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Name: Shawn Lewis

What position are you running for? Councilor Ward 2

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?

Obviously the tariffs and trade uncertainty with the USA represents the largest challenge to London’s economy and the nation’s economy. It’s important to recognize that Mayor Morgan has been part of delegations with both Premier Ford to Washington, as well as delegations with the Prime Minister, to bring a municipal voice and perspective to trade discussions.

The city cannot support businesses directly with property taxes, that’s prohibited under the Municipal Act. The role of the city is to create the environment for businesses to grow and thrive. That can mean many different this to different businesses. The city recently approved a new Economic Development Plan, and through the execution of measurables in that plan, I believe we will create a stronger environment for business growth.

I think we need to be cautious about only speaking about Western and Fanshawe, I think we also need to be having more conversations with the school boards about developing local young talent in our secondary school system as well. We need to encourage youth to consider paths that offer opportunities in London after high school that may not necessarily include post secondary paths. LiUNA 1059 as one example, has an excellent training program for youth to pursue some of the trades, which are in high demand. I think too often we default to Western and Fanshawe, which are important, but are not the only path to talent development and retention.

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.

I’m very interested in the component of the Downtown Plan that speaks to property acquisition of strategic lands for public use or initiatives where the city can partner to develop new opportunities. For me that includes a serious review of options for the relocation of City Hall and/or buildings that might provide stronger activation of Dundas Place. I imagine for example acquiring a property that could be divided into “tiny store fronts” for events that might see our local craft brewers come downtown for events, or some of the businesses in other parts of the city that might want a presence for a particular activation. I think that should include a city held alcohol license for Dundas Place from Wellington to Ridout, to allow attendees to move between spaces and places during activations while enjoying a drink.

I also think that we need to review how the Music Office is currently operating and put a stronger focus on live music options at all activations, but also developing a stronger music sector that goes beyond a performance and more on economic development similar to the Film Office approach, to better leverage our UNESCO City of Music designation.

The new leadership at Museum London is doing a fantastic job at better involving the Museum with the wider community and Canada Life Place draws thousands downtown every Friday night during hockey season and consistently through other events and performances and are a great partner with Tourism London. The Grand Theatre has developed a great partnership with Old Oak on parking for patrons. The downtown has lots to offer. However, part of the success of the Downtown is up to all of us to tell the good narratives too. When people only speak about the bad, it only creates a self fulfilling prophecy of people avoiding the downtown. That has to include the Chamber and it’s members amplifying the positives.

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?

Let’s be crystal clear, the City cannot run addiction and mental health care services on the property tax base. Those are healthcare matters and are very clearly constitutionally the responsibility of the province to deliver. The city (in fact all big cities across Ontario) have been advocating with the province to step up. Frankly we need private sector businesses to join us in that advocacy, not sit on the sidelines. Business has considerable influence with the Ontario government and needs to be a part of the effort to get this addressed.

The most important thing the city can do is continue to develop affordable housing units and ensure there is inventory available to assist in both having units available for those coming out of recovery who are ready to be rehoused, as well as units available for those struggling to maintain housing to prevent them from falling into homelessness.

I strongly encourage all chamber members to read the piece from former MP and Executive Director of the London Foodbank, Glen Pearson, https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/pearson-homelessness-is-a-queens-park-problem-not-londons, which outlines very clearly the importance of the community holding the right level of government to account.

It is also vital to recognize that the City has made the most significant investment in policing –which is a property tax responsibility–in the last Multi-year Budget. Our city was 100 sworn officers short of what was needed for our population. That gap is now being closed as London Police hires up, allowing for faster response times, more foot and car patrols, and a renewed effort through the Chief’s Open Air Drug Strategy with over 1600 drug seizures made in the first year. Again, it is important we stay the course on this. The Chief always made it clear it would take 4 years for him to fully implement the required changes, we’ve only had 2 years of that plan, we need to continue.

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

Housing Affordability is already being addressed. This is not a matter of “changes”, in fact change now would be a bad idea. The important thing is to follow through on the implementation of the commitments in funding for LMCH, the Office to Residential Conversion, etc. continues. It also means staying the course on the opportunity for infill and mixed neighbourhoods and not making a radical course change as a knee jerk reaction to NIMBY. It is also important to recognize that the City does not have free and unfettered authority around this issue. The provincial Planning Act and other provincial legislation has to be respected and followed, other matters like the location of schools falls under the authority of the Ministry of Education and the school boards.

The city has developed many partnerships since the launch of Mayor Holder’s “Roadmap to 3000 Affordable Units”, which has continued under Mayor Morgan. From the redevelopment of the South Street Hospital Lands, to acquiring former school lands for redevelopment of affordable housing–including in Ward 2 at the former St. Roberts school land–to the first new buildings in social housing with LMCH in 50 years during this term of council, incredible work is underway.

