We need to continue to promote the economic growth of our region. We want opportunities for our young people to be able to find meaningful employment here and stay in Kingston. New and better jobs rely on continued economic growth.

We have a lot of expensive decisions to make as Council. How do we address affordable housing? What infrastructure needs can we meet? How do we continue to expand and develop parks and recreation experiences for our residents?

Whatever Council ultimately decides will, of course, cost money. We cannot simply rely on tax increases to sustain our development – in fact tax increases should be a last resort. We need to expand our tax base to ensure that we have the money to move our initiatives forward and that means continued economic expansion.

If we are to avoid large future tax increases, especially in these inflationary times, we need to attract investment and economic growth to Kingston.

I have been a member of the Economic Development Commission, and the Boards of  Downtown Business Association and Tourism Kingston. I know what it takes to attract economic development to Kingston, and I will continue to move this agenda forward.