Taylor Briscoe

Taylor is a young mother seeking to continue the Briscoe family legacy of service in Stratford. Raised in KW and rural Saskatchewan, Taylor now lives in Stratford with her husband Colin and son Bauer.

Compelled to serve and protect the most vulnerable, before settling in Stratford she worked with the Canadian Department of National Defence,US State Department and United Nations as a policy and legal specialist. While earning her law degree, she worked with the UN Special Prosecutor for Sierra Leone and the World Organization Against Torture.

Today, she is a leading voice in the not-for-profit sector with The Salvation Army Ontario, advocating for increased affordable and supportive housing, mental health and addiction support, child-care, and a living wage across Ontario. A proponent of inclusionary zoning, the elimination of sunset clauses, and increasing cross-sectoral partnerships, Taylor has the skills and innovative solutions to sustainably increase Stratford’s affordable housing supply.

Taylor is an empathetic leader with a decade of policy expertise who understands the challenges all individuals and families in Stratford are currently facing, and she will advocate for comprehensive solutions with vigor and grace. She champions lived experience and wants to increase public education and accessible engagement opportunities with council. She wants to ensure diverse voices are represented and elevated in our community to ensure we are building a Stratford for all.

1. What will be your unique contribution to council?

As a young mother with a decade of policy and legal experience, I am currently a leading advocate for affordable housing and social services in Ontario. I bring a diverse perspective, technical skill, and innovative solutions as a councillor, with the advocacy experience to bring together all three levels of government to expedite change.

2. How will you tackle urban sprawl and protect prime agricultural land?

We should attract industry that is seeking to protect and sustain agriculture lands, while building projects should embrace “building up” and creating green certified builds that meet the current and future needs of community without compromising the legacy of Stratford.

3. How will you encourage businesses and individuals to respond to climate change?

Councillors have a responsibility to be educators for the electorate. Funding opportunities, tax breaks, best practices and environmental programs from the province and federal government need to be regularly advertised and communicated to the community in an accessible way. Further, there needs to be ongoing consultation with local business owners to hear what solutions they want/need and then councillors must effectively advocate upwards to the province and federal government to bring about those solutions. We need to support innovative recycling programs, mandate new builds meet environmental certifications, support individuals and business undertaking renovations on existing infrastructure to meet environmental certifications,...[]

4. What is your idea(s) to attract new industry to Stratford?

First, Stratford needs to attract winter tourism to support local business year-round, this requires building up the necessary accommodation infrastructure to support increased tourism. Further, leaning into our partnership with the University of Waterloo, we can create an innovation hub in the fields of theatrical, environmental, and agricultural technology that encourage young entrepreneurs to start and grow business here. When we couple this with increase affordable housing supply, this ensures founders and companies make Stratford a home base while growing the tax base. Finally, we should capitalize on the shift to remote work, and encourage young workers and family to...[]

5. How will you address wealth inequality, homelessness and poverty in Stratford?

We need to increase the supply of affordable homes across the housing spectrum, this includes emergency, transitional, supportive, and permanent housing options. As individuals’ journey from transitional housing through to permanent housing, they gain the skills needed to sustain a home. Without parallel investment in wrap-around services, especially mental health, we will not be setting individuals up for success. The goal should be to rebuild individuals, not just build homes. Wrap-around services also address the root causes of poverty, and therefore break the cycle of poverty. We must support and empower our service providers to ensure they have the resources...[]

6. How will you engage and inform the public about current issues and legislation?

We need to ensure the council and legislative process is accessible to all. This includes creating forums that accommodate all work schedules, abilities, and social comforts so that citizens feel welcomed and valued. Virtual and hybrid formats should be utilized to increase participation. To communicate with the public, routine use of social media platforms, radio, print, and direct mail should be utilized to keep citizens apprised of council’s work. Policy processes are lengthy, therefore communication of where in the process we are is incredibly important to maintain public trust.

7. Would you support term limits? Why/why not?

Term limits ensure representation routinely changes and gives greater opportunities for diverse voices to enter council, thus ensuring council is always representative of the ever-changing demographics of a city. I support term-limits of 2-3 terms, as it allows councillors to see lengthy projects through, ensures experienced members of council can assist with the learning curve for new members, and the public has trusted and known leaders, while ensuring diverse representation can be achieved regularly. We must move away from thinking of seats as “pre-determined” or “owned”. Representing your community is an honour we must earn every day.

8. What is your plan to better engage youth in Stratford?

Students should be regularly engaged through high school forums, youth council nights, and increasing the use of social media channels and/or technologies that youth use. Again, we also need to increase our educational efforts as councillors so that youth feel empowered to engage in the political process. Finally, we need council to reflect demographics and inspire participation by our youth. Students should look at council and think “I could do that,” without fear or hesitation. We should provide mentorship and internship options for youth to learn and be engaged.