Why i'm Running for mayor

When people ask why transparency matters so much to me, I always think back to one conversation.

When I was first considering running for office, I sat down privately with someone I respected in local politics. Both of our spouses were there.

By the end of the conversation, I was genuinely excited.

I talked about opening the doors, throwing open the blinds, and making transparency the foundation of how our town operates.

The response stopped me cold.

I was told, "You can't do that."

The explanation was that if you let the public in, nothing gets done. That the only way to get things done is to keep the public out of the process.

I left that meeting knowing exactly why I had to run.

Not because I questioned whether the person across the table cared about Wasaga Beach.

But because that conversation revealed something much bigger.

If keeping the public out becomes the philosophy of government, then the public eventually stops being the point.

I believe the opposite.

Transparency isn't an obstacle to good government.

It's the foundation of good government.

In 2020 when I began seriously considering a campaign for mayor, I made a decision that shaped everything that followed. Rather than assuming I already knew enough, I went back to school and enrolled in Queen’s University’s Undergraduate Certificate in Law. My goal was not to collect a credential. My goal was to understand how our system of government actually works, how laws are interpreted, how governments share responsibilities, what powers municipalities have, where their authority begins and ends, and how good decisions are made within those legal boundaries. That experience reinforced something I already believed. Leadership begins with preparation. Every worthwhile goal has constraints. Success doesn’t come from ignoring those constraints. It comes from understanding them, working within them, and finding the best path forward. If you are asking people to place their trust in you, you have a responsibility to do that work first. 

 The more I studied governance, the more convinced I became that the role of elected officials is not to do everyone else’s job. Council’s responsibility is to establish a clear vision, set priorities, and create the conditions that allow talented professionals to do their best work. Staff’s responsibility is to provide their best professional advice and carry out the decisions council makes. When politics begins interfering with professional advice, everyone loses. Staff spend more time responding to political pressures and less time solving real problems. Decisions become less consistent. Projects take longer. Costs go up. Taxpayers pay the price. That belief comes directly from my experience in aviation. A captain does not try to perform every job on the aircraft. The captain establishes the plan, makes sure everyone understands their role, gives the crew what they need to succeed, and accepts full responsibility for the outcome. Municipal government should work the same way. 

When I first ran for mayor, I introduced a policy I called Show Your Work. At the time, it was a simple idea: councillors should provide written reasons for their votes on significant decisions so that residents could better understand how and why those decisions were made. After that campaign, I kept showing up. I attended council meetings, read reports, asked questions, reviewed financial information, and continued learning how municipal government actually works. Over the following years, that original idea evolved. Show Your Work grew from a single transparency policy into a broader philosophy of leadership — shaped by two very different experiences. My legal education reinforced the importance of understanding the framework within which government operates: its powers, its responsibilities, its limitations, and the rule of law that guides every public decision. My career in commercial aviation reinforced something equally important. If a decision matters, it should be documented. Records allow organizations to explain decisions, learn from mistakes, identify root causes, improve processes, and build confidence over time. Show Your Work brings those two ideas together. Government should understand the legal framework within which it operates, and it should clearly document the reasoning behind the decisions it makes. That is how accountability becomes more than a promise. It becomes part of the process itself. 

One principle has become central to the way I think about government. If information can legally be shared with the public, it should be shared with the public. Keeping information behind unnecessary barriers does not create better government. It creates more administrative work, more requests for information, more frustration for residents, and ultimately more cost for taxpayers. When openness is the default, everyone benefits. Residents are better informed. Staff spend less time responding to repeated requests. Council builds trust through transparency rather than simply asking for trust without evidence. There are times when confidentiality is both necessary and required by law. Personal privacy, legal matters, labour relations, and other protected information deserve that protection. But wherever the law allows openness, openness should be the rule — not the exception. When students solve a math problem, they are asked to show their work — not because the teacher doubts the answer, but because the process matters. The same principle should apply to municipal government. When council considers a major decision, residents should be able to understand the problem being solved, the options that were considered, the costs, the risks, the expected benefits, and the reasons one option was chosen over another. If a decision later proves unsuccessful, there should be enough documentation to understand what happened, identify the root cause, and improve future decision-making. Transparency is not simply about publishing more documents. It is about creating a government that learns, improves, and earns public trust through openness. 

For more than a decade, I served as the Accountable Executive of a commercial aviation operation and held the regulatory position of Person Responsible for Maintenance. I also worked closely with our Operations Manager on day-to-day oversight to ensure the organization consistently met the standards required in commercial aviation. 

Earlier this year, I sold the skydiving operation to the staff who helped build it. It was important to me that the business remain in the hands of the people who knew it best. 

I currently serve as Chair of the Legal Committee for the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association, where I work on legal and governance matters affecting the organization and its members. 

Outside of work, community has always mattered to me. Whether growing my hair to donate it for wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment, volunteering, advocating for residents, or simply taking the time to listen to my neighbours, I have always believed that leadership begins with service. 

I was born to two immigrant parents and raised in a middle class family that believed in hard work, responsibility, and earning trust. I was taught that in this life you have only your word, your morals and your principles. 

I am a husband, a father of four, and a proud grandfather of six. My youngest, Reese and Max, are growing up here in Wasaga Beach. Seeing our community through their eyes reminds me every day that the decisions we make now will shape the town they inherit tomorrow. I have the time, the experience, and the commitment to devote myself fully to this work. And I am ready to do it.