Open Council

5th Meeting of the Budget Committee

Open Council

5th Meeting of the Budget Committee

November 18, 2025, at 4:00 PM

Original link

The meeting is called to order at 4:00 PM; it being noted that Deputy Mayor S. Lewis and Councillor S. Hillier were in remote attendance.

1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.

2.   Consent

None.

3.   Scheduled Items

3.1   Public Participation Meeting - Not to be heard before 4:00 PM - Budget

Moved by S. Stevenson

Seconded by P. Cuddy

That the following written submissions for the 2026 Annual Budget Public Participation Meeting BE RECEIVED for consideration by the Municipal Council as part of the Multi-Year approval process:

  • a communication dated November 13, 2025 from K. Pagniello, Executive Director and Lawyer, M. Laliberte, Staff Lawyer, Neighbourhood Legal Services, London and Middlesex; and

  • a communication dated November 13, 2025 from C. Butler;

it being noted that at the public participation meeting associated with this matter, the following individuals made oral submissions regarding this matter:

  • K. Pagniello, Executive Director and Lawyer, Neighbourhood Legal Services, London and Middlesex;

  • M. Cassidy;

  • T. Zientara;

  • N. Saika-Voivod;

  • L. Godby;

  • N. Graham;

  • L. Unknown;

  • K. Henricus;

  • O. Sayyed;

  • J. Hue;

  • K. Brown;

  • S. Kanchi;

  • A. Beaton;

  • N. Miller;

  • D. Boyce;

  • F. Oyindamola Betiku;

  • M. Wallace;

  • M. Moussa;

  • B. Samuels;

  • M. Shaw; and

  • A. Keet.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

Additional Votes:

Moved by D. Ferreira

Seconded by P. Cuddy

Motion to open the public participation meeting.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by D. Ferreira

Motion to close the public participation meeting.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

4.   Items for Direction

None.

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

None.

6.   Adjournment

Moved by S. Trosow

Seconded by P. Van Meerbergen

That the meeting BE ADJOURNED.

Motion Passed

The meeting adjourned at 5:27 PM.

Full Transcript

Transcript provided by Lillian Skinner’s London Council Archive. Note: This is an automated speech-to-text transcript and may contain errors. Speaker names are not identified.

View full transcript (1 hour, 43 minutes)

[5:27] We’re going to get started. This is the fifth meeting of the budget committee.

[16:44] The City of London is situated on the traditional lands of the Nashback, Haudenosaunee, Lenapawak, and Adwondron. We honor and respect the history and language and the culture of the diverse indigenous people who call this territory home. The City of London is currently home to many First Nation, Métis, and Inuit today. As representatives of the people of the City of London, we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory. For everyone’s information, Councillor Hillier and Deputy Mayor Lewis are virtual right now online. Councillor Lehman will be here shortly. I think he’s in the elevator somewhere trying to get down.

[17:22] And all of the members of committee are here in chambers physically. The City of London is committed to making every effort to provide alternate formats and communication ports for meetings upon request. To make a request specific to this meeting, please contact 519-661-2489, extension 2425. Looking to committee for disclosure of pecuniary interest, see none. Consent items we have none. We do have schedule items which you’re aware of, which is the public participation meeting tonight.

[17:54] I’m going to need a motion to open the public participation meeting. I have a mover and Councillor Ferrer, a seconder, and Councillor Cuddy. We’re going to call the question. You can do it in an e-scriber verbally. This is just the vote on opening the public participation meeting. Councillor votes, yes. Lehman votes, yes. Deputy Mayor Lewis votes, yes. Madam Chair, can you just ask the perks to recent the e-scribe link? The link I have is not working for me.

[18:31] Absolutely. Thank you. Councillor Pribble, Councillor Van Mary-Brigen, closing the vote. Motion carries. 15 to start. Thank you. With that, all members of Council are present. I’ll note on the agenda. There is a break schedule from 6 to 6.30 tonight. Members of the public joining us. We had committee before this, so, tightly speaking, we’ve been here since 1. I just realized some of you are frequent at the public participation meeting. Some people, this is your first time.

[19:07] So just want to welcome to everyone, let you know that these meetings are recorded and on YouTube so you can go back and watch them later or share them if you want. Great, we have people in person, no one by phone and one by Zoom, and for IT, I’m going to do the Zoom one first just to clean that up procedurally, and then we know we just have people in the gallery after that when we get to that space. Speakers have five minutes maximum each. You only get to speak once, even if you didn’t use it all your own time. We ask that you give your name for the record.

[19:42] You don’t have to if you want to be anonymous, that’s fine. Some people used to give their addresses, I ask that you don’t do it because it is recorded and for everybody out there for just safety purposes, that we don’t need it. Keep it to yourself. You’re welcome to eat and drink in the gallery, I’m sorry that the seats aren’t comfortable. There is no clapping cheering or booing just to make sure that regardless of what you’re saying, everyone feels safe and able to communicate what they would like this evening. We stay, we don’t leave at six, we just take a break at six.

[20:16] We stay until we’re done, the public’s had their chance to speak and then for members of council, once we get to six o’clock, we’ll need the motion to extend before we have our dinner. The clerk has that queued up when that comes to that point. This is your opportunity to speak to us. It’s not a Q&A, so we’re not going to answer you directly, but take those opportunities to say what it means to you or have you considered. You can pose a question just we’re not going to stop and answer you as we are taking your feedback tonight and thank you everyone for attending.

[20:52] I don’t see any hands up for members of committee, so even for members of committee, we’re not asking questions of staff tonight, moving motions, or asking each other questions is your opportunity to hear from the public and then reflect on what you might want to do with the mayor’s budget. With that, we will get started to technology. I will look to our Zoom participant, you’re welcome to put your screen on or leave it off. And you have up to five minutes and I’ll leave it to you to introduce yourself. I thank you. Can you hear me okay?

[21:26] Just one more time. Hi. Can you hear me okay? Ish. Ish. You’re a little bit garbly. Not sure if that’s an issue at our end. Okay. And Councilor here online also says it’s an ish. I don’t know if you have a speaker, you can move a little bit closer to you. Yeah. I’m turning the rod. You don’t have to move. I can get a little closer. Is that any better? A little bit. So just five minutes is yours. And if something happens and we stop able to hear you well, we will, I’ll stop you to give you a chance to you start again. I should say, thank you for the opportunity to speak and you do have my written submission in front of you.

[22:03] So see if, and that of course has the detail that you really need from us on what we want to talk about. My name is Kristi Pacnello. Sorry. I’m going to stop you. You are really garbly. I like computer voice garbly. I don’t know. Okay. So tech is saying just come closer to whatever you’re using for a microphone. And I will note that your communication is in there. This would be for the neighborhood legal services, London and Middlesex just for committee’s information. So please go ahead. My name is Kristi Pacnello and I’m the executive director that any better?

[22:42] Yeah, I got some thumbs up here. Please proceed. I’m the executive director of neighborhood legal services. We’re the poverty law clinic funded by legal aid Ontario and we practice in the areas of employment law and social assistance law and housing law for tenants. Thanks for the opportunity to speak. You’ve got my written submission date in November 13th with all kinds of detail. We’re asking to consider using a portion of the surplus, a very tiny amount of surplus in fact of a huge impact if you were to do it to give the housing stability bank that operates out of the Salvation Army, a $700,000 more for a year.

