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Name: Mary Blake

What position are you running for? Councilor Ward 5

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?

Supporting London’s economy means continuing to work toward being a city where small businesses thrive and that larger employers choose. One really important aspect here is having commercial areas and public spaces where people want to spend time. Increasing the amount of housing available downtown and in other commercial areas is a key piece of the puzzle; residents become clients and customers, and having people around tends to make spaces more lively and vibrant. Transportation is also key. Active transportation infrastructure contributes significantly to creating lively spaces where people want to spend time and money. Peoples’ ability to get to work is also critical, so we need increased transit access to industrial areas.

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.

There are a lot of very solid recommendations in the Downtown Plan. The “big move” of leaning into the City of Music designation really speaks to me. In general, elements I’d prioritize within the Downtown Plan are arts and culture, placemaking, and any of the actions that help us meet our housing goals and fill vacant spaces.

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?

I think that this question is sometimes framed as one thing or the other, and I think some of the discussions that have been had by the current Council have fueled this idea. Fundamentally, though, I believe that the needs of people experiencing homelessness and the concerns of residents and businesses are the same. We all want the homelessness crisis to be a thing of the past. Now, there’s no magic trick to getting there, but there are evidence-based approaches we can take. More housing at all points on the affordability spectrum, but especially deeply affordable housing. Adequate social services and supports. Access to OHIP-funded treatment and recovery for people experiencing mental health challenges or substance use issues. These are not all things we can fund with property taxes and many of them fall within the province’s jurisdiction. So, we do what we can as a municipality, and we stand united with other municipalities across Ontario in advocating to the province. And we don’t give up when things are hard because addressing the homelessness crisis is vitally important and we need to stay the course.

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

The City has already taken significant steps to increase housing supply, but there’s more that can be done with regards to creating complete communities. Encouraging more mixed-use development is one factor here. I think we also need to build out infrastructure with communities’ future needs in mind. I don’t pretend that this is easy to do, but currently, many residents feel that London is growing too quickly because new housing is outpacing things like expanding transit service. We need infrastructure to keep up with new housing so that we’re building communities, not just housing units.

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?

I think that this is an interesting question because it ties in to the broader question of placemaking. I think a lot of us feel that London is experiencing growing pains, and we are, but another way to think about it is that we’re a City that’s in the process of becoming. We’re in the process of becoming the City we want to be. And I think that’s a really exciting moment to be in and I think cultural facilities and public spaces play a part in that.

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?

Local transit has to serve places where people work. Currently, it serves some places where people work, but there are a lot of gaps. As for frequency, reliability, and access, ideally, you shouldn’t have to plan your whole day around an LTC trip. That should be the first benchmark to shoot for. I think the next benchmark is to have frequencies at which transfers actually make sense. Currently, a lot of North London feels underserved by transit because you have to transfer at Masonville Mall, and the buses are infrequent enough that transferring just doesn’t feel like a viable option.

I would say that the next benchmark beyond that is that you should be able to head to the bus stop without checking the bus times. We’re very far from this goal on most routes, but I do think that’s where we should aim to be eventually. I realize that “you don’t have to plan your whole day around an LTC trip,” “transfers actually make sense,” and “you can head to the bus stop without checking the bus times” sound unscientific. They can be translated easily enough into quantitative metrics, but I’ve chosen to express them this way because this is based on my experience as a transit rider, and I think that expressed in this way, they actually capture some of the decision-making process that goes on when people are making choices about how to get around.

As for intercity bus service and passenger rail, a few years ago, I was in a meeting with a local politician. I was there as a private citizen meeting with my elected representative. I said, “Our transportation situation in Southwestern Ontario is unfortunate.” They chuckled at how much of an understatement that was and said, “I’m the politician here. You don’t have to talk that way.” I think that pretty well captures it. Our transportation situation in Southwestern Ontario is unfortunate, and we need to work with neighbouring communities, the provincial government, and the federal government to make it, well, less unfortunate.

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’ll be honest. This is really not my area of expertise. However, I do know that there is a good deal of frustration here, so I’d like to hear from folks in the business community about what we can be doing as a city to help take down some of those roadblocks you’re encountering.

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?

The ReconciliAction Plan contains a large number of very important and impactful actions and I think we should take the document in its entirety. I’ll talk about a few that really speak to me.

