Mayor

Candidate did not respond to our questions.

1. What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the city of London?
Isolation. When a city lacks proper inclusion infrastructure, it imposes an invisible tax on people with disabilities, making participation and travel a constant battle. While navigation remains possible, every added barrier makes the effort less worth it, ultimately cutting people off from community life.

2. How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?
As mayor, I will push to mandate a specific percentage of new housing units as fully accessible using zoning bylaws. Free-market logic completely fails to provide this infrastructure on its own because it does not prioritize accessibility. We must use municipal zoning requirements to guarantee these units are built.

3. How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?
From a system architecture perspective, our current specialized transit system is fundamentally inefficient. While it is better than nothing, it operates as a costly, siloed system. I want the London Transit Commission to modernize conventional transit infrastructure so that more individuals with varied disabilities can seamlessly use the standard system. This integration will give users greater travel freedom while simultaneously easing the burden on Paratransit and lowering operational costs for the city.

Candidate did not respond to our questions.

Candidate did not answer our questions.

Thank you for reaching out and for the work your members are doing to improve accessibility and inclusion in London. Accessibility should not be treated as an add-on to City services. It should be part of how we design housing, transportation, public spaces and municipal services from the beginning.

1. What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the City of London?

For me, the biggest issue is reliable access to everyday life. A city can technically meet accessibility standards and still leave people facing barriers in practice: difficulty finding an accessible home, uncertainty about whether transportation will be available when needed, inaccessible sidewalks or bus stops, or difficulty navigating City services.

London already has an Accessibility Plan that focuses on removing barriers in areas such as transportation, the built environment, communications and City services.  My approach would be to put a stronger emphasis on whether those commitments are actually producing reliable, measurable improvements for people with disabilities.

That fits with the broader standard in my platform: City Hall should not only announce programs or spending, it should show whether those services are working for the people who depend on them. 

2. How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?

My housing platform calls for London to build more kinds of homes, including affordable and supportive housing, and to measure housing by actual completions rather than approvals alone.  Accessibility needs to be part of that conversation.

That means continuing to support accessible and supportive housing developments, working with senior governments and housing providers to increase the supply of units that can actually accommodate people with mobility and other accessibility needs, and making better use of programs that help people remain safely in their existing homes.

The City already participates in programs such as Ontario Renovates, which provides assistance for accessibility modifications for eligible homeowners, and London’s affordable and supportive housing portfolio includes a number of accessible developments. I would want our housing reporting to make accessible housing easier to track as well, so Londoners can see not just how many units are being built, but what kinds of housing are actually becoming available.

3. How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?

My transportation platform starts with a simple principle: transit has to be reliable before we simply make it bigger. I want resources directed toward routes and services where evidence shows poor reliability, overcrowding or unmet demand.  That principle is particularly important for riders who cannot simply choose another transportation option when a service fails.

London Transit has already approved a 2026–2030 Accessibility Plan and added 10,000 annualized specialized-transit service hours for 2026, targeted partly toward periods of greatest unmet demand. The specialized service currently provides door-to-door transportation for eligible riders with disabilities, although trips are not guaranteed. 

I would want the City and LTC to keep measuring where riders are being left without service, where booking or wait-time barriers remain, and whether conventional transit stops and routes are genuinely accessible. LTC’s own accessibility consultation identified issues including overcrowding, snow clearing at bus stops, accessible sidewalks, booking windows and specialized-transit policies. Those are exactly the kinds of practical barriers that should be tracked and addressed.

For taxis and ride-sharing, I would also support ongoing engagement with people with disabilities and service providers to identify where accessible vehicle availability remains inadequate and what municipal tools can realistically improve it.

Across all three areas, I would also want people with disabilities involved directly in evaluating whether changes are actually working. Accessibility policy is strongest when the people who experience the barriers are part of designing and measuring the solutions.

Thank you again for the opportunity to respond and for ensuring accessibility is part of the municipal election conversation.

Candidate did not respond to our questions.