[23:30] This is really important, very, very real cost in terms of the surplus but really important because the housing stability bank is interest free loans to low income lenders who are facing eviction. I can tell you we do these hearings. We do these appeals or these responses but put around the antenna board and it very often in almost all the cases a small housing stability loan or grant is what saves the housing. Yes, it’s true that a lot of people on social assistance after resort housing stability bank but also the working core of London and Middlesex, often after resort, likely one time in their life to the housing stability bank.

[24:19] And the working core are people who are in low income and possibly working multiple jobs to keep ends in the week. If they fall apart hard times briefly, for example, they’re at least one of their jobs and there’s a period of time when you’re waiting for the EI to come in or whatever, these are people living from paycheck to paycheck who they’re working for, they need a little bit of help sometimes to keep their housing, I would encourage council to seriously consider this. It’s a drop in the bucket in terms of amount of money or surplus, a huge impact because here’s what happens, if someone’s facing evictions for a year’s of rent and they just need a little bit of help in the housing stability bank, it will save the housing and when you save the housing from eviction, you keep the people in and then that new net for as long as those people are in there, you only go up in rent by the newly allowed amount, which the year is 2.5%.

[25:17] If that person is evicted, the landlord can set any amount of new rent they want for that unit. So this is how we lose our affordable housing stock in London. Once it’s gone, it’s gone to that unit that was 900 bucks or 1100 bucks and was affordable, it comes possibly $2,000, $3,500 and becomes unaffordable, unaffordable forever. So I would really like to see council considering using a small amount of this surplus tenants are taxpayers tuning in the sense that a portion of the rent goes towards taxes and this could have huge impact because in the housing stability bank, we have to shut down every month for a period of time to turn people away, but they could be in full operation for the year.

[26:10] Those are my submissions subject to any questions you have and there is of course more detail in my letter. Thank you, we do have your letter and everyone has questions they can follow up offline directly. So thank you for that and just to hear from the clerks, that does conclude our virtual info and participants. Okay, so that’s a head nod there. So we are moving to our guests in the audience in person. There are four microphones set up. You’re welcome to line up at whichever one you like and since you can see me, when you get close to 30 seconds, I’ll give you a little wave and just say 30 seconds.

[26:50] So you’re welcome to pick a microphone, like I said, we’re here to we’re done. So don’t worry about timing of getting to the front of the line. I’m going to start by T in the lower the lower level and then I’m going to go to the top. So welcome, even if I know you, just your name for the record, if you wish, and you have five minutes. Great. Thanks. Councillor Palosa. Good afternoon, Mayor Morgan, Councillors and Budget Committee members. My name is Maureen Cassidy and I’m here today on behalf of Pillar Nonprofit Network and the thousands of nonprofits, charities and grassroots groups serving every neighborhood in this city.

[27:32] Thanks very much for the opportunity to speak to you again today. We recognize the pressures you face, fiscal, social and political. We also recognize the direction in this budget, investing in safety, housing and transit while keeping the tax increased modest. I come with a message of partnership and collaboration because nonprofits are not separate from the city’s goals. We are a huge part of how these goals are achieved. Members who want to acknowledge the areas where this budget aligns with the work that nonprofits are already doing every day.

[28:05] There’s new funding for housing and homelessness supports. This includes adding service capacity for people who are precariously housed. That’s encouraging because many nonprofits from shelters to outreach workers to housing support organizations have already built strong, trusted relationships with the very people these investments are meant to serve. Our ask is simple. Safe nonprofits not merely as delivery agents, but as core partners in designing, implementing and strengthening these supports. We also see investments in community safety, but we all know that safety isn’t built through enforcement alone.

[28:43] Safe communities are created through prevention, belonging and programs that give people purpose and connection. Nonprofits deliver those every day. Youth engagement, neighborhood programs, food security, newcomer supports and so much more. That’s the quiet infrastructure of safety, and it’s worthy of full recognition in the city budget. This budget also invests in inter-city transit, and that matters. It will help Londoners reach new jobs in places like St. Thomas, and it will bring people from surrounding communities into London to work, learn and participate in our economy and our culture.

[29:21] But we also need to be honest. This doesn’t help Londoners move within London. It won’t help someone access a counseling session, a food program, a library or an employment support service. It won’t help a volunteer get to a nonprofit organization where an extra set of hands are desperately needed or a newcomer family reach a cultural community center, and it won’t help someone experiencing homelessness to get across the city for care. So while inter-city transit is a positive and forward looking initiative, it cannot substitute for improving mobility within our city, especially for those who rely on nonprofit services to survive and thrive.

[30:04] Another thing that’s missing, library expansions, important ones have been pushed out to 2027. Libraries are not luxuries. They are anchors of community life. They are places where children learn, where newcomers access technology, where nonprofits hold programming, and where people go to be warm, safe and connected to others. We urge council don’t let libraries slide down the priority list. They are part of the same ecosystem of community well-being that this budget aims to strengthen. We are encouraged to see the city’s expanded winter response, including warming centers and safety measures for the months ahead.

[30:46] This is essential, and we applaud it. But as a sector, we have also learned that seasonal responses are not solutions on their own. To make these investments meaningful, nonprofits must be included, not just as emergency support, but in year-round planning. From staffing to service coordination to wraparound care, the nonprofit sector is already doing this work, and we are ready to co-design long-term solutions. This brings me to the bigger picture. This budget makes decisions about nonprofits and about the communities we serve, but nonprofits are still not clearly or consistently named as partners in service delivery.

[31:29] That’s not just a missed opportunity, that’s a mistake. From housing to mental health, from newcomer integration to food security, nonprofits are a core part of the city’s social infrastructure. We are not asking you to build a partnership. We’re asking you to recognize the one that already exists and strengthen it. As you move forward with this budget, we ask that City Council commit to create a formal role for nonprofits in shaping and implementing key budget priorities, especially housing and homelessness responses.

[32:04] Protect and renew funding tools like the community grants program that sustain nonprofit capacity. Reaffirm commitment to libraries and other community spaces as shared public infrastructure. It’s important to emphasize one more thing, London’s nonprofits have always been ready to work alongside you, not only to stretch dollars further, but to ensure that every investment in this budget becomes a real, equitable outcome in people’s lives. The city’s fiscal discipline matters, nonprofits understand fiscal discipline.

[32:40] We make the most of limited resources every single day. That kind of resourcefulness just stretch budgets. It builds solutions that work. We don’t just hold the social fabric together. We drive economic growth, create jobs, and strengthen our local economy. But none of that matters without a shared commitment to belonging, dignity, and community well-being. We must work together to protect that for everyone. Thank you. I’m going to go to the top microphone on this side, just your name, and then you have five minutes.

[33:14] Sure. Thank you very much. Hi everyone. Sorry. I normally don’t even need a mic. But anyway, hi everyone. My name is Tanya Zientara. I am a secondary school English teacher here in London. I became involved as a volunteer to help the homeless community about five years ago, and I have worked with many outreach and support organizations. Surprisingly, in my experience, the best one I have worked with is London Street Outreach, an organization that takes absolutely no government funding and has run completely by volunteers.

[33:53] 100% of the money and donations collected by them goes directly to support those in need. I have watched as the city has struggled with trying to deal with the unhoused and the addicted, and I have been deeply disturbed and disappointed with how public taxpayer funds have been spent. I have been even more disturbed by the lack of transparency and accountability. Expears have spent millions on the whole of community response to homelessness, which is proved, in my view, to be a major failure.

[34:39] Residents and business owners are leaving or closing shop because of the disorder, drugs, vandalism, and theft in our city streets. Furthermore, there is still not enough of a winter response. The unhoused have to wait until it is -15 to get into a shelter space, and I will tell you right now, because I work directly with them, many won’t do it because they are not permitted to bring their pets. Until a permanent housing solution is found, that includes a jobs plan and sensible plans for treatment and recovery for the addicted, not just so-called harm reduction, there needs to be a 24/7 shelter during the winter with proper security that provides crates for pets, and yes, it can be done if there is a will, there is a way.

