“This campaign is not about me, but rather about you and your family, and the improvements necessary to enhance your family’s life in Pickering. The focus is about the money that remains in your pocket, not what flows into councillor salaries and expenses. We need sensible solutions to the issues in Pickering.”

– Peter Rodrigues

Property Taxes are Simply Too High — The biggest issue in Pickering is property taxes are simply too high! As a Regional Councillor, I continually voted against raising property taxes. I moved several motions each year to further reduce the budget expenditures, so that you would have more money in your pocket for your family’s needs. Your property taxes should not keep increasing by more than your income, or more than the cost of living index.

Affordable Housing — Affordable housing needs to be a priority in development planning. This is important for all segments of society – for young families and to accommodate the particular needs for housing for our seniors. These all have to be planned appropriately for what is best for their lifestyle and health care.

There is currently farming on the Federal Lands in Ward 3The original amount of expropriated land was the size of Ajax. Farmland is critical for our food supply. 319 acres of farmland disappear every day in Ontario. Some Pickering politicians are saying the Pickering land is airport lands. This is simply not true. There has never been a peer-reviewed study in the last 50 years to justify the many billions of dollars that would be wasted on an unnecessary airport.

All the federal government studies (both Liberal and Conservative) reports conclude… There is NO NEED for an AIRPORT, not even in the near future. We need local farming for millions of people in the GTA area. The airport in Montreal (Mirabel) constructed 50 years ago under the same false reasoning, had its last passenger flight in 2004, and has had its terminal buildings tom down in 2014, because it would still not be needed 50 years later. People eat food every day. They don’t need proven and costly airport every day.

There are 75 tall Condo Towers being planned right now for Pickering They will be mostly along Kingston Road. There is tremendous opposition from residents. As usual, most of the current Pickering councillors do not support the residents’ many important concerns. If Pickering wants uncontrolled growth that favours the land developers’ interests, there are vast areas already assigned for development in the Seaton area in central Pickering. There are many legitimate problems with the 75 towers, from dramatic traffic increase concerns, to the impact on existing homes and businesses.

A Lobbying Registry was voted against in Pickering! Why?

In April of 2021 City Council in Pickering voted against the creation of a Lobbying Regis try for the City of Pickering. Part of the Motion reads: … “public office holders and the public should be able to know who is attempting to influence the decisions of municipal government…”.

Why would a City Council vote against that?

Pickles and Butt your councillors in Ward 3 voted NO!

Who donated money to city council in Pickering? How much was given?

Yes, building a Hospital would be great in Pickering, but there is no justification for locating it on extremely sensitive environmental lands, especially when there are still 800 acres in a much better location in the Seaton area, which will need a local hospital. The wrong location only benefits the Land Developers.

Community Engagement — Related to high property taxes is the lack of real community engagement. When only a few people are at the all-day Budget Committee meeting, and the vast majority of residents are completely unaware of it, then there is a real disconnection from true and meaningful community engagement. Sure, the city tries for some involvement with residents in the social aspects of life in Pickering, but when it comes to critical matters involving property developments and financial budgets, meaningful inclusion is lacking. Many residents feel that their councillors do not act in the best interests of their residents. I have seen many council meetings where residents express their desires, but realize that councillors ignore their concerns.

Accountability and Transparency — Some members of council have become too complacent. There should be Term Limits, as well as a Recall mechanism for removing Councillors, who say one thing to get elected, and then don’t act in accordance with the demands of their residents. I will be bringing forward many positive motions in Council to hold our representatives accountable. We need to have Recorded Votes on all matters, so that you can know easily how your councillors voted on all matters. Councillor expenses should be much more readily visible.

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