CANDIDATE SURVEY: Which Guelph City Council candidates will rebuild transit use to meet climate goals and build a fairer city? Read the Preamble at the bottom of this page.
Click on one of the names below to see each candidate’s response to the TAAG Transit questionnaire for the 2022 Municipal Election. (An [X] denotes the incumbent for each position.) We will publish these as they come so check back often
GUELPH CITY COUNCIL
Candidates for Mayor
William Albabish
Danny Drew
Cam Guthrie [X]
John Edward Krusky
Shelagh McFarlane
Nicholas A. Ross
Candidates for Ward 1
Michelle F. Bowman
Erin Caton
Dan Gibson [X]
Thai Mac
Chidi Nwene
Dhruv Shah
Candidates for Ward 2
Billy Cottrell
Morgan Dandie
Ray Ferraro
Rodrigo Goller {X}
Carly Klassen
Elia Morrison
Rob Osburn
Raymond Sartor
Candidates for Ward 3
Phil Allt [X]
John Bertrand
Kevin Bowman
Luc Cousineau
Sam Elmslie
Nathan Ford
Dallas Green
Michele Richardson
Candidates for Ward 4
Christine Billings [X]
Anne-Marie Blackadar
Linda Busuttil
Brendan Clark
Hitesh Jagad
Adrian Salvatore
Justin Van Daele
Candidates for Ward 5
Leanne Caron Piper [X]
Cathy Downer [X]
Hesham Genidy
Alex Green
Lana Haines
Denese Renaud
Candidates for Ward 6
Ken Yee Chew
Craig DiSero
Mark MacKinnon [X]
Dominique O’Rourke [X]
Chetna Robinson
Preamble
Whether you ride transit or not, you should care about it being successful because it's critically important to movement in cities and also positively affects the pocketbooks of its residents.
It's important for your taxes because guess what way of getting around our city is the most subsidized? By far cars. Cars are the most subsidized and most affect your increase in taxes.
Transit is subsidized. All three orders of government fund the capital construction, and fares historically covered only 45 percent of operating costs. But it's the car and truck traffic that forces cities to widen bridges and lanes and spend hundreds of millions on freeway interchanges
People are going to ride transit if it works well. We have to get real and say that it’s got to work as well as a car in transit-amenable places. That means it’s affordable, fast, really frequent, and reliable.
Public transit use in cities must double by 2030 to meet climate goals and 1.5º C emissions targets. But transit use has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Those who continue to rely on transit during the pandemic are mostly women, shift workers, earn lower incomes, and are racialized.
This survey for City Council candidates outlines some bold policies Guelph needs to consider to rebuild and double Guelph Transit ridership, in order to meet our climate goals and build a fairer city. The results of this candidate survey will be shared publicly on the TAAG website, and on our social media channels.
