Voters have important decisions to make with the municipal election around the corner.
In Waterloo, voters will be able to select their choices for mayor, ward councillor, school board trustees, regional chair and regional councillors when they head to the polls on Oct. 24.
The Waterloo candidates are as follows:
You can find out what ward you're in here.
CTV News reached out to each candidate of them to get a better idea of who they are, why they’re running, and what they think is the biggest issue facing the city.
All four mayoral candidates were emailed the same three questions.
Dorothy McCabe
Who are you?
I’m a government relations professional and an active community volunteer:
- Glasgow Heights 2 Neighbourhood Association member
- Former Laurier basketball player and Youth Basketball coach
- CycleWR member
- COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic
- Board and Committee member
- ClimateActionWR Transportation
- Parents for Community Living
- Women in Communications and Technology
- Conestoga College professor/instructor and
- Syrian refugee family sponsor
Why are you running?
I'm running for Mayor to lead our city and to make a difference. I see our city’s potential.
With my leadership, I believe Waterloo can once again become a big idea city.
Experience matters.
I have 20 years experience in municipal government, the public sector and government relations. I am currently government relations manager to mayor, council and corporate leadership in Milton. I served as chief of staff to a former mayor of Kitchener and a former member of provincial parliament.
Being the Mayor of Waterloo requires experience. With my interpersonal and social skills, business acumen and years of experience at the highest levels of local government, I am ready to start on day one.
I am an experienced, collaborative leader committed to public service.
What do you think is the most pressing issue facing the City of Waterloo and how do you plan to address it?
Building a variety of housing: affordable, supportive, cooperative, three bedroom rental units, townhouses, low rise, mid-rise, and infill for people of every income level is the most important issue facing our city.
Ensuring that people have a place to live is an economic development and talent attraction and retention issue as well as an affordability and community building issue.
An affordable home and city is important, no matter your age, stage of life or whether you own or rent your residence. People of all abilities and incomes deserve safe, accessible housing options.
Here are some ways we can build a more affordable and livable city:
- Use public lands to build affordable, supportive and co-op housing
- Build more low-rise, mid-rise and infill housing options across the community
- Work to address issues of housing affordability and homelessness
- Use technology to improve customer service experiences and interactions for residents, organizations and business owners.
- As mayor, I commit immediately to working in partnership with local non-profit organizations to develop a new LEED certified affordable, supportive or co-op housing community on publicly owned lands in Waterloo.
Kypp Saunders
Who are you?
Hi, my name is Kypp Saunders. I am a political science graduate from the University of Waterloo who has lived and worked in the community for 30+ years. I am a local business owner who owns two small businesses in the region.
Kypp did not submit a photo to CTV News.
Why are you running?
I am running because I believe that Waterloo needs a fresh perspective. I am not a career politician, and I will address our city’s issues from the lens of a local business owner and renter. I believe strongly in the potential of the City of Waterloo, and I have a keen desire to give back to the community that I love.
What do you think is the most pressing issue facing the City of Waterloo and how do you plan to address it?
The biggest issue facing the city is the affordable housing crisis. I will be working with local developers to create more affordable housing in the city. I will incentivize developers by removing cumbersome red tape and zoning restrictions to allow them to build higher and create more affordable units.
Shannon Weber
Who are you?
I’m a long time Waterloo resident with extensive business, governance and community leadership experience.
My ability to bring people together through openness and collaboration delivers solutions making Waterloo a more liveable City for all.
By strengthening the community through forward-thinking initiatives and meaningful partnerships, I will help lead Waterloo Forward.
Why are you running?
Waterloo is at a pivotal point — a future where our City, community and residents thrive is within reach. To Move Waterloo Forward, we need strong, collaborative, future-focused leadership to unlock our collective potential.
I am that leader.
As Mayor, I will use my experience leading community projects and bringing people together to deliver results. I will prioritize community consultation and citizen engagement to create strong communities and ensure the voices of Waterloo residents are reflected in decision-making.
Moving Waterloo Forward: A More Liveable Community for All outlines my commitments to you based on months of community consultation.
As Mayor I will ensure Waterloo continues to thrive and remains the best community in Canada to work, learn, live, play and raise a family.
What do you think is the most pressing issue facing the City of Waterloo and how do you plan to address it?
I was the first candidate to declare my intention to run for Mayor and have spent the past several months meeting with residents, community leaders and stakeholders to better understand what is most important to our community.
The biggest challenge facing Waterloo is ensuring a future with affordable housing and smart growth.
Waterloo has the knowledge and innovation needed to address this challenge and as Mayor, I will work to unlock this potential.
A first action will be to create a Task Force on Affordable Housing and Smart Growth. The taskforce will bring together the knowledge to consider:
- Activating tools available to address affordability and growth
- Modernizing zoning bylaws to speed up building a range of housing options, while protecting green space
- Developing a Community Improvement Plan to encourage affordable housing and sustainable infrastructure
- Removing barriers to affordable rental housing, including student housing, while maintaining safety standards
Although Waterloo must take steps to address affordable housing and smart growth, we cannot do it alone.
As Mayor, I will be a strong voice that works collaboratively with all levels of government to ensure Waterloo’s needs are prioritized.
Rob Evans
Who are you?
I’m a born-in-Waterloo tech CEO, with business, political, and community building experience spanning 25 years. We built a housing and accommodation platform that saves people money.
More importantly, I’m a father to Connor and partner to Jordana Garbati, and son to my teacher mom and entrepreneur father.
Why are you running?
I care about Waterloo and my community. This is an amazing part of Canada already, and I’m grateful to our leaders who have gifted us our special history.
Most of us have seen tremendous growth across our cities since when I graduated from WLU a million years ago. Frankly, recent years have been difficult or worse for many of us.
Yet, there’s an incredible opportunity sitting in front of us should we want to continue our momentum as a global leader within our great country. Standing up for those who don’t have a voice, and for students, businesses, families and older folks needing help, is the right thing to do.
With Dave stepping down, it’s time to renew ourselves with strong and innovative leadership.
What do you think is the most pressing issue facing the City of Waterloo and how do you plan to address it?
Equity and Housing. To many, that means affordability and fairness. How can people afford to own, rent, or get into the market? The administrative support models and economic and social guardrails are not keeping everyone on the road to prosperity. Look around at what’s been happening.
The gap has been growing for 20 years between cost of living and what people earn. We need to turn what’s become too negative into an environment that brings all our city’s residents safely into a positive future together.
Our city’s growth is out pacing our ability to manage needs. This needs to change. Others are proposing old-fashioned support models that are slow and expensive. Our municipal staff and health care workers are overworked and underappreciated. Our city needs a management plan that keeps up with the growth we already have.
As a business manager and experienced community builder, working with all levels of federal, provincial, and municipal levels, I’m ready to serve as mayor with our new Council.