[35:42] In 2024, $600,000 was donated for a two-year research and evaluation of health and homelessness whole of community system response. On September 29, 2025, the first annual report was presented, missing many of the metrics that were approved in the template. Unfortunately, this is not the only example of a lack of transparency. Oftentimes, citizens and even city counselors have to resort to FOIA requests, just to get a better understanding of our homeless contracts, only to find that all or part of the budget section has been redacted.

[36:27] This is taxpayers’ money, my money, and we have a right to know where it’s going, who it’s going to, and what is being achieved. Absurdly, $7 million of surplus property taxes have been put towards 16 micro-shelters, which will only last 16 months, costing us approximately a half a million dollars a month. That money, and believe me, I have done my research, could have gone toward approximately 1,400 permanent shelters.

[37:02] Citizens are questioning where this nonsensical budget advice is coming from, and there is also no evidence that these temporary micro-shelters are even being constructed yet or will be ready for next year. Many of the problems in the community could have been either solved or mitigated if it had not been for the city’s determination to continue to fund programs and policies that worsen the situation. For instance, even though your salaries are a nominal amount of the overall budget, voting yourselves a 40% increase in pay starting next year is grossly insulting to your constituents and causes constituents to question whether you are aware of the suffering that exists in London.

[37:47] I’m sure you are aware that many young and old people can’t afford rent, like my son, like my mother-in-law, and that many young people can’t even find the most entry-level job, like my son and many of my students, and that the city’s 25% increase in property taxes over four years is crippling an already crippled population, leaving more and more one step away from homelessness, thereby adding to the already enormous numbers who are trying to survive in the streets. This is not common sense. What are these terrible circumstances?

[38:21] I hope you can understand the need to A) for go, counsel’s 25%, 40% salary increase, B) keep property taxes at 0% because you can do it, or there’s so much to say, B) more transparent about budgets, no information should be redacted, and also think about how you spend your money. What is this waste of $185 million for bus rapid transit, $3 million over budget on the Adelaide Street overpass? Are these ridiculous bus shelters at least for two or three minutes? Sorry.

[38:53] Thank you, Tanya. Sorry. And I do stick to the five minutes just to make sure that everyone shares the space. If you had Budget Committee at London, not say is the email address. If you had your written speech or something from anyone tonight, or you didn’t say it, you wanted to send it, you can certainly send it forward, and it could be circulated behind the scenes as well. For tech, I’m going to the lower microphone on the side as well for this gentleman. You have just your name if you want, and then up to five minutes. Please go ahead.

[39:25] My name is Nicholas Sake-Avoivit. I’m here for London Poly Calling Podcast. Madam Chair, Mayor Morgan, esteemed members of Council, my friends, fellow community members, I have a few questions, rhetorical, I guess at this point, but I’ll be brief, so maybe there’ll be time. We have city staff on hand. They’re quite straightforward questions with regards to the proposed Emergency Training Center. The question would be whether, what I’d heard on the CTV News, that the proposed estimated budget of $183 million is true, currently. The second question is, with respect to the budget, how much of that money would come from the city, either directly or by way of the police service, this budget cycle and next budget cycle, if that information is available, thirdly.

[40:13] Other than the Hazmat Training Center, has there been any ratification of agreements with the province or the federal government with respect to this proposed training center, so these are the straightforward questions. And the fourth and most rhetorical question, does the chair, his worship and council and staff believe that this vast amount of money is better spent on more training rather than more enforcement, especially with regards to previous speaker’s comments. And the news we heard today from the report on the development of the downtown plan.

[40:53] One is a poor primary foundation of the city’s economy, and something needs to be done about it. Thank you very much. Thank you for those comments and questions. Retorical, as you said at this point, those updates, the mayor’s office has always been able to tell you where things are at as well. I’m going to keep the rotation and go to the top microphone first for the person that’s there.

[41:24] If you want to give your name, you have up to five minutes, and then I’ll go back to the lower one. Hello. My name is Linda Godby. I have retired. I have been with London Street Outreach for over two years, and I thank you everybody for having us here to speak. So this is what can our councilors do to help prevent the homelessness? Do the dire cost increase? All citizens have been facing. This budget is a start with a recognition that the money is owed back to the taxpayers. Some of almost 59 million surplus money, and the large amounts we were taxed to over development charges based on administrative confusion between the province and all Ontario citizens.

[42:16] Both the surplus and the DC amounts were charged in 2024, and the city has made considerable bank interest on storing them, along with a $1.5 billion in the city’s reserves. Currently, we are supposed to get an amount returned to this budget, a total of 37 million, just for these two sources, certainly fair, but badly needed. But full half of it is not slated to come back to us until 2027. That is unjust and keeps over 18 million in the bank interest in the city coffers as out of the London banks account.

[42:58] And yet another crisis comes along in 2027, while the city would suddenly change its mind. We need our taxes to get back online, like in the last four year budget. This one has been recorded a high taxation, and this year we need big relief because the last two years were a horror show for many, pushing them to the brink of homelessness. The very same homelessness that we already cannot manage. Our funds should be returned at the start of 2026, as one time tax rebate, realizing that this is money that was overcharged has been already affected citizens negatively.

[43:45] The last two years of tax spikes were so high that the responsible thing to do is to give back quickly. Such an announcement would give hope to those struggling that the start of 2026 may seem some stability and their budget and remove fears of joining the swelling ranks of London’s homelessness. Surely for today, a firm step before or forward can take by the city realizing that it’s $1.5 million cushion is enough for now.

[44:24] And that Londoners had two frightfully high years of taxation rates. And overall inflation, a serious correction, at 2026, that is as close to zero as possible. Thank you. Thank you, Linda. I’m going to go to the microphone. Lower level of the side. If you want to give your name and welcome you up to five minutes. Hi, I’m Nick Graham, Chair, Councillors, members of the public. A budget is not just numbers.

[44:58] It is a declaration of priorities. It shows who matters. And right now, the most vulnerable people in London are being treated like an afterthought on a spreadsheet. We hear about strategies, long-term visions, five-year plans. But people don’t live in strategies. They live in tents. They live behind dumpsters. They live in fear that tonight might be their last. Paperwork moves slowly, hypothermia doesn’t. And yet, just recently, council approved a raise for the next term of council. The justification was that the role should be treated as a full-time match with other municipalities.

[45:31] So the work can be done properly, fair enough. The work should be taken seriously. But if council decides to be, sorry, the role’s full-time, then the homeless deserves to be treated like it’s a full-time scale, emergency. If leadership needs stability and resources to function, the frontline workers need the very same thing. If public money can elevate the political roles, it must also stabilize outreach teams, harm reduction services, warming spaces, and survival supports.

[46:08] Otherwise, we are admitting that dignity is available, just not universally. I’m asking this committee for three things. First, fund immediate survival needs as serious as we fund long-term housing. That means guaranteed support for warming stations, overdose prevention, hygiene, footcare, and access to medical care. These aren’t luxuries. These are survival. Secondly, stabilize frontline workers and outreach teams. Burnout is not free. Turnover is not free. When funding comes in waves, service collapses in waves.

