Taxes/Homelessness Top Issues Candidate Hears About

A former Wainfleet mayor wants to be Welland's mayor due to many changes such as development and more homelessness.

April Jeffs also says she mainly hears about property taxes when campaigning door to door.  "Like a line by line value for money audit of core services review.  Just to get an idea of where we're at, because I believe the money is there, it's just not being allocated properly."  

She adds she wants to leverage partnerships to help people.  "Especially with the changes at the region, I think that Welland needs a strong voice at the region, because it's only going to be the 12 mayors serving, so you're going to need strong leadership to do that dual role."

She says the new region will need to push the provincial government on homelessness.

As mayor, she'll set up a task force of police and community groups.  "Part of my platform is getting data specific to Welland.  I know the region has a lot of data on individuals who are unhoused, but it's not necessarily specific to the municipalities."

She knows a major problem is some homeless people don't want help.  "The argument seems to be about pushing people, but the problem is if you were able to convince them, there's not a lot of help out there.  I think Welland needs a detox."

She is competing against Pat Chiocchio, David Clow, David McLeod, Natashia Bergen, Gary Graziani, Graham Speck and Brandon Simon.