Safety is the foundation of a city that works. You should be able to walk home, open your business and use a public space without fear. When you call for help, help needs to reach you.

1. Bring safety and care together. I’ll push for a more visible, coordinated presence downtown by bringing police, trained outreach workers and services together so situations can be addressed earlier and with the right response. People in crisis need help, while residents, workers and businesses need to feel safe. Those goals should work together, not against each other.
2. Keep help moving. Street changes must allow emergency vehicles to reach people quickly and safely. I’ll ask how a proposal affects access and response times before supporting it.
3. Build safely. As Victoria grows taller, I’ll work with the people who respond to emergencies on building requirements for safe exits, access to upper floors and the equipment needed to protect people.
4. Look after the people who respond. I’ll support practical measures to reduce on-the-job violence and improve proactive mental-health and PTSD support for those serving the public.
5. Plan ahead as Victoria grows. New homes and busier neighbourhoods bring new demands on streets, public spaces and essential services. I’ll listen to residents, renters, neighbourhood groups and local businesses early, and make sure growth decisions account for the services and infrastructure people will need and not leave neighbourhoods to catch up afterward

People are paying more and asking a fair question: What are we getting for it? I don’t have every answer about City spending today. I’m not going to pretend I do.

1. Review the whole operation. I’ll push for a top-to-bottom review of City services and spending: what residents rely on, what produces results, what duplicates other work and what needs to change.
2. Show the work. Major departments should have clear public targets. Residents should be able to see what a service costs, what it delivers and whether it is improving, with metrics.
3. Control costs before passing them on. I’ll scrutinize proposed tax increases against the City’s spending choices and the results residents are actually seeing.
4. Make basic service dependable. Permits, applications and questions to City Hall deserve clear timelines and straightforward answers.

That’s not a promise that a review will magically pay for everything. It’s a commitment to make decisions from the facts, and explain the trade-offs honestly.

I stayed downtown because I believe it can thrive again. But belief isn’t enough. A shop needs customers. A worker needs a safe trip in. A visitor needs a reason to return. Getting those pieces working together is how we rebuild momentum.

1. Work alongside downtown businesses. I’ll bring business owners, the Downtown Victoria Business Association, the Victoria Chamber of Commerce, residents and City staff together to identify obstacles, and track whether we actually remove them.
2. Make downtown welcoming and accessible. Safety, cleanliness, permits, deliveries and transportation all affect whether people come downtown and whether businesses can stay.
3. Connect every way of getting around. Walking, cycling, transit, driving and deliveries should function as one network, not a series of decisions that work for one group while shutting out another.
4. Ask the Province to be a partner. City Hall cannot revive downtown alone. I’ll seek a direct conversation with the provincial government about how its office-location and work policies affect the core, and how our decisions can pull in the same direction.