[46:42] Survival funding creates reliable care. Third, transparency and accountability. The public should be able to see where their homeless funding goes and what result it achieves. Not buried in PDFs, not hidden behind algorithms. If the committee cannot follow the money, it isn’t public money. This is not about blame. It’s about direction. The homeless crisis is not imagined. It is present. It is growing, and the cost of inaction isn’t invisible. It just doesn’t appear in the columns of a budget.

[47:16] It appears in emergency rooms, police calls, and funerals. So let’s be honest, if we can justify raises for the leadership, we can justify urgent investment in basic human safety. A budget is a moral document. Tonight, it can record that London does not abandon people, that we act when action is needed, that we believe in dignity is not conditional. We know what works, outreach works, harm reduction works, drop-in spaces work, supportive housing works, and hope works. I see people every day who still try to survive. We haven’t given up.

[47:49] So why should we? Thank you. Thank you, Nick, for those words. Hey. I’m going to go to the lower mic on this side, your name, and you have up to five minutes, and then I will rotate back between these two mics. Hi. My name is Liz. This is my first time at one of these meetings, so this is kind of exciting. I really do kind of align with a lot of the stuff that people have been talking about. I’ve lived in London since, like, 2013 when I was in high school, so we just moved in.

[48:29] London’s been really good to me, my family. I moved away, and then I came back, and I’ve noticed that housing issue really is. I know it affects everywhere, but unfortunately, London has soft spot for me, so I’ve seen it kind of destroy a lot of people, and it’s kind of crazy to see that, like, the housing and rent has gone so out of control. I work now. It’s not a great job, but it’s enough, and it pays the bills, but barely, because housing is so expensive, a lot of my, like, my rent money goes, or a lot of my money that I make goes to just surviving.

[49:06] So as somebody who is, I guess, on the lower end of things, it does feel like it’s really hard to stay in London. It’s one of the most affordable cities, but it’s still so crazy to be able to afford to even live like a regular life, to the point where, like, for me, anything could potentially put me into a situation where I could be homeless. It could be anything, and having the ability to use the money that you guys have to either do something to put a safety net for people in London would be really great, and it would be able to give so many people just the relief to be able to not just survive, but thrive in London.

[49:52] I mean, London’s great. I’ve been blessed with being able to go outside of London and come back, and, I mean, people talk shit about us. It’s not great, but I know that we care, and if we do have the ability to do something for London, I feel like you guys are the people who would be able to do those things. We can do them, and, I mean, people talk shit, whatever, but if we can take care of ourselves and take care of each other, it’d be really great. And I think one of the big things is making sure that people aren’t, you know, taking advantage of other, like, Londoners, maybe hiking up prices where they shouldn’t, or putting people in situations where they have to stay in a place that might not be safe, might be full of, I don’t know, asbestos or some shit.

[50:42] Sorry, don’t worry, don’t worry, but, you know, there are people who are building homes that aren’t really regulated, that aren’t really giving people a safe home to stay in, but hey, it’s cheap, and it allows them to be able to have a level of disposable income that, you know, they can save, or, you know, if an emergency happens, they can have just enough to survive to the next paycheck, but it’d be really great if some of that money could be used to, you know, make London a little bit more affordable. Thank you.

[51:18] Thank you. And welcome to City Hall, and hopefully we’ll hear from you again, and I hope it was everything you hoped it would be tonight, and I appreciate the acknowledgement. We’re going to try not to use profanity sometimes, it slips out, but we’re also broadcasting into people’s homes and you never know what children are around. So thank you for that acknowledgement, and I also like to use such words too, so I appreciate what we’re coming from. So each of you will have five minutes to treat you as individuals, but certainly recognize that you’re representing, I assume, the same group tonight, so I’m going to just for IT, I’ll rotate just between these two mics for these three speakers, realizing they’re from the same organization.

[51:56] I’m still timing each of you though, so I’ll start with the up top one, and then I’ll go down, and then I’ll go back up. So welcome, state your name for the record, and you have up to five minutes. Good evening, Mayor Morgan, and members of Council. My name is Catalina Henricas, and I’m the President of the University Students’ Council at Western. We represent over 37,000 students across Western, Huron, and Kings who call London Home. Thank you for giving us the time to speak today. One of the core values in the London Plan is the commitment to building safe, walkable, and welcoming communities.

[52:29] Students deeply share this vision. Every year, thousands of young people choose London, because they believe this city can be a place where they can grow, learn, and feel at home. That is why we are concerned about the proposal and item P23 to retract funding for the street light local improvements program. Street lighting is not just an infrastructure line item. It’s a matter of community safety, accessibility, and equity. Many students live in neighborhoods where landlords are not present or simply do not have an interest in funding improvements. When responsibility for street lights is placed on private property owners, these upgrades simply do not happen.

[53:05] Our students then walk home and poorly lit neighborhoods. They are taking on unnecessary risk, especially women, girls, and gender diverse individuals in our community. The Safe Cities London scoping study has been clear. Poor lighting contributes to increased feelings of danger and a lack of safety while reducing the actual safety of our communities. Without proper lighting, students simply do not feel comfortable walking to bus stops, going to class early in the morning, or returning home from work or campus late at night. When we remove city support for street lighting, we are unintentionally reinforcing inequality.

[53:41] Several resource neighborhoods receive improvements, but neighborhoods with many renters, newcomers, or students do not. This directly contradicts the values of equity and safety found in the London Plan and the values we know we share with members of council. The amendment from the 2023 budget update, which allowed the city to fully fund new street lights in older neighborhoods, was a significant step forward. It placed safety and fairness at the center of municipal investment, and for many students, it communicated something invaluable. But the city recognizes their presence, their needs, and their right to feel safe in their own communities.

[54:17] We are asking council to continue that progress. We are asking you to vote against P23 and maintain citywide funding for street light improvement. This is not only an investment in safety, but an investment in the well-being of every Londoner who walks, bikes, studies, or works after dark. Students want to continue contributing to a vibrant and caring London, and we are committed at the USC to keeping our neighborhoods bright, safe, and welcoming in collaboration with city council. Thank you. Thank you.

[54:49] Just on that one, I’ll note that funding for it is currently in, but through a bunch of deliberation stuff could change, so I appreciate people speak regardless of its in or out of their preference. So lower mic on this side, we have a thumbs up. Your name, and please go ahead. My name is Omar Sayad. Good evening, Mayor Morgan, Councillors and members of the public. I serve as a VP of external affairs for the University of students council at Western, and on behalf of the 37,000 students we represent, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. London students are proud to call the city home.

[55:22] We want London to continue growing into a safe, vibrant, and sustainable community. The London plan outlines a vision that encourages mobility, walkability, and a greener future. Tonight, I want to address one part of the budget that directly influences that vision. Propose LTC budget reduction outlined in item P18. Students rely on transit every single day to get to class, work, volunteer commitments, and downtown businesses. While the surplus, the LTC finds itself can’t be used to improve service during peak times, as they are constrained by available vehicles and maintenance staff.

[55:57] Investments and off-peak travel can still be considered. For example, late at night, when students finish studying or leave campus events, transit service becomes limited. Many students have no choice but to rely on ride-hailing apps. We use these attempting to fill the gap left by the city with our Mustang on demand service, funded entirely by our students. But even with this service, London has been identified as having the highest number of Uber rides between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. for three of the past four years. This is not a sign of convenience, it’s a sign of a gap in the city’s mobility system.

[56:33] Relying on ride-hailing works against London’s climate goals, because it increases the use of personal vehicles on the road. More importantly, it creates avoidable safety concerns. Students from equity deserving groups, especially women and girls, feel significantly more vulnerable when they cannot rely on predictable, reliable transit to go. The London plan tells us to make decisions with all Londoners in mind and to build state and connected communities. The proposal in P-18 does not reflect those values. Instead of reducing funding, the city should reinvest the $700,000 in projected savings back into the LTC to expand late night service.

