There are two quotes I believe need to be considered when we think about the next four years of council. “If I see far, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants” Issac Newton 1675. The last round of council and the city staff have done great work to bang out major plans and detailed reports based on data to improve our city. We need councillors to continue to this work, bring new value to it, and champion the communication about how it is impacting city life. This is what I am committed to. The other quote is “never tear down a fence until you first understand why it was built” Richard Burke. To me this means that as a councillors, I do my very best work to respect what those who have come before me have built. Some things NEED to be changed and we will do this thoughtfully when it needs to happen. We don’t however, simply tear things down without that level of thought and engagement. With that being said, here are some things we can work on. The overall playbook for city planning, reports, etc can be found here.

Priorities to Empower Saint John:

• fight for the transfer of the provincial portion of the heavy industrial tax to SJ. We are responsible for industrial services like police, fire, water, and power and require a new deal from the province as per the Gardner Pinfold report which is found here and the City analysis here

• Unlock the growth strategy of Saint John Energy and continually call on the province to amend legislation to allow SJ to take dividends without putting rates up to incentivize the expansion of renewable energy and local resilience.

• Stop the inaction and build the south end school as a stimulus for our economy and our community.

• Fight for real tax reform around the municipal property taxes as per the Kitchen and Slack Report found here

• Fight to implement regional cost-sharing by asking those outside our cities to contribute to our city health and sustainability as per the Ernst & Young Report found here

• Call for wage escalation in ALL departments to be tied to the growth of the city budget. Saint John residents make a median income of $55,847 (Stats Canada 2016), the wage escalations must be considerate to the cities ability to pay and the overall needs of its residents.

• Develop Food sovereignty initiatives to make Saint John and surrounding area more independent and resilient.

• Develop safe cycling infrastructure through a collective impact strategy to help the city and other organizations access funding from foundations and other government funding initiatives.

Photo Credit: https://bit.ly/2GbyEpx