1. I do not like spending money without clear indications of the overall budget, final costing, expectations of endurance (including maintenance), regulatory compliance, and benefit targets (such as the entire population, specialized group, neighbourhood, etc.).

2. When spending is warranted, perspectives of endurance, suitability, and accessibility must be prioritized.

3. By-laws must reflect the real-life context of Elliot Lake, including the goods and services available, as well as the needs and capabilities of residents. Sometimes, unique situations will require individual review, planning, and/or coordination of assistance.

4. Residents deserve both the freedom to enjoy their property lawfully and the assurance that clear risks to safety, health, or the surrounding community will be addressed consistently and fairly. By-laws should be applied proportionately, without overreach, and with accommodation where possible. I also believe city actions must account for environmental preservation and remediation for the benefit of future generations.

5. My household, and many others, run on a needs-and-wants basis. Needs should always be prioritized, and only once that list in its entirety is fulfilled are the highest-priority wants revisited and actioned. The one exception is designated grant monies.

6. I enjoy research, reading, and am habitually reviewing legislation. I wish to bring some of this practice into the council. I enjoy working with teams and have a deep understanding that there are no two people who will have the same exact opinion. The council's position is to debate and represent residents' shared opinions. I will vote at the intersection of resident input, research, fiscal responsibility, and legislation.

7. Plain language education on city issues is best when shared. With technological development, various avenues for relaying information can be incorporated into council reports to increase public awareness and the council's understanding. For example, if equipment needs repair or replacement. I may be the first to admit I have no prior experience (not a mechanic) and would ultimately like to gather firsthand accounts of the issue, such as the person working on the piece explaining the problem and their own views.

8. Being that I am representation-focused, I would like to further public input opportunities and avenues at the appropriate point of discussion (committee of the whole or council). I would also like to strengthen media access and presence (local media and public reporting) as an essential non-partisan asset to ensure the true story is delivered (good or bad). My ideal example is to have public input per agenda item and opportunities (townhalls) for items not on the agenda, in addition, prior to (if any) closed sessions, having a dedicated press time.

9. I am a strong advocate for accessibility integration at planning and development, with little desire to review after-the-fact builds. I am also a strong advocate for the maintenance and development of the city's health and social systems to the extent of the city’s reach.

10. I already practice stating whether I am in conflict with items in debate and err to recuse myself if there is a potential for perceived conflict.

11. I do not believe my voting on matters ends in four years; I acknowledge decisions made during a term have lasting intergenerational effects.

12. Economic sustainability is integral to any municipality. I believe both residential and commercial development are integral to sustainability. However, in commercial terms, city efforts should focus not only on attracting needed businesses but also on acknowledging and supporting those that are here now.

13. I believe in building a stronger, more respectful relationship with the Serpent River First Nation. By working more closely together, we can grow mutual understanding and find opportunities that benefit both communities. I support creating space for shared dialogue, including inviting representation such as a liaison at the council or committee table, so perspectives are heard early, opportunities for mutual growth can be explored, and relationships continue to move forward in a meaningful way as we grow and better our communities.

14. Part of responsible fiscal stewardship is ensuring Elliot Lake is consistently positioned to compete for and secure provincial and federal funding, reducing the burden on local taxpayers wherever possible.

15. As stated prior, I believe staff are the front-line experts in the council and staff relationships. It is the council’s role to represent the residents, ask questions of staff, and seek clarity to make an informed decision, and it is the staff’s expertise that truly operationalizes the public’s voice.

16. At some point during the next term, decisions made by the council in total will not always be the preferred option for myself and/or residents. It is the council’s mandate to accept the final decision and move forward together in support of that decision. I am aware of and accept this mandate. I have confidence that voting records and discussion sessions will ensure that both sides of the argument will be respectfully heard.

• Northern Municipalities are aware of the skyrocketing number of people experiencing homelessness in the north (distributed through AMO).

• Homelessness is thought to be a young person's issue. Increasingly, we should be envisioning older adults.

• 2024 Queen's University Tri-Colour Classic Cancer Survivor Scholarship

• 2024 Laurentian University Les MacDonald Bursary for Public Service

• 2023 Laurentian University Finlay and Clara MacLeod Memorial Bursary for Public Service

• 2008 Oakville Annual Volunteer Award

• 2002 Go Green Coordinator of the Season Award (Translink, Vancouver Public Transportation)

Note: I still find that using AI takes longer and is highly error-prone.