[57:11] Especially the year after the LTC imposed a 5% increase in students fees, approximately half a million dollars for our students alone. And with our growing student population still is even more money. Specifically, they should extend route six until 2 a.m. for Monday through Saturday and add late night service to route one to two during the same hours, which would provide meaningful impact to Londoners and the businesses we support. Regardless of what routes you choose to fund, these serve areas where students live, study and work, resulting in increased safety, reduced reliance on cars, and will help move London closer to its 2050 mode share target.

[57:49] The investment would not only serve students, it would serve shift workers, hospitality staff and residents across the city who would depend on transit at late night hours. Students love this city. We want to see London become one of Canada’s greenest and safest mid-sized communities. Strengthening late night transit is a simple and effective step in that direction in addition to continued investments in overall transit performance. For those reasons, we respectfully urge council to vote against item P18 and instead commit these funds to expanding late night LTC services, specifically on route six and one out two.

[58:22] Thank you for your time. Thank you. I’m going to go to the mic top pole this side and then lower, you’ll be next. Okay, your name and you have up to five minutes. Good evening Mayor Morgan, Councillors and members of the community. My name is Janine Heu and I serve as the Municipal Affairs Coordinator for the University Students Council. I want to speak about the sustainability funding outlined in items P8, P22 and P24. These reductions, particularly the elimination of a multi-residential green bin cart pilot project, represent a step backward for London at a time when climate leadership is more important than ever.

[59:04] A quarter of Londoners live in multi-unit residential buildings. This includes thousands of students, young families and low income residents. When the city removes support for organics collection and composting in these buildings, it does not remove the need for that service or the provincial mandate to divert organic waste from landfills. It simply shifts the financial and task burden onto building owners who will in turn pass the cost directly to its tenants. At a time when affordability is already strained, this will worsen the financial pressure on the residents who can least absorb it.

[59:42] The London plan emphasizes that planning decisions must consider sustainability, social implications and affordability together. Cutting this pilot project undermines all three areas. From a sustainability standpoint, the decision runs counter to the city’s long-term environmental targets. Diverting organic waste from landfills is one of the most effective and measurable steps towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other cities, such as Guelph and Hamilton, have proven that multi-residential composting systems can be successful and cost-effective when implemented at scale.

[1:00:22] Even from a financial viewpoint, a coordinated city-wide program is more efficient and economical than compelling individual building owners to contract private services. The city itself noted this in P8’s governance considerations. Cutting this funding puts London behind its peers and opposes direction four of the London plan, which aims to position London as one of Canada’s greenest cities. Dunes care deeply about sustainability and planning for a city that is future-ready. They want London to be a leader in environmental stewardship, not a community that loses momentum when progress becomes challenging.

[1:01:05] Maintaining this pilot project is not only an environmental priority, but a social and economic one. For these reasons, we urge council to vote against P8. Maintaining funding for the multi-residential green bin cart pilot project and explore opportunities to expand it. This will fully support affordability for Londoners, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and keep London aligned with its long-term vision as outlined in the London plan of being a resilient, financially sustainable, and climate-conscious city.

[1:01:43] Thank you so much for your attention and considering the voices of London’s students. Thank you. The side please. Your name and you have up to five minutes. My name is Caitlin Brown. I would like to thank you as the mayor and the city council for this time, and I would just like to stress to you that we really focus on affordability and the housing crisis. I have been in and out of London my entire life, and I have never, ever seen it this bad. We have people out on the streets everywhere.

[1:02:20] It is horrifying to me to see the people out there suffering every day. People are out there dying, and how many of them need to die before we take this seriously. This isn’t just a problem we can take our time to solve. This is a crisis, and I would just like to emphasize it to you as the council that we really need to focus on solving this problem to prevent the loss of more lives. Thank you. Thank you, Caitlin.

[1:02:55] I’m going to go back to the side top, please. Welcome, your name, if you will, and you have up to five minutes. Sure, thank you. So I’m Sean Kanci, and hi to all the councillors and the mayor. Well, I wasn’t prepared, but then I had to talk about this topic, which, you know, directly or indirectly touches upon every single life in the city, and then most of the problems, you know, are a direct result of this issue, including homelessness or drug addiction and everything, it’s basically unemployment, right?

[1:03:30] I know it’s a big topic, it’s not just a London problem, it’s a Canada problem, even a worldwide problem, but then when you ask, say, anybody who’s a boomer, they would say, like, you know, hey, if I lose a job in this store, and if I walk across the lane, I would be able to find a job. That’s what they used to say, right? But now it’s come to a very, you know, horrifying levels in which all these Uber drivers, you know, I mean, if you don’t find, if you lose a job, you are not able to find the next replacement job.

[1:04:02] You are, you end up as a, if you have a car, I mean, that’s a, probably a blessing. If you don’t have a car, then you end up on the streets, you know, you’re, a lot of my people I know, they had a good job, 60,000, 70,000 paying jobs, and then they just lost it, because of whatever reasons, and they, you know, hey, how can I get a safety? How can I become a Uber driver now? And then these Uber drivers are lined up, you know, huge line, and then they’re waiting for one, one hour, because there are no rights, because people don’t have money to spend, because they are employed too, right?

[1:04:37] It’s not just this problem. I mean, even the youth, this 14.7% unemployment in Canada right now, the highest we have ever seen since like 2010 or something, it was like 14.1. So I know it’s a big Canadian problem, federal, provincial, and all, but then what are the city doing? Like, you know, to, to mitigate this is just giving out money. It’s not an issue. I mean, it’s not the solution, right? Like, for example, the, the plan that we just had a EV plan, well, you give so much money to all these big companies just in the hope of generating some employment, but it doesn’t result.

[1:05:14] Hey, I mean, you’re spending billions, you know, hoping that you will get a them hiring thousand people or 2000 people, but then the London is growing so fast, it’s not keeping up with the pace, right? So what is the city doing? Affordability and everything is all direct result of unemployment right now. People are losing jobs. When a neighbor loses a job, it’s probably, you know, slow down when you lose your own job. That’s recession. I mean, we are in the almost, you know, second quarter of getting the GDP going down, and then we are seeing recession right now, but what is the city we are going to do? Magna, we lost magna, we lost a cricket plant.

[1:05:50] What else? English all is also like, you know, we had London is going there. We are losing all these big companies. I know city cannot do much in this regard, but then how are you going to tackle this problem, which is a direct result? People sitting at home jobless, what are they going to do? They’re going to do drugs or they’re going to watch all this, but it’s just snowballing right now, right? So please address this issue. It’s a very important issue. Well, I hope before it’s too late, well, you know, I mean, I have never been unemployed, but then it feels like you can ever, I mean, counselors, I know a lot of you people also like, you know, I mean, when you don’t get reelected, then you’re also looking at unemployment.

[1:06:32] What are you going to do about your own future? Think about it. I mean, so please do concrete action, right? I mean, just raising a business is giving money to businesses. It’s not going to result in an employment, they are going to use this money and then show them as profits. Are they going to recruit more people? All this employment services, they are the worst. I mean, you might think that all the skill, you know, whatever they do, all they really do is if you’re a newcomer, all they take is your whatever, the associate numbers, social insurance number, it’s all to show you people that we have so many people coming to us, availing the services.