The private sector is also developing housing supply and London is one of the leading municipalities in terms of getting approvals through. We have approved more than 50,000 units of housing this term. Now it is up to the private sector to transform those approvals into builds, the way Old Oak is doing in Ward 2 right now.

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?

We need to remember that direct funding for privately owned venues is a limited thing for a city to consider. My focus is more on revitalizing and activating public spaces better, including but not limited to Dundas Place. I would like to see the city make a strategic property acquisition on Dundas Place that we could turn into “pop-up” space as mentioned in my Downtown comments.

I also think in terms of public spaces, our first priority has to be where and how we redevelop a new City Hall, that may included shared space for organizations.

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?

Again it is important to be clear that the city cannot improve passenger rail or air links on it’s own. It is in fact vital for the private sector to lobby the federal government and air service providers strongly on this. The city is doing that, but we need more voices added to the effort. That said, I think there is tremendous opportunity with the London International Airport, to increase both freight and passenger services. I think a serious discussion needs to happen around adding a member of Council to the Airport Board to create a better link between the Airport and City Hall.

Expanding transit service to employment areas, particularly in the east end, has long been something I’ve spoken to. My concern with the current LTC direction is the continuing focus on Western and Fanshawe to the exclusion of workers who call London home 12 months a year. That also needs to involve discussions with the Chamber members and the Manufacturing Council and LEDC about how small changes in shift staggering (ie: some plants starting at 7:15, 3:15 shifts instead of 7 and 3, could assist in better practical delivery of transit services to the employment corridors.

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?

We have already instituted a “Pathways to Approval” service desk on the second floor of city hall and instituted back to work policies in the office to ensure staff productivity and culture is focused on finding ways to say yes instead of reasons to say no. This is not a regulatory issue, we have a cultural issue within the city that needs to change.

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?

Before advancing any item, it has to be done in ongoing consultations with Indigenous partners. It would be inappropriate for Councillors to prioritize without that. As part of the council that had the first ever Council to Council meeting with Oneida of the Thames, on of the most important things I feel London needs to be a partner in first and foremost is working with our neighbouring Indigenous communities and the Federal government to connect them to safe clean water. We have the capacity to do that. They also have significant concerns about the pollution of the Thames with sewage and we continue to progress on our efforts to renew the infrastructure that removes combined sanitary and storm sewers and moves to separated sewers so that overflow pollution ends.

Those to me are the two most important things we can do in the municipal services area to be better partners.

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?

This is already well managed through the GMIS process, and the associated planning documents (such as the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and the Master Mobility Plan). It is important that Council listen to our Engineering, Finance, and Planning teams on major projects. While there are opportunities to change the order of projects, that is typically done when staff comes to Council and indicates that changing conditions mean we have to consider a change of order.

Another factor that can come into play is the availability of Federal or Provincial funding which is often tied to specific categories of projects. When an opportunity comes to shift costs off the property tax base, those need to be considered and that can lead to a change in an order of operations.

It is also important to remember that there is an order of operations, a road repair may be delayed because a sewer or watermain renewal is needed in the same spot, making for a more complicated, costly, and longer project. That’s why it’s important to be very thoughtful and listen to and consider engineer, planning, and source of funding factors.

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?

While the CEAP is aspirational, targets will not be hit. Decisions by the province for example on using more natural gas for electricity generation has negatively impacted London’s ability to reach such goals. BRT is overdue and over budget, while transit use in a downward spiral. The city cannot change behaviours, we can only lead by example in our own facilities and decision making. Right now the economic uncertainty also has to be considered and residents are not in a position to make the personal investments to move to things like heat pumps without the senior levels of government renewing loan and grant programs.

At this point I’m not prepare to commit additional resources or prioritizations by the city until we can get commitments from the senior levels of government.

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

Council should be respectful of the reality that only the Mayor has a city wide mandate, and the strong mayor powers are tied to budget and provincial priorites, they are not limitless. In general I think Mayor Morgan has exercised these very respectfully and included Council in the approval process and I would encourage the mayor in the new term to take the same approach. I would only seek to overturn a strong Mayor power if I felt it was being abused.

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?

Cultural and Creative industries need to be seen as Economic Development first, not as entertainment for Londoners, which is where I think we have fallen short and not paid sufficient attention to previously.

We have seen considerable early success in the Film Office, and we need to learn from that and apply it to the Music Office as well. A UNESCO City of Music designation cannot just be about performances, it needs to be leveraged to build the sector with the behind the scenes skills and jobs that come with the music itself.

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