"The Oshawa motel discharge case has caught public attention; however, for people living in Northern Ontario (NONT), it raises a different concern: whether the story also reflects the selective visibility of discharge practices that have long been normalized in the North. The older adult (OA) reportedly arrived at the motel without shoes or meals, carrying only medication and oxygen, and received only brief visits from support workers for two days (Macdonell, 2026). The family stated that they were not informed of the discharge, yet the report does not clarify how questions of autonomy, cognitive status, or preferred family involvement were addressed in the discharge process, other than reporting that the OA was not “meaningfully participating” (Macdonell, 2026). In that sense, the article may be read not only as evidence of system failure, but also as an example of how media coverage can sensationalize a southern Ontario case while obscuring the fact that hotel-based recovery and limited post-discharge support have long been routine for patients in NONT.

Nevertheless, it is an ongoing systemic issue; Ontario’s Patient Ombudsman has investigated numerous discharge-planning failures affecting OAs throughout the province (CBC News, 2017; Patient Ombudsman, 2026). Hotel placement after discharge is not, in itself, the central issue; the more important distinction is whether the hotel is part of a formal transitional-care model. Models that formally link hotel stays with clinical monitoring, scheduled reassessment, and defined accountability treat temporary accommodation as an extension of supervised recovery (Hampton et al., 2025). By contrast, Ontario appears to be utilizing hotel accommodations for less clinical reasons. First, this case can be read as consistent with Ontario’s “Home First” discharge logic, in which non-hospital placement is prioritized before long-term care (LTC) admission is considered (Ontario Health, 2024); however, the article itself does not establish that this was the explicit reason for the discharge. Second, in NONT, hotel placement more often serves as a workaround for distance, service scarcity, and system strain, leaving patients to shoulder responsibilities that would otherwise fall within the healthcare system (Meyer, 2026; Ontario Ministry of Health, 2026). In fact, in NONT, hotel stays for active care have been and remain an integral part of the formal health care system (Ontario Ministry of Health, 2026).

So, I end my commentary with reflection and deep contemplation. Is this story “newsworthy”? For some, the shock value may shed light on the degradation of our health and social care system. For NONT OAs, we are just grateful that we can now upgrade to a Choice hotel."

• CBC News. (2017, November 09). What happened to the hospital patients who had “nowhere else to go”? - PMC. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/hospitals-source-of-most-complaints-patient-ombudsman-report-says-1.4394635

• Government of Ontario. (2025, July 30). Ontario Investing $1.3 Million to Protect Emergency Health Services in the North. Ontario Newsroom. https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1006255/ontario-investing-13-million-to-protect-emergency-health-services-in-the-north

• Hampton, S., Perry, A. G., Kumar, N., Hochwald, A. P., Ma, R., Broderick, G. A., Dora, C., Lyon, T. D., Pak, R. W., Petrou, S. P., Thiel, D. D., Nazario, M., Chadha, R., & Pathak, R. A. (2025). Same-Day hospital discharge is feasible for a variety of urologic surgeries when using a virtual hybrid care hotel. Urology Practice, 12(6), 683–690. https://doi.org/10.1097/UPJ.0000000000000879

• Macdonell, B. (2026, July 9). ‘It’s disgusting’: 82-year-old discharged to motel after lengthy Oshawa hospital stay. https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/local/durham/article/its-disgusting-82-year-old-discharged-to-motel-after-lengthy-oshawa-hospital-stay/

• Mattice, L. (2026, March 21). Winter, distance, no ride home, after the ambulance, when hospital discharge becomes dangerous [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDDJOXiRqKU

• Meyer, J. (2026, April 8). Medical transportation [Committee submission].

• Ontario Health. (2024). Operational Direction: Home First. [PDF]. https://www.ontariohealth.ca/content/dam/ontariohealth/documents/operational-direction-home-first-2024-aug-14.pdf

• Ontario Ministry of Health. (2026, January 14). Northern health travel grant program. Government of Ontario. https://www.ontario.ca/page/northern-health-travel-grant-program

• Patient Ombudsman. (2026). Spotlight 02. Year Three Highlights. https://www.patientombudsman.ca/year-three/spotlights/02/

• 14th 8:15 pm - 9:30 pm (Second Half) Collins Hall All-Candidates

• 17th 10 am - 2 pm REN Centre All-Candidates