St Catharines Standard Candidate Profile
Occupation:
Professional Engineer working in the private industrial sector, with experience in engineering, infrastructure, project management, asset reliability, and regulatory codes and standards development.
Previous political experience:
Candidate for Ward 2 / St. Andrew’s in 2022.
Community work:
Recently served on the St. Catharines Committee of Adjustment and as Chair of both the Property Standards Appeal Committee and Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee. This provided firsthand experience with municipal decision-making, planning, property standards and environmental issues affecting our community.
Why are you running?
Ward 2 is my community and my home. I want to help make Ward 2 and St. Catharines a stronger place to live, work and raise a family, leveraging my engineering, private-sector and municipal experience to bring a pragmatic, prudent and professional approach to the decisions facing our city.
What is your top issue or issues for the ward?
Infrastructure and flood resilience, responsible growth, and affordability. We need to maintain and strengthen the infrastructure and core services residents rely on, including transportation, community safety, recreation and library access, while ensuring growth works for existing neighbourhoods.What is your top issue or issues for the city at large?Growing and diversifying our economy and tax base while delivering better value for taxpayers. We need responsible investment, efficient government and a stronger environment for businesses to invest and grow. Grow the tax base, not just the tax bill.
Why should voters choose you?
Council benefits from fresh perspectives and new ideas. I bring an engineer’s critical-thinking and problem-solving mindset, private-sector accountability and four years of municipal service, with a pragmatic, prudent and professional approach focused on practical solutions and results.
Was there a decision council made this term you think they got right and a decision that missed the mark, in your opinion?
Council got it right by advancing modern asset management through expanding the City’s Asset Management Plan in 2023, strengthening its risk and lifecycle based policy in 2024, and adopting long-term service and financial strategies in 2025. While driven partly by provincial requirements, these decisions better connect infrastructure investment to condition, risk, lifecycle costs and levels of service. That aligns with my approach: maintain what we own, address problems proactively and get better long-term value for taxpayers.
One area where I think Council missed the mark was relying on one-time reserve funds to reduce recurring property-tax pressures. I understand the goal of providing residents with relief, particularly during a period of rising costs, but reserves are temporary while operating costs continue year after year. I would rather see us address the underlying cost pressures through service and spending reviews, efficiencies, measurable outcomes and long-term financial planning. Much like maintaining infrastructure, good financial management means addressing the root cause rather than postponing the problem.