Political Letters

Markham 2022 Municipal Election
Members of Issues and Advocacy reviewed portions of the 2022 York Region Official Plan because of potential concerns with housing, density, environment, and transportation in York Region. As there is an upcoming municipal election on October 24th, 2022, the committee decided it was an opportune time to obtain more information by asking municipal candidates their opinion on selected issues and prepared a set of 4 candidate questions. I & A sent the questions to Markham Mayoral candidates, Markham’s York Regional Councillor candidates and Markham’s Ward Councillor candidates.

The questions asked:

The high-density developments proposed for York Region all aspire to having residents use active and/or public transit for personal and professional modes of transportation, thus ensuring that there will be little impact on the current traffic patterns.
How would you as our representative plan for the worst-case scenario should this model not come to fruition?
The region’s official plan 2022 indicates a full range of housing types as a major element of the plan. As an elected official would you advocate to create new legal housing units in the ready supply of single-family dwellings in existence now?
As Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, and Joyce Msuya, deputy executive director of the United Nations Environmental Program, wrote in the forward to the IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C in October 2018 ”Every bit of warming matters. Every year matters and every choice matters.”.
How would you use your position to advocate for choices that will mitigate against the devastating consequences of climate change? The regional plan calls for dramatic urban growth, but warming climate is worse in cities due to the urban heat island created by high concentration of concrete, asphalt, and buildings themselves. Will you advocate for more green spaces, parks, green roofs, more trees and the latest in green technologies to build housing?
Are extensions of urban development onto Greenlands, Water Resource or Agricultural Systems justifiable?