[1:07:10] It doesn’t really result in skill development at all. Well, this is from an experience I’ve seen in the city. If you are ever called, I mean, nothing against the employment services, it’s not employment agency, it’s services, they’re teaching you how to write a resume and you know, make up your LinkedIn profile, you can go to work. 20 seconds. Yeah. A college student and then they can help you with it. Why are you spending so much money on this employment skill services, are we asking them how many jobs have you resulted and how many people have got the jobs really? Not resumes.

[1:07:42] Actual jobs, please. Thank you. I’m going to go to the lower side over here, please. Yep. You have, if you want to give your name and you have up to five minutes, welcome. My name is Alister Beaton and everybody hear me. Thank you to the chair and the mayor and the deputy mayor and the committee members for the chance to speak. I’m with a group from the Urban League of London, which has an interest in development charges. Believe it or not, this presentation is not being made to tell you how to allocate budget dollars.

[1:08:21] We do have some ideas, however, for future discussion that could help counsel and the public. Our main focus is on the capital growth related side of the budget. For example, there have been several reports, including the mid-year capital budget report, the growth management implementation strategy report and the recent report on building permits. All have highlighted the significantly reduced development charge revenue due to provincial exemptions and a market change in the amount and type of housing being built.

[1:08:57] Finance staff have indicated that they are managing the shortfall and the mayor has clarified that at this time, no tax dollars are needed to backfill this situation. We wish to point out that the shortfall was $177 million as of June 30th and that only 150 single-family or semi-detached units have been built to the end of September. How are city staff managing this shortfall? Part of the answer is found scattered in the business cases in your budget document.

[1:09:35] However, it is difficult to pull the required information from the many reports that contain partial data. Putting these various pieces of information into one easy-to-read report would make it much easier to evaluate the situation and make decisions. The short answer seems to be that the shortfall is being managed through project deferrals, including projects important to residents such as libraries, community centers and even roads. If there was one easy-to-read report, it would make it much easier to evaluate the situation and help you make decisions.

[1:10:16] We have an example of how to show this information simply and without jargon. We are happy to share this method with you if you will just let us know how. I happen to have a few copies with me tonight. Another example, the mid-year capital budget report would be much simpler to follow with an easy-to-read reconciliation report that would assist everyone in grasping what is a very specialized issue because capital project financing is fluid. We have other growth-related reporting formats that would consolidate information helpful to the public, council and the development industry.

[1:10:58] Ideas include, first, a DC revenue sensitivity table. This report would simply be a prospect of what if display of DC revenues under optimistic and pessimistic unit-build scenario. Sensitivity analysis is a powerful risk management and decision support tool that has its place in public sector project analysis and decision support. Second, a project progress chart for approved infrastructure projects which would give council a view of project management progress and performance against budget.

[1:11:39] Third, a permit to completion aging report. This report produced quarterly would assess developer and builder follow-through. And finally, a consolidated infrastructure reporting package. This would be a quarterly three-report package consisting of, first, a DC revenue sources and uses report inclusive of what is today the DC exemptions. Second, a growth-related development project’s consolidated balance sheet which among other line items would disclose the deficit or surplus in an infrastructure account.

[1:12:21] And finally, a DC project costs budget report, consolidation reports and the information they contain can make budget decision-making more effective and more efficient. We are available to help with this in any way we can. Thank you. I read this through a few times beforehand, so I knew it would be $4.45. Perfect. Thank you for that. You know that I’m honest with my timing then since you already timed yourself. And once again, anyone who wants to submit something, if you have an individual format, if you just write Budget Committee at London.ca, you can certainly indicate that if you want it on the next, the public agenda that comes up or if you just want it circulated behind the scenes to all member of committee just for our information, the clerk’s mantra that account would be the ones to send it out, that is how that process works.

[1:13:13] So Budget Committee at London.ca will get that information where you want to go, Alistair. Thank you. I’m going to go to the top of microphone on this side. Your name and do you have up to five minutes and welcome. Thanks. Good evening, Mayor Morgan, Council and community members. My name is Nikita Miller and I’m the Executive Director at Young London, formerly the London Youth Advisory Council. This is also my first time being here, so thanks for the opportunity. Our cities young people are facing complex landscape.

[1:13:46] Only 6% of our cities younger residents would describe their quality of life as very good. Every month, 6,000 children and youth are accessing the food bank with one in three not having their nutritional needs met. Young people are currently making difficult housing decisions. Some resolving to never leave home, believing that home ownership is out of their reach, while others are leaving home prematurely to relieve the financial strain on their families. In a post-secondary graduating class of 475 students, I’ve been told that only six have full-time employment three months after graduation.

[1:14:25] Making secure employment and a stable future feel unattainable. We have to consider our young people’s experience along a continuum. Some young people in our community are merely surviving. They’re navigating housing instability, food insecurity, complex mental health challenges, addictions, and a complete lack of hope. Our work is about helping them and the adults who care for them navigate the resources and services in our community to move them towards thriving. We also support young people that are thriving in our community. Their basic needs are met, their accessing education, exploring volunteer and career pathways, engaging in leadership and advocacy opportunities, and building a solid foundation into adulthood.

[1:15:11] But we recognize that young people’s experiences are quite fluid. Just because someone is thriving today does not protect them from the challenges of tomorrow. We need an approach that reflects this diversity, and we must aim for a community-wide response. Supporting individual needs is only part of the bigger picture. Young people often face fragmented systems, navigating multiple agencies, and understanding competing priorities, all while the demand for services continue to rise. This combination leaves young people and their families, and even the leaders in our systems feeling unsupported and unsure where to turn.

[1:15:48] But these challenges give us an opportunity, an opportunity to rethink how young people access support and navigate the systems that are here to serve them. One of the most powerful ways to do this is by involving them directly in the conversations and decision-making spaces. When young people are included in conversations about the issues that affect them and their peers, they bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to our community systems. But they also need our support and our guidance to navigate adult-led spaces effectively. We aim to help young people engage respectfully and effectively.

[1:16:22] We provide guidance on how government, the different levels of government processes in our community systems work, and we add context and perspective, building empathy and understanding of what is and what has come before, grounding their ideas in real-world experience. This approach strengthens both young leaders and community outcomes, a win-win for a whole community. We’re prepared to lead this charge by meeting individual needs, helping young people navigate systems and bring their voices into decision-making spaces across the city, while supporting the adults who care for them and wish for these outcomes as well.

[1:16:58] Our approach integrates individual support, system navigation, policy influence, and civic engagement. In short, we’re working to build a youth-friendly ecosystem that operates across all levels, from the individuals to the systems shaping their lives. Young London is here to lead in this moment. We bring a commitment to elevating diverse voices and building empathy across all stakeholders. We bring trusted connections with young people, community leaders, and organizations. We understand that education and career pathways from kindergarten to grade 12, adult-learning, post-secondary, trades, and non-traditional routes to employment, and we have knowledge and passion to navigate the systems that build sustainable infrastructure and will support our future generations.

[1:17:44] Our goal is simple, to create a collaborative ecosystem where young people and adults teach and learn and grow together, and this moment is only a starting place. The systems we are building are designed to outlast leadership changes, pressing social issues, and shifting generational priorities. But this is a moment. It’s a moment for us to make a remark on young people in this community. When asked what we should say to adults considering supporting this work, one participant said, “When you were young, did you ever wish someone would just believe in you?” As a community, we should not only believe, but invest in the engagement and leadership of our future generations to strengthen the city.

[1:18:25] I’m asking council to help ensure that our young people are heard, resourced, and prepared to contribute meaningfully to the city’s future. Together, we can help move future generations from surviving to thriving, while integrating their insights into the very fabric of our city. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you, and welcome as a first-timer as well, Nikita. I’ll highlight in your inbox is time stamped at 12/20 today was also communication from the individual as well for your consideration, they sent some information along as well. Thank you for that.

