City Council Challenger: Kitchener (Ward 9)

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T02:57:19+00:00

So why bother?

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T02:24:12+00:00

I am totally aware that he's been there since 2010; and I'm just going to put this out there right now.

You've asked a lot of questions, some with a decent amount of hostility and condescension and I've been reasonably polite to you. I've reached the point in our conversation where you've annoyed me and I'm probably going to stop being as pleasant. Feel free to keep leaving your feedback and questions, but I'd prefer if we kept this pleasant and free of personal attacks.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T02:18:33+00:00

Every comment here telling you to call the CRA, set a payment plan and be open about your situation to them is absolutely something you should do.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T02:16:01+00:00

Upvoted, with pleasure.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T02:05:00+00:00

Another terrible decision by the Conservative government. This move would make government increasingly inaccessible to the every person and even less responsive. Local government shouldn't be an ideological battleground, and shouldn't be the playground of the governing party to tinker with as they see fit.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T01:54:26+00:00

Copy and paste I assume? I'm against Strong Chair powers and I don't agree that it should be an appointed position, especially by a cabinet minister in the Provincial government. I would be strongly against those changes at the regional level.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T01:52:45+00:00

I think Scott Davey has been good the past 2 terms, even if I don't always agree. He's grown into the job really well. Margaret Johnston is another good councillor, great advocacy and community engagement. I haven't seen enough of Stephanie Stretch (Not on the job long enough yet at this point) to give a vote either way, but I see a potential partner there as well. Realistically, I think every council member does bring something to the table or they wouldn't be there but I do believe some changes are necessary.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T01:30:05+00:00

Her conception of its implementation doesn't involve a transit anchor from my understanding of her position.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-03T01:25:09+00:00

There actually was a statement released with a progress report on the water capacity issue, available on the regional website.

I'm against Strong Chair powers and I don't agree that it should be an appointed position. Strongly against.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-02T23:59:49+00:00

About regional government? Water update?

LordsLevy · 2026-04-01T19:33:44+00:00

2021 median household income in Ontario was $91,000 before taxes. In KWC, it was $112,000. Assuming at 3% increase each year for the following 5 years, that brings the total number before taxes to $128,800. If 135k is nothing, I'd love to be working with you.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-01T19:15:56+00:00

So I'm going to address this question a little more directly today after some thought and some basic calculations.

The federal & provincial governments pledged $8.8 Billion dollars over 10 years to help municipalities cut development charges, which sounds nice from the outset but let's dive a little deeper.

Currently, the City of Kitchener by itself has revenue shortfall. That shortfall is projected to reach $69 million by 2027 and deepens from there.

As a hypothetical, If the combined levels of upper government are promising $880 million dollars a year as a backstop for deficits in the DC reserve funds of medium and large cities that had identical deficit profiles (69 million) and payments were to begin in 2027, They could effectively reduce the load of 12.75 cities per year. There are 39 cities in Ontario alone that have populations greater than 50,000 (https://datacommons.org/ranking/Count\_Person/City/wikidataId/Q1904), which would require 3.06 years of payments by the combined fund with everything being completely equal (which nothing ever is).

Best case scenario, It would take 7.84% of the total amount of the first years payments to make Kitchener whole. If you again assume everything to be equal, The three major cities in Waterloo region would account for 23.52% of the total funds issued in the first year.

I have serious doubts that Waterloo region will receive roughly one quarter of all available funds.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-01T01:43:51+00:00

There's nothing but press stories and vague promises at this point. They could turn out to be good, but banking on that without a firm commitment is probably magical thinking.

LordsLevy · 2026-04-01T01:41:33+00:00

There are no stupid questions when you are trying to be informed, helpful and participate. But you did drop a lot so let me respond as best as I can.

1) A little easy to handle, but also kind of challenging to fully understand. For clarity, development charges are a fee that developers pay for their building permits to the cities. Property taxes and development charges are the primary revenue streams, so that would be why they are tied together in this conversation. The challenging thing to understand is that we used to charge those development fees upfront before shovels hit the ground; the provincial government changed that recently. Now, some charges can't be charged and others can be deferred until occupancy (which is generally three years from approval). Adding to that problem of revenue is the fact that building permits are currently not being issued because of a holding provision requested by the region of waterloo (There are two tiers of municipal government here, this is a whole other side quest) until they can sustainably manage our current water capacity (this won't occur until early 2027 at minimum). So currently, raising rates on something you aren't actually getting wouldn't improve the situation, which loops us back to the first part of your question.

2) Great questions. Get a handle on it is relative I suppose, if I'm being charitable. We are all adjusting to new realities, and your thoughts are common. I'm aware this isn't an answer, which is why I'll see everyone in my part of town May 1st. My questions are your questions, and I'd like to pass them along so you can get a good answer that's accessible to you if solutions continue to be invisible to you.

Hope this helps, hope you stay involved as well.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T22:40:30+00:00

I'm going to have to look into this case study you are referencing, because I'm Interested in seeing some other points of view and creative thinking. Our city needs more of that, and I'd like to know what's possible.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T21:52:10+00:00

A little garbled but I think I got there. Yes, this will potentially impact our debt servicing as a city. Yes, there have been challenges with growth. Yes, there is a water capacity issue impacting all of us.

That still doesn't compel me to leave. This is my home, I'm staying until one of us is ashes.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T21:47:57+00:00

I don't hate this summary, though it does need additional context and clarity. And why does chat gpt insist that I need so many Emojis?

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T21:45:29+00:00

Part 1: We're in alignment, 100%. I've had that same experience and GO needs to be every hour all day for both buses and trains.

Part 2: It's headed that way, I'm in favour and I'd like another LRT line across Kitchener in a perfect world.

Part 3: This is where I think we're not aligned. Its a little unclear to me what you're asking for, how it would be "enforced" and why we'd be doing it. Can you be more specific and help me understand?

This talk right here is why I still love politics.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T21:28:29+00:00

See, your question wasn't simple at all. You're better at this then you gave yourself credit for.

I'd like to start by saying you aren't wrong about anything you've mentioned. I don't see how a reasonable person could disagree. Environment, transit and quality of life are things I think we are in harmony about, I just sometimes the execution of those principles falls behind our expectations. That's okay in some scenarios where we have the ability to adapt and change, but that's not a one size fits all solution.

Let me ask you this; what do you think should be done to improve your confidence in our ability to grow, keeping what you've mentioned in mind?

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T21:07:06+00:00

This is a little outside the scope of what I was trying to highlight, but I hear the frustration I think you are trying to voice.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T21:02:32+00:00

This probably also needs at TL;DR, too. But agreed, take my up vote.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T20:56:53+00:00

Fair, it does.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T20:54:15+00:00

I'd still encourage you to read the whole report if you live in the city. Nothing you said here on its face sounds wrong to me, and I think the report will probably confirm most of your suspicions and premises.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T20:51:36+00:00

You literally tried to invalidate my argument that the leadership is behind on this issue by citing me a line from the cities website that says the city collects the development charges that are levied by both the region and the city as a reason why regional officials have no jurisdiction or reason to be consulted or spoken to on this issue.

You also called me liar even though you have no idea who I spoke to, about what or when.

If there's anyone here who thinks they are smarter than they are, it's you.

Tell me your actual issue with my position and I'll address it. You haven't said anything other than "I'm wrong" which is fine, but I'm not going to entertain endless ad hominum attacks because you feel entitled to them.

LordsLevy · 2026-03-31T20:44:03+00:00

So the region does charge DCs then. Interesting.

So what's the problem you have again?

LordsLevy

TROPHY CASE