You’ve spoken, and I’ve listened.
I will commit to sequencing construction projects costing more than $600,000 so they are not all happening at the same time. Better coordination will reduce disruption, protect access to local businesses and homes, and help ensure each project is delivered thoughtfully.
I will explore a graduated licensing program for e-scooters, promoting safer and more responsible use while recognizing that different levels of experience and risk require different expectations.
We need to address the lack of parking at both the eastern and western ends of Bronte Village. I would propose underground parking at Bronte Athletic Park, and exploring the possibility of building a UHPC and Steel Framed Parking Garage at the West End of the village.
I will work to create a bylaw infraction reporting system that leads to real action and accountability—not simply a record of complaints. Residents deserve a clear process, meaningful follow-up and confidence that their concerns will be addressed.
In the two months that I’ve spent door-knocking, it has become quite apparent that people are deeply dissatisfied with what is happening in Bronte right now.
1. Responsible Growth
Responsible growth means maintaining Bronte Village’s existing character, thoughtfully managing the population intensification around Bronte GO and the surrounding areas, and navigating the Ward 1–Palermo Village interface. It also means considering the cumulative impacts of development, addressing QEW traffic and access/egress around new developments, and planning for transit, parking, parks, recreation, and other community infrastructure. New development should not outpace the services residents rely on.
2. A Safer Ward 1
Break-ins and car thefts have been on the rise throughout the ward, and having a permanent police presence in Bronte Village is vital to ensuring that people in Lakeshore Woods and the Bronte Village feel safe. We also need to make sure that there is a Halton Regional Police Service station in Palermo Village, to improve response times keeping in mind the development plans in in Ward 7.
3. Modern Recreation
Better facilities for the people who use them. The new Bronte Streetscape Plan is gorgeous, but it stops a block short. It should include modernizing the Bronte Outdoor Pool, providing better tennis/pickleball facilities at Sovereign Park, upgrading change rooms and other amenities at Bronte Athletic Field, improving spectator and bleacher facilities, and installing modern LED field lighting to reduce light spill into neighbouring homes at places like Shell Park and Bronte Athletic Field
I have already spoken with the Oakville Titans Football team, and they’re receptive to moving their operations to Shell Park if the two East Fields were converted to lit, turf, multisport-lined fields. These fields could then be domed in the winter, allowing the Oakville Titans, Oakville Angels Softball, and Rush Soccer Academy to avoid running their winter operations out of Burlington, Milton, and Mississauga.
The Oakville Soccer Club already utilizes Pine Glen to its maximum capacity, which is no fault of their own, but we need to provide better spaces for other service providers.
Having two lit football fields would also mean that the Oakville Titans could host National and Provincial Football Championships. We are currently missing out on major event competitions across the board due of a lack of foresight.
I would rename Bronte Athletic Field the ‘Diana B. Matheson Field’ in honour of Diana Matheson, who twice scored game winning goals to secure Canada’s bronze medals at the Olympics in Women’s Soccer, she fought on behalf of the Women’s National Team to achieve equal pay, and created Canada’s first professional women’s soccer league. The Northern Super League currently employs hundreds of Canadian Women, providing opportunities for them to play, coach, and work in adminstrative roles in soccer here at home, inspiring a new generation of young girls to follow their passion of playing sports here in Canada.
4. A Community for Every Generation
Ward 1 is home to residents at every stage of life — young families, working adults, people with disabilities, and seniors who have given decades to this community. Our goal is to create the kinds of places and programs that allow everyone to live fully, connect meaningfully, and belong unconditionally.
One of my top priorities is establishing the Ralph Robinson Seniors Recreation Centre and Public Library in Bronte. Ralph Robinson served as a town councillor for Ward 1 for more than 30 years. He fought passionately for residents, including his long-standing effort to keep parking in Bronte free, and he did it all as a senior who led by example and got things done.
Ralph Robinson deserves to be remembered for his contributions and naming this facility in his honour is a fitting tribute to him.
The current seniors recreation centre at Third Line and Old Lakeshore is not within walking distance of most Bronte’s seniors. A dedicated facility in the heart of Bronte would give older adults the programs, social connections, and library access they deserve, close to home, and designed with them in mind. This would be a wonderful space for elder adults and young people to interact with one another.
Across the board, the thread running through these commitments is the same: community spaces that bring people together. Whether it is a seniors centre, a library, a recreation program, or a gathering place in Bronte Village, Ward 1 should be a place where every generation has a reason to show up and a place to belong.
Underground parking that would start below the Ralph Robinson Seniors Recreation Centre would extend below the soccer field, and would alleviate the lack of parking in Bronte’s East End.
While there are 400 parking spaces available in Bronte, parents dropping off their kids to play baseball are parking at Pizza Pizza and McDonalds because the parking lot beside the diamond is full of cars belonging to employess of other local businesses.
5. A Waterfront Worth Protecting
Bronte’s waterfront is one of the most treasured assets in all of Oakville, a place where the community gathers, where families spend their weekends, and where residents feel a deep and lasting emotional connection to where they live. Protecting it, to me, means that every decision made about this stretch of shoreline is made with care, with foresight, and with the people of Ward 1 at the centre of the conversation.
The waterfront should also be a genuine hub for recreation and leisure, a space where people of all ages and abilities can enjoy the lake, the parks, and the public amenities that make Bronte special. That means investing in infrastructure that serves everyday users, not just landmark projects that dominate a budget without delivering lasting community value.
Decisions about park spaces in Bronte need to involve better consultation with the people who live in the surrounding area.
Residents have serious concerns about the approved skating loop that could cost upto $8 million beside the water. Anyone who lives south of Rebecca knows that snow rarely stays on their lawns for more than three days at a time. Stouffville just built a 275 metre loop where snow stays on the ground receiving $4 million from Municipal Taxpayers, while $4 million was split between Provincial and Federal taxpayers. The approved (but yet to be accounted for in the budget) skating loop in Bronte is to be 400 metres. If Stouffville pays $400,000 a year to operate their loop, located roughly 50 km farther from Lake Ontario, what will it cost Oakville taxpayers to run a loop in an area where the snow often melts again in just a few days? Hard to imagine it costing less.
Many residents are also questioning the wisdom of possibly spending $6 million on an urban beach in an area where the Town previously spent $60,000 every year to remediate foul-smelling algae. They are much more receptive to spending $70,000 on an off-leash dog park that would bring the neighbourhood together.
Other residents have expressed to me their concerns around the prosposed lookout over West River Street. During COVID they were overwhelmed by an influx of out-of-town visitors clogging their neighbourhood streets and leaving garbage behind. This is a similar concern to what I have heard from the residents of Lakeshore Woods who are facing a similar situation with visitors using the Beach at South Shell Park. We want a vibrant, welcoming destination that draws visitors in a way that enhances the neighbourhood rather than overwhelming it, and that supports the local businesses that give Bronte Village its character and charm.