[1:19:01] I’m going to go to the lower side on this side. Welcome your name, and you have up to five minutes. My name is Darlene Boyce. Many of you know me as Darcy. I’ve spent many hours sitting up here in this chamber watching you guys make the difficult decisions that need to be made to run a $1.4 billion corporation. I understand the struggles of the nonprofits and everybody working to find a solution to the homelessness, the drug addiction, and the crisis that our city faces. I myself lost my nephew this past summer to the social struggles that are on our streets . But I think the one thing that we’re not talking about here is the citizens ability to keep absorbing the property tax increases to pay for the essential services that a lot of the people in the gallery are speaking of.

[1:19:54] And I think that’s a very important thing that we need to start looking at. And I think that brings into question the accountability and the transparency that we need to see from the contracted services in our city that are providing the services to the vulnerable people that are suffering on our streets. I think that becomes one of the most important things that the 15 members that sit around this horseshoe need to start thinking about. Because as people have said, unemployment is rampant in our youth. Our one in four Canadians are accessing food banks, senior citizens are struggling to stay in their homes with the high increases that we’ve seen over these last couple of years.

[1:20:42] So just in closing, please remember that the pockets of the people that are providing the budget to the city are running dry and it needs to start being addressed. Thank you. Thank you for those comments and condolences on your loss as well. I’m just going to highlight you from members in the gallery, even if you’re whispering for some reason this, the chambers amplifies everything and comes down to us so we can hear it as if we were saying next to you.

[1:21:15] Just for you know, you’re welcome to separate at any time, take a phone call, have a chat and come back in. There’s also washrooms upstairs for your use as well and a vending machine that may or may not be stocked as you’re allowed to use in the gallery. I’m going to go to the side top. So welcome your name and you have up to five minutes. Hi everyone. My name is Finilla and we basically and this is also my first time being here thanks to Ms. Frankie that invited me to come. I do have a question in regards to the housing that students are currently facing. I’ve been following London housing situation closely, especially with the city approving new developments I include units labeled as affordable.

[1:21:58] So as students, I’ve noticed a big difference between what the city defines as affordable and what young people can realistically pay. The municipal definition of affordable often means units priced at 80% of the market rent or units supported by government programs, but even at the reduced rate those rents are still far beyond what many students can manage while we are relying on part-time jobs, OSAP and other financial pressures like tuition and transportation. So even though this project accounted as affordable in city’s report, they don’t often feel accessible to young people in a meaningful way.

[1:22:40] At the same time, London’s population is growing quickly. Rental prices keep climbing and many students are being pushed further from campus or into overcrowded housing just to keep costs manageable. I’m wondering how this year’s budget responds to that reality, not just by funding housing in general, but by making sure that the housing is being built, the housing being built is actually affordable to groups who need the most, including students and youth. So my question is, what specific budget investment this year are aimed at creating housing that is truly affordable for students, not just units that meet the technical definition of affordable, but units that students can realistically access without financial strain and how would the city measure whether these investments are actually improving affordability for people of my age?

[1:23:33] Thank you. Thank you. And welcome as another first-timer and to Councillor Frank for bringing a friend. Excellent job. Thank you for that. The mic is on. Mr. Wallace, the floor is yours. Thank you, Madam Chair. And this is not my first time speaking to your council. I’m here. It’s Mike Wallace. I’m here on behalf of LDI and I had a little personal piece to it. In general, we are very supportive of the mayor’s direction of moving to the 3.6 from the 6% that was in the multi-year budget.

[1:24:10] And as many have spoken to on affordability, you have to remember that your property tax, whether it’s for a multi-purpose, purposely built rental property or if it’s your home, that is all goes towards the affordability. And the higher the tax rate or the higher the tax income that comes from the municipalities increase in their property tax that gets passed on to tenants. Simple as that. It’s just the way it works.

[1:24:42] And that goes directly to affordability. It also affects those who are determining whether they are getting into the market or if they’re moving up or down within the housing market. You need to remind yourselves, and listen, I used to be on your side of the fence sitting on the council side. I know the decisions are tough and when you have a program that has helped even some people in the community, it’s very difficult to move off it, you’ll hear from it. But at the end of the day, municipal property tax are after tax dollars.

[1:25:18] It’s not like you can get a mortgage and have your tax bill included in it and amortize it over 25 years. It is after tax dollars. Now I live in a lovely part of Byron and I have a regular, I have a three bedroom home with two car garage, lovely house, bungalow, nothing, terribly special but nice. My taxes in London are just over $7,000. 3.6% is about 250 bucks. It’s one week’s groceries for most families, at least for most families.

[1:25:58] So we encourage you from the LEI’s perspective that I know that you have some tough decisions in front of you, but if you can do your part on making this city more affordable to you the property tax base, we would appreciate that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Looking for another speaker. Hey, I’ll stay on the mic on this side as well. Welcome again and your name and you have up to five minutes.

[1:26:34] I’m Mohammad Musa, Mike is a very difficult person to follow, but I can’t let him be the closer today. Plan on accomplishing much today, as I’ve said before. I think this is more of going through the motions, but this is my five minutes. Not planning to accomplish anything because, you know, I’ve realized, you know, as they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

[1:27:06] I’m not sure if that refers to me or whether it’s refers to counsel, but hey, here we go. Trying to understand this whole process a couple of years ago, we had our first strong mayor budget, which taxed us into oblivion. And a year later, we have mayor saying, oh, we need to find savings from a year earlier that was put upon us at the time.

[1:27:44] I’m not one for saying cutting services, but I am one that does not like waste. I’d like to say tax and spend, but it’s tax and waste on a lot of occasions. I was standing in this very gallery five years ago asking about consultant fees, 13 and 13.2 million dollars if I’m not mistaken for a new city hall. So here we are and never got an answer to that, by the way. We need to do better.

[1:28:21] We really need to do better and 8.7, 8.6, whatever it is, I’ve lost track. All I remember is 33% compounded over. And I know it’s going to come down a percent or two over, well, a percent over four years is absolutely obscene. That is absolutely obscene. And as Mike had said, it goes to the affordability for renters. It goes to the affordability for people who are in fixed incomes, people who are retirees. I just don’t understand how, okay, let me just take a step to the side here.

[1:29:07] The DC exemptions for purpose-built housing be somehow misinterpreted the legislation or overlooked it. Not the first time that, you know, council’s misinterpreted legislation, but, and now that’s gone to into a reserve that we’re told, “Oh, it’s going to stay there. We’re not going to give this back to you.” I do understand that savings that were found retroactively and going forward were around 40 million dollars if I’m not mistaken, please correct me if I’m wrong. That’s about 5% over the four years.

[1:29:45] You don’t get this back to the taxpayer, like you’re saying you don’t want to do a one-time pull-down on reserve, but those DC exemptions were supposed to be a one or two-time tax on the taxpayer. So help me understand why we can’t get that back to the taxpayers, who right now, even at the new numbers you guys are talking about, it’s still pretty much double inflation.

[1:30:25] It was triple to almost quadruple inflation over the last couple of years. So I mean, we need to do better and we need to make sure that the money is spent in the proper areas. So it’s my say. Thank you. Looking for further speakers at a mic. So I’m going to go up top first and then I’m going to come down to the lower one on this side.

