Robert Ritz

1. What will be your unique contribution to council?

I will bring to the Mayor’s role a fresh new perspective, informed by the citizens of Stratford, and free of the dark cloud hanging over the current members of Council. They have made Stratford notorious for winning municipal Code of Silence award for Canada’s Most Secretive Council (awarded by the Canadian Association of Journalists, Centre for Free Expression, News Media Canada and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression). The lack of transparency, accountability and the way in which Council approved a Chinese auto glass plant without anyone in Stratford knowing about it or being consulted was shocking. The report by...[]

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

Thanks for the question. It’s an important question, as it impacts how we deal with the challenges of our housing shortage and climate change. I would much prefer to respectfully increase the density in the existing residential areas of Stratford, instead of sprawling out into the surrounding prime agricultural land. We need to be more sustainable. We have a unique city with unique architecture from the late 19th and early 20th century. There are very few towns with this number and quality of historical buildings. It’s part of what makes Stratford special and beautiful. We need to build and grow...[]

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

The best way to encourage citizens and business in Stratford to become more sustainable is for the City to lead by example. There are many actions the City should be taking to reduce its own carbon emissions, such as:

Decarbonizating the city’s vehicle fleet by replacing old gas-powered vehicles with electric, hybrid, green hydrogen or other low-emission technology.

We should also examine placing solar panels on city buildings in order to generate renewable energy. Solar panels have become much cheaper and much more efficient, and will continue to offer a cost-effective means of reducing our use of purchased energy.

The...[]

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

Stratford’s economy is doing pretty well; employment rate is low, tourists are returning, we have a relatively healthy and diversified economy, and it’s an attractive place to live. We should continue to work on attracting technology companies and clean industry. However, we do need to provide affordable sustainable housing for the workers who want to come here but who can’t afford the cost of housing. Having affordable sustainable housing available for workers will attract industry to Stratford. We also attract businesses and jobs by making the city well run and efficient, where there’s not a lot of red tape to...[]

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

Wealth inequality is, unfortunately, mostly beyond the limited reach of municipal government. It’s obvious we have a challenge in Stratford with drug addiction and homelessness. The pandemic has certainly made this situation worse. Job losses and additional stress has led to more homelessness and addiction. As students, you can understand the challenges you faced in not being able to go to school and the impact it had on your mental health. These problems are not being effectively addressed. There is nowhere for the homeless to sleep. Using the police to deal with addiction and homelessness is not a long-term solution...[]

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

There are lots of things we can do, and we can start by doing the simple things: no more secret meetings, communicate frequently and clearly to citizens, and run Council meetings openly and respectfully. What people value is trust. We learned from the last Stratford Council that trust is easy to lose when it decides not to tell citizens about what is going on and when it actively hides information from the public.

How do you earn trust?

• By being transparent as Mayor.

• By making it information about the City and Council easy to find and easy to understand...[]

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

Looking at last council, I agree that term limits are worth considering. But this is not an easy issue to figure out. You don’t want to lose valuable experience at City Hall, but you also don’t want councillors who stay too long, lose touch and get disconnected and disengaged from citizens. It might be worth exploring the idea of term limits with citizens. It certainty deserves a discussion, and it affects all of us.

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

It’s critical to keep citizens — including youth — informed and engaged with local government. Whether you can vote or not, this is your city and your government. Being informed and engaged on issues that affect you and your city is a great habit to develop when you’re young. The City has lots of advisory committees, but they are not all focused on broadening the city’s engagement with citizens. If we can have a Sports Wall of Fame Committee, why can’t we have a Youth Advisory Committee? Further, public engagement needs to easier for everyone — including those most affected by a proposal...[]