacity. Since our city council also sits at the Peel Regional table, we have a say in these budgets. We need to use our voice there to secure funding from the provincial and federal governments to expand these spaces, instead of automatically hiking taxes on our residents.

21. People experiencing homelessness should be prevented from setting up encampments in public spaces.

Somewhat agree: I support Mississauga/Peel Region's current program (Coordinated Homeless Encampment Response), which outlines a human rights-based, balanced approach and keeps tents away from sensitive areas like playgrounds, splash pads, and busy transit hubs. While a city-wide ban would be ideal, it won't work as long as the emergency shelter system is over capacity. We have to address root causes like the lack of affordable housing, but the immediate solution is to expand shelter space.

22. Mississauga should do more to prevent landlords from evicting tenants in order to raise rents.

Somewhat agree: I support the city's recent passing of the Rental Repairs and Renovations Licensing By-law that targets bad actors who use minor repairs as a loophole to force tenants out. At the same time, it protects the rights of honest property owners. Good landlords must be allowed to maintain and upgrade their buildings responsibly without being choked by unnecessary red tape. Enforcement should focus on stopping bad-faith evictions while still supporting a fair rental market for everyone.

23. Mississauga should strictly enforce safety rules for rental housing, even if this means some units can no longer be rented out.

Strongly agree: Basic fire and safety rules are non-negotiable because tenant safety comes first. No one should live in a dangerous unit. But we also have to handle enforcement practically so we do not force families onto the streets overnight during a housing crisis. We should crack down on unsafe living conditions while providing a straightforward path for property owners to bring their units up to code.

24. Property developers should pay a greater share of the cost of road, water, and energy infrastructure needed to support new housing construction.

Somewhat agree: Hazel McCallion built Mississauga on the rule that growth must pay for growth, and I agree developers should pay their fair share so taxpayers aren't left holding the bill. But when you pile extra fees onto new housing, developers pass them straight down to the buyer. We need to rely on provincial and federal grants (like our recent $401.4M infrastructure deal) to protect home affordability for the next generation.

25. Mississauga should add more traffic-calming measures to slow down drivers on residential streets.

Somewhat agree: Based on conversations with residents, I see the benefit of tools like flashing safety lights, radar-activated speed boards and road markers on neighbourhood streets to help drivers snap out of autopilot and slow down naturally. Deploying these cost-effective visual markers and road-narrowing designs focuses safety where speeding is a proven issue.

26. Mississauga should spend more on public libraries.

Strongly disagree: Our public libraries provide vital learning spaces, but with 18 branches operating across our city, isn't Mississauga already very well served? Before taking a position on spending more, I want to see the financial impact and understand how it affects our residents' tax bills. The city only has 37 cents of every property tax dollar collected to fund over 200 local services.

27. Mississauga should spend more on social housing, even if it means tax increases or cuts to other services.

Strongly disagree: We definitely need to expand subsidized housing options, but why should tax hikes or service cuts be the answer? The province downloaded the financial responsibility for these housing programs onto Peel Region decades ago. Since our city council also sits at the Peel Regional table, we have a say in these budgets. I would advocate pulling in funding from the upper levels of government instead of just passing the bill down to our local homeowners

28. Mississauga should spend more to improve its public transit service, even if doing so leads to higher fares.

Strongly disagree: I support improving our MiWay network because it is a lifeline for seniors, including my 91-year-old father who relies on transit daily to get around. Instead of making transit less affordable for residents who depend on it, we should focus on the city's current push toward electric and hybrid fleets to cut down on long-term maintenance and fuel costs as a way to improve our service.

29. Mississauga should allocate more of its budget to improving roads, even if it means less funding for other core services.

Somewhat disagree: We definitely need to fund road maintenance. In my research, I found that our city did the opposite last year, taking over $15 million from our Roadway Rehabilitation Program to fund curb and sidewalk modifications for our new winter plowing program. This, in part, delayed rehabilitation work for the next 10 years. Why should other core services take a secondary hit?

30. Mississauga should spend more to develop its downtown core.

Strongly disagree: Our downtown core is already growing rapidly, and Council recently endorsed a multi-billion-dollar vision to redevelop the Living Arts Centre site into a massive convention centre and music hub. Downtown is well on its way. We simply cannot afford to funnel even more tax dollars into the core if our local neighbourhoods get overlooked. Residents across Ward 2 pay their fair share of property taxes and deserve to see those dollars reinvested directly into maintaining their local roads, parks and community infrastructure.