[1:31:01] So welcome again and your name and you have up to five minutes. Good evening, Brendan Samuels, very briefly, just want to speak against business case P24, which is to eliminate the climate change reserve fund contribution. Initially when this climate change reserve fund was approved by council, it was intended to receive an allocation of $1 million per year. That’s been reduced by roughly 80% down to $192,000 per year. There’s some very important projects for long-term planning that will come from this reserve fund.

[1:31:36] You can speak with the staff for details about where those funds are set to go. I think this is a really important priority for us, recognizing we are in a tricky fiscal environment that return on investment for this tiny amount of money relative to the budget, I think will be substantial for all of the younger people showing up today and expressing that they want to see themselves reflected in this budget. Thank you. Mr. Samuels, saying the record for the surest speech yet. Thank you for that, and for colleagues at this business case, P24, that’s currently not up for reduction, but could be moved by council or not as from the resident.

[1:32:13] Kate, your mic should be on your name, and you have up to five minutes as well. Hi. My name is Maitlyn Shaw. I’m a grade 12 student at Midway High School right now, and this is my first time at council, so thank you so much for having me. I would just like to say this is a really inspiring place to be in right now. Brendan Samuels, I’ve read some of your stuff. Incredible. There’s someone here I volunteered with at Reforce London. I see someone I met at a women’s leadership conference. This is just really incredible to see. And I would also like to thank you so much for dedicating your life to public service. I know that I can’t even imagine how hard that is, because right now as a leader of Eco Club, I got in a little bit of a tough with my teacher for holding a don’t litter sign at my school.

[1:32:58] So I know how difficult it is to please everyone and to do your best, but I’m asking you to please do what you are supposed to do in your position, and that is to serve people. And I know it is hard when you’re looking at a budget of how to manage that and trying to accomplish your goals, but at the same time, you have to remember that the goal is always to serve people and to represent as many people as you can. And I think if tonight is any demonstration of anything, there are a lot of people who have a lot to say, and you need to take that into consideration. And I would just like to thank young London and Nikita Miller, who’s sitting right here for allowing me this opportunity, for giving me that voice.

[1:33:35] And I would like to think that I’m representing all the young people who do not know that their voice matters. And part of that must come from organizations, nonprofits, like pillar nonprofit network that was speaking earlier, but from organizations like young London that care about what young people have to say. And I would also like to extend that to you and say that it’s just not transparent. I did not know what’s going on. I cannot even imagine going through the budget for someone who is under the age of 18. This is not accessible information, but I would just like to point out that you would be absolutely amazed and impressed with what young people can do if you empower them.

[1:34:14] And we would love to accomplish all your goals on your behalf through nonprofits. So please work on that. Thank you so much. Thank you. And welcome again as a first-timer. And we hope to see you back for many more engagements. Thank you, looking for a speaker as we have lonely microphones if anyone would like to approach one. I have no one online. I’m no one on the phone. Thanks.

[1:34:51] Welcome. And so just your welcome again, your name again for the record. If you want to give it and you have up to five minutes. Yes. My name is Adrian. Kate. I’m wondering, you guys called a climate emergency. And I’m wondering, what did London go through that we called that emergency? Because we’re taxing, you know, we’re taxing carbon, but we’re going to change the world. Now, we’re talking about, like, we could be hit by a meteor.

[1:35:31] We could have a volcano erupt and totally change our lives. We could have a tsunami, but how are people living today? That could happen. The whole world gets flipped around and our magnetic pole change. We get a solar flare. But how are we treating people now? Where are we focused on? Are we focused on these, are we more focused on the planet or the people? Because these things could happen.

[1:36:12] We could have, but they haven’t. There’s no emergency that London has gone through that we should proclaim an emergency. If anybody could give me that event, I’d love to hear of it. With putting policy and these agendas, you are hurting the people that you’re supposed to be protecting. I wonder if we took the carbon tax out of every building that we support as a city and said, you don’t play any carbon tax.

[1:36:53] I wonder if we’d have extra money at the end of the day at the end, just like we got money back for the gas. So a gas wasn’t as expensive, so now we got to pay back. So how about we just make gas and energy cheap so we can warm ourselves, so we can afford to be in a house that is warmed? You tell the homeless to go to a park given a party at the beginning of the year in spring and by the end of the fall, you take the party weight and clear the whole thing out.

[1:37:42] We need a place, maybe outside of the city, on a farm where you start off with a tent, you have your area, then you maybe get a shelter, maybe then a trailer, and then we could work on building the community to build a house for each person. But the thing is, is that we can’t have that many people on the property. The house has to be this big, and this has got to be there, so you said that the homeless can’t have shelters anymore, so you’re relocating them to tents.

[1:38:20] Tents are not made to be out in the winter. Not this last drop of snow, but the first drop of snow we had. We had 11 tents collapse because of an old policy that was made in 1975 about shelters. Things have changed, these people need to be protected, and they do not need to be constantly moved and moved to arrest, moved and harassed. We are basically perpetuating, we just keep on moving them.

[1:38:54] We don’t give them a solution, we say that we have shelters for you, but every single person I talk to that goes to these shelters, you’re surrounded by drugs. I had somebody that was on ODSP that was in the shelter by them, because they’re in a wheelchair, they’re having a bad day, and somebody said, “Hey, look it, do you want some drugs?” And that day she did want to, but she ended up having a friend. We talked her out of it, I don’t know, help. Thank you.

[1:39:33] Looking for further speakers as I have no line up in any of the microphones at the moment. Okay, I have no one online, I have no one on Zoom. Last call in chambers, if you would like to say something, this is the public participation meeting, and then we go into budget deliberations on Thursday morning. Last call.

[1:40:05] You can only speak once, so I see some people moving around, so if you haven’t spoken and you want to, this is your chance. Okay, I’m seeing none. I would need a mover and a seconder to close the public participation meeting. I have a mover and Councillor Van Merbergen, a seconder in Councillor Ferreira, following the question. So votes, yes.

[1:40:49] Wording, yes. Thank you. Closing the vote. Motion carries. 15-0. Thank you. For everyone who appeared in person today and the one on Zoom, for your information, our next steps is we begin deliberations Thursday morning in council chambers, everything’s also on the YouTube and the live screen on the CAs website, if you want to watch Friday as held as a reserve day, if debate goes over, for members of committee, tomorrow at 9am is your deadline if you want a written submission to appear on the city’s published agenda.

[1:41:41] If not, you can still procedurally do it on the 20th, just if you want to advance notice to the public, tomorrow at 9am is your deadline. I will need a motion to accept the written correspondence that came into us today. If we can put that into the public record. I have a mover and Councillor Stevenson, a seconder in Councillor Cuddy, calling that motion to receive the public correspondence. Stevenson votes, yes. Councillor Ferre, votes, yes.

[1:42:16] Same. Oh, vote, yes. Councillor Layton, vote, yes. Mayor Lewis, vote, yes. Councillor Hawkins, votes, yes. Councillor Chaucer. Councillor Chaucer. Pass the votes, yes. Closing the vote. Motion carries. 15-0. And to the 21 residents who came out today to share their insights on this annual budget update. I have no items for direction. There’s no deferred matters or additional business listed on the agenda.

[1:42:51] That would bring us to an adjournment. I would need a mover and a seconder. Councillor Trousall moves it. Councillor Van Merbergen seconds it. We can do a hand vote if you stay at your spot, if not, we have to get back on the thing. So a hand vote of all in favour. Thank you. So colleagues, a break with scheduled at six o’clock, provisions were already ordered and available. So if you want to pack up your treasures, but the Councillors lounge will have food for you at six o’clock.

[1:43:27] I’m told it’s here now. So help yourselves. Recording stopped.