1.,What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the city of London? Deprioritizing accessibility in our policies and regulations. It is easy to build accessibility into every single new decision and to fix existing ones. That is just paperwork. We have all kinds of declarations and commitments we make (often for political reasons) that have no teeth. That is one of the many failures of election cycle politics. That being said, you’re the experts, so you tell me what is top of mind for you. One thing that has always annoyed me about London since I moved here in 2002 (and it very much persists) is the lack of attention given to sidewalk clearing in winter (which takes up half the year). Basically we are shutting in people who have mobility challenges for half the year. That’s inhumane and has such a huge societal cost. And it’s such a fixable problem.

2. How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city? Going back to item 1: the solution is in the paperwork. Review  the bylaws, contracts, policies, declarations, etc. Do they work? Do they work together? Take out what does not work, implement and enforce what does. Break down the silos that put “accessibility” into its own little box and make good on commitments to make London a City we all can enjoy. I realize that sounds a big vague but it is what I honestly believe is the solution. If you want me to comment on a specific bylaw or contract or policy, let me know, and I will tell you with my lawyer’s hat on what needs to change about that to accomplish that goal of increasing accessible housing options. 

3. How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing? Prioritize transit as the #1 motorized way to get around. All leaders should be using it, all the time. Start there and the system improves overnight, because councilors and tehm mayor have to get to work, right? Just like in every department at City Hall, there are efficiencies that can be realized in the way we run London Transit… let’s clear out the nonsense and use what we save to improve Paratransit according to your suggestions as the people who use Para (again, you’re the experts… not trying to kiss butt here, but honestly, what the heck do I know?). Taxis: is there a gap in available accessible taxi service? Should the City add regulation to improve this, or would it be more efficient to put those efforts into Para? This goes back to the same point I keep stressing, which is the BIG picture look at all the systems and how they integrate with each other. It is a big job that needs to be done once in a while. It is boring. It is not sexy. But it is absolutely vital to finally just sit down and get this done. And there is no one better than a 26-year lawyer with 17 years of experience working with the City and its (sometimes very frustrating) systems to do it. I’ll be happy to let another mayor have the big chair in 2030, and I will work hard to make sure they will have a cleaned-up house to sit in.

1. What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the city of London?

For me, it’s transportation. Specifically how hard it can still be to book a reliable, timely ride through Specialized Transit (Paratransit). It’s the piece I hear about most directly from residents with disabilities and their families, and it matters because it’s connective tissue: without dependable transportation, gains in accessible housing, employment, or civic participation don’t reach people the way they should. I want London’s next Multi-Year Accessibility Plan to treat transportation reliability as a named, measured priority rather than a general commitment.

2. How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?

Every home in London should be one a person can actually live in, regardless of ability. Through the City’s Ontario Renovates program, we already fund accessibility modifications directly. This includes up to a $25,000 forgivable loan, with the first $5,000 provided as a grant for ramps, grab bars, accessible bathrooms, and similar changes, prioritizing seniors, people with disabilities, and low-to-moderate income households. As we deliver the thousands of new affordable units in our pipeline, my commitment is to make sure accessibility is built in from the start in the units delivered through our affordability incentive programs, not treated as an afterthought. And through the City’s 2027-2031 Multi-Year Accessibility Plan (currently open for public input) I want housing accessibility included as a named priority with real, measurable targets.

3. How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?

London’s conventional transit fleet is already 100% low-floor accessible, with audible and visual next-stop announcements on every bus. a solid baseline, but not the finish line. Specialized Transit has added a self-serve online booking portal so riders aren’t limited to phone bookings during business hours, offers free travel for confirmed support persons, and runs travel training to help more residents use conventional routes with confidence. On taxis and ride-sharing, our Vehicle for Hire By-law already requires a share of licensed accessible cab, that is one accessible license for every twelve standard cab licenses, with priority dispatch for riders with disabilities, and comparable accessible-vehicle requirements extended to private-vehicle-for-hire (rideshare) services. My commitment going forward is to keep pushing on Specialized Transit reliability and wait times specifically, since that’s where I hear the most frustration, and to make sure London Transit’s 2026-2030 Accessibility Plan translates into measured, reported improvements rather than a document that sits on a shelf.

Candidate did not respond to our questions.

Candidate did not respond to our questions.

Candidate did not respond to our questions.

Candidate did not respond to our questions.