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Name: Bob Wright

What position are you running for? Councilor Ward 4

What do you see as the principal opportunities and obstacles facing London’s economy over the next Council term? What should the City do to support business growth, job creation, entrepreneurship and investment, and how should it work with employers, Western University, Fanshawe College and others to attract and retain the talent London needs?

Without doubt the principal obstacle facing our economy is the current uncertainty regarding our relationship to the United States, hopefully this will also provide new opportunities for being on the leading edge of refocusing our relationships with other countries. The City has always and I hope will continue to have good relationships with Western and Fanshawe and has worked cooperatively with current employers to encourage new businesses to relocate to London and to encourage the growth of those already here through support for programs such as the London Economic Development Corporation.

London now has a new Downtown Plan. Which elements would you prioritize and what results should Londoners expect to see during the next Council term? Please address the downtown business environment, public spaces, housing and office conversions, cultural and civic destinations, safety, transportation and implementation accountability.

My first priority would be Objective 6 of the Plan: “Enhance everyday comfort and experience
in the Downtown by improving cleanliness, safety, accessibility, and quality of the public
spaces and amenities.” A disturbingly large number of Londoners do not feel safe going downtown at any time. Before we invest in new attractions and enhanced cultural destinations, we need to ensure that people are willing to venture downtown to experience them. This will require additional resources either to the current policing structure or to the mayor’s proposal to have special constables patrol downtown.

London faces an urgent health and homelessness crisis. Residents, employees and businesses also have concerns about violence, property crime, public disorder and confidence in public spaces. These conditions require related but distinct responses. What actions would you support in each area, and what responsibilities should fall to the City, police, the health system, other orders of government and community partners?

First, we must recognize, as Glen Pearson outlined in a recent LFP column, that this is primarily a Provincial problem. Therefore we should expect that the Province will bear the overwhelming majority of the cost of dealing with all of the concerns that arise from this crisis. As mentioned above, I expect that there will be some increase in the cost of policing to deal with these issues, the health and housing responsibility while provincial responsibilities will use municipal resources for administration. Municipal is the only level of government that by law cannot run a deficit so any failure of either the Federal or Provincial government falls to the local taxpayer. While I don’t condone these failures, I do think that our humanitarian obligation is to meet the basic needs of all Londoners. We can complain about the failures and seek redress for funds that we have to expend to meet them but first and foremost we need to care for those most in need.

What changes would you support to increase housing supply and affordability and create neighbourhoods with access to employment, services, transportation and public amenities?

I do not believe that the market will be able to provide the low cost housing we need to meet the needs of our most vulnerable population. I think it is time to explore the creation of low cost housing either through public/private partnerships or most likely direct construction by municipal entities with the support of the Federal and Provincial governments.

London’s cultural facilities, venues and public spaces are essential to the life of the city, and several face age, capacity or funding pressures. What cultural infrastructure should be prioritised during the next Council term, and how should the City decide where to invest?

Continued support for outdoors festivals especially those held downtown in conjunction with our efforts to make downtown a welcoming space.

London’s economic success depends on reliable local, regional, national and international connections. How would you improve local transit and service to major employment areas and shift workers, intercity bus and air links, and passenger rail? What should businesses and employees be able to expect in terms of frequency, reliability and access?

Hopefully the recent announcement of Federal support for VIA will mean some improvement in rail service to the City. Local transit, especially London Transit needs to be a focus of the next term. Are there ways to improve service, increase ridership, keep transit fares reasonable and deal with the increased costs of fuel and inflation caused by tariff pressures? Bus service should be reliable and frequency should be a known not a guess for users. I am doubtful that Council has much of an ability to encourage greater use of our Airport but it is a significantly underutilized asset.

What changes would you make to municipal approvals, regulation, procurement and customer service to make it easier to invest, build and operate a business in London?

I would like to explore whether we could create a kind of ombudsman/navigator for business. The City provides a similar service for navigating social service needs and it would be great if we could do the same for business. One of the more frequent complaints I have encountered are people trying to navigate the permit process for renovations and new builds.

London City Council approved the 2025–2035 ReconciliAction Plan in May 2025, committing the City to 155 actions over ten years. What should the next Council do to translate these commitments into a clear, properly resourced implementation plan developed with Indigenous partners? How would you advance reconciliation through economic development, procurement, planning, cultural investment and municipal services?

I believe we need to prioritize the actions and boil them down to a list with some timelines so that we can gauge progress. First and foremost, we need to establish clear and open lines of communications with our neighboring First Nations. We need to consult about our future plans particularly regarding establishing new developments that may impact our neighbours.

London’s growth depends on roads, transit, water and wastewater systems, emergency services and community facilities. How would you determine which investments proceed first, pay for growth fairly and maintain competitive property taxes?

Our ability to pay for growth fairly has been hampered by the Province’s intervention to curtail development fees. Infrastructure required by new growth should be paid for by the developers of new growth. It is a serious impediment to maintaining competitive property taxes as everyone has to pay if the developers are not.

London City Council approved the Climate Emergency Action Plan in 2022. The Plan calls for a 55 per cent reduction in community-wide greenhouse-gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030. Which elements of the Plan would you prioritise, accelerate or change during the next Council term? How would you ensure that climate action strengthens resilience, affordability and economic competitiveness for residents and businesses?

The most significant progress will come not from within the City but from changes made by the Province as to how we generate power. The proposed significant expansion of our nuclear production will do more to meet our goals than will most of the adjustments that are within our control.

How should Council respond when strong-mayor powers are exercised, and how would you use your role as a councilor to provide effective scrutiny and accountability?

Strong mayor powers are an affront to representative democracy and undermine the obligation of all members of Council to act collaboratively for the best outcome for all of our residents. Their very existence undermines the ability of each Councillor to provide effective scrutiny and accountability. If confronted with their use, I will do my best to inform all Londoners of the their use and of the undesirable consequences of their use.

What role should arts, culture and the creative industries play in London’s economic and community development? How should the City support cultural organisations, artists, venues, festivals and creative businesses while ensuring that municipal investment produces lasting public value?

These industries are key to keeping London a destination city both to live and to visit. Given that the locus of these industries is also concentrated in our downtown the best and most direct support we can provide as City is to ensure that people feel safe downtown.

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