One action that’s identified is Indigenous consultation and engagement related to major studies, environmental assessments, and projects. More broadly, I’d say I’d prioritize Indigenous consultation and engagement in anything that relates to our role as land stewards. In the context of the Urban Growth Boundary Expansion discussions a year or so ago, there were some serious concerns raised by the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation about the impacts that the City’s decisions were going to have on them. I think that we as a City need to take our role as land stewards seriously and we need to do that in partnership with our neighbours downriver.

Another action identified in the ReconciliAction Plan that really speaks to me is working together to preserve and restore Indigenous music. Methodologically speaking, just by its nature, music presents some challenges in terms of documenting it and recreating it, but it’s a very important cultural artefact and cultural practice, and I think working to preserve and restore Indigenous music is a very worthy endeavour.

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?

The substantial increase we saw in the last multi-year budget was primarily to increase funding to the police budget. This wasn’t what everyone wanted, but it’s done and I think now what’s important is to make sure that we are getting the outcomes from our Police Force that Council was looking for when they approved this increase.

Looking ahead, I don’t think we can sustain another 23.5% increase. I would caution, though, that if anybody says they want to do 0% increases or 1% increases, I would want to know exactly what they’re planning to cut to make that happen because I don’t think that cutting services at a time when Londoners are struggling is a particularly wise use of taxpayer money.

I think it’s also important to keep in mind that part of the reason for the very substantial increase we just saw is that basically, the bill came due on tax freeze promises from years back. So let’s just remember that sometimes it’s actually less expensive to fund what we need to fund now, rather than making cuts now and paying more down the line.

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 three main goals of London’s Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) are the following:
Net-zero community greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050;
Improved resilience to climate change impacts; and
Bring everyone along (e.g., individuals, households, businesses, neighbourhoods).
I think that overall, this is a good framework.

On the goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, the most significant reductions we can make come from buildings and from transportation. On buildings, I believe that the city needs to lead by example with our city-owned buildings. Retrofits and green building solutions not only lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, but they also create jobs in our community. As a city, we can also take a leadership role in implementing solutions that operate on a large scale, such as district heating. The Bolzmann Institute in Toronto has done extensive research on district heating, as well as the practice of municipal heating planning.

On transportation, transit and active transportation are key. Our Mobility Master Plan sets us in the right direction, but in my opinion, the plan’s mode-share targets are not ambitious enough. I also feel the need to highlight one moment where London really did miss the mark on reducing emissions from transportation, and that was the decision not to go forward with the North and West Bus Rapid Transit routes. That decision pre-dated the current Council and the CEAP, but it’s important to highlight nonetheless. If we want to hit our emissions-reduction targets, we need to be a bit more ambitious than that.
On the goal of improving resilience to climate change impacts, I’ll highlight a recent decision by Council that I disagreed with. At the March Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee meeting, there was a motion to ask city staff to make an implementation plan for requiring homeowners with weeping tiles to disconnect them at point of sale and install a sump pump. The committee was, as I understand it, not even voting on whether to go forward with requiring this; the motion was to ask staff to make a plan for how it would even be done. The motion was defeated because councillors were worried about the perception that Council would be going forward with this plan and they felt that this would upset their constituents. This vote demonstrated, in my view, a level of hesitation that’s simply not going to work in addressing a crisis of climate change’s magnitude.

On the goal of bringing everyone along, London has done a good job in getting the community excited about initiatives like tree giveaways, and I’m happy to see that. I think that taking this goal to the next level would involve improving communications around the economic opportunities that addressing the climate crisis can provide.

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?

I’ll always defend the right of every Londoner to be represented by a democratically-elected city council.

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?

Investment in the arts is economic development. I think that the role of arts and culture in economic development is only increasing as more and more retail purchases are being made online. What happens to our commercial districts in the age of remote work and online shopping? Well, people still leave their houses to go to cultural events. I had a really interesting conversation with one resident here in Ward 5 a while back. He said he wants to see the Masonville area being more of an arts and culture hub. Now, I love that idea. I don’t have a full plan of exactly what that would look like, but I think that it is a good idea for Councillors to think about how we can help our commercial districts find their place in our changing world.

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