2026 London Municipal Election: Harinder Kumar – Councilor Ward 11

Name: Kamrul Ahsan

What position are you running for? Councilor Ward 11

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?

Opportunities & Obstacles: London’s greatest economic opportunity is capturing the massive supply chain spin-offs from the regional EV transition, while our biggest obstacle remains the critical skills mismatch leaving specialized technical roles vacant despite general unemployment.

Business Growth: The City must aggressively streamline permitting and cut red tape for local businesses looking to scale, while guaranteeing a steady supply of shovel-ready industrial land to attract major employers.

Talent Retention: We must act as a direct bridge between employers, Fanshawe College, and Western University to align trade and tech training with forecasted job demands. Ultimately, keeping graduates here requires ensuring housing affordability and vibrant community amenities so they see a future in our city.

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.

Safety & Business Environment: My immediate priority is deploying highly visible Municipal Law Enforcement Officers (MLEOs) to ensure secure public spaces, while implementing practical logistics like dedicated loading zones so local merchants can operate efficiently.

Housing & Office Conversions: We must aggressively fast-track the $15,000-per-unit incentive for office-to-residential conversions by stripping away municipal red tape and offering absolute timeline predictability to get high-density housing built quickly.

Public Spaces & Culture: Downtown must become an 18-hour destination. We need to expand evening and weekend activations on Dundas Place and deliberately connect major cultural anchors—like Victoria Park festivals—to the surrounding commercial blocks.

Transportation & Accountability: Transit and active corridors must balance with commercial needs. Ultimately, Londoners expect execution over consultation; we must measure success through hard data like net-new units occupied, reduced commercial vacancies, and faster street-level response times.

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?

The City must lead by funding supportive housing and coordinating local community partners, but municipal taxpayers cannot shoulder healthcare and policing burdens alone. The provincial health system must fully fund mental health and addiction treatment facilities. Meanwhile, the London Police Service must focus on proactive community policing and disrupting property crime. Our municipal role is to enforce public space bylaws, expand community outreach, and demand fair funding from upper levels of government so core neighbourhoods and businesses remain secure and accessible.

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

We must fast-track zoning approvals for missing-middle housing—like townhomes and mid-rise apartments—especially along major transit corridors. Building complete neighbourhoods requires mandating mixed-use developments where retail, parks, and essential services are integrated directly into new subdivisions. Reducing municipal holding costs and streamlining permits provides the timeline predictability developers need to make these projects financially viable, ultimately bringing more supply to market and reducing car dependency.

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?

With several cultural facilities aging, we must prioritize infrastructure that serves the broadest demographic and offers the highest economic return. Upgrading our core festival spaces, community hubs, and highly utilized public parks must come first. Investment decisions must be driven by transparent data regarding facility usage, deferred maintenance risks, and the potential to leverage private-public partnerships for sustainable long-term operations.

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?

Reliable transit is non-negotiable for economic growth. We must prioritize high-frequency, dependable local bus routes that directly connect residential areas to major industrial and commercial hubs, ensuring transit aligns with the demanding schedules of shift workers and specialized trades. Furthermore, robust intercity bus and passenger rail links to Toronto and the wider Windsor corridor are essential for seamless business travel and regional workforce mobility.

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?

City Hall must shift from acting solely as a regulator to functioning as an active facilitator for economic growth. We need to implement a true concierge service for business approvals, significantly reducing permit turnaround times and eliminating repetitive paperwork. By digitizing procurement and streamlining zoning applications, we provide builders and entrepreneurs with the absolute predictability they need to invest and scale operations in London.

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?

Translating the 155 commitments of the 2025–2035 ReconciliAction Plan into reality requires a fully resourced, transparent implementation matrix developed directly with Indigenous partners. I will champion equitable procurement policies that actively engage Indigenous-owned businesses, mandate cultural safety training across all municipal services, and support the creation of dedicated, Indigenous-led community spaces within our urban planning framework.

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?

Efficient project management demands that we prioritize core infrastructure—water, wastewater, and transit capacity—that immediately unlocks shovel-ready industrial lands and high-density housing developments. Growth must pay for growth. We must rigorously ensure that development charges accurately reflect the cost of new infrastructure so the financial burden of expansion does not fall disproportionately on the existing residential property tax base.

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?

To achieve our target of a 55% emissions reduction by 2030, we must accelerate the electrification of the municipal fleet and incentivize deep energy retrofits for existing residential and commercial buildings. Climate action directly strengthens our economic competitiveness when we fast-track approvals for green technology manufacturing and build infrastructure that is truly resilient against extreme weather, ultimately protecting property owners from rising insurance and maintenance costs.

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?

While the Mayor holds enhanced authority over municipal budgets and provincial priorities, a Councillor’s mandate is to ensure absolute transparency and rigorous scrutiny. I will demand public, data-backed justification for any executive vetoes and work to build consensus-based coalitions across Council. Good governance relies on collaboration, not unilateral decrees, and I will vigorously defend Ward 11’s interests in every debate to ensure executive powers are never used to bypass community consultation.

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?

Creative industries are vital economic engines that attract top talent and drive local hospitality revenue. The City should support cultural organizations by providing stable, multi-year funding frameworks and cutting red tape for event permitting. Municipal investment produces lasting public value when it transforms downtown and local parks into vibrant, 18-hour destinations that generate direct economic spin-offs for surrounding small businesses.