About me
I grew up on a farm in Leeds and Grenville (near Gananoque) and attended the Unversity of Waterloo for Computer Science, where I met my wife Evgenia. Through a co-op program and other opportunities, I have been fortunate to be able live and work in several cities including Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Seattle, and Winchester, UK. While these urban experiences have shaped my perspective and given me an appreciation for urban life, I am still in love with the country and visit the family farm often.
I am a relative newcomer to Carleton Place - we chose to move to here in 2019. We welcomed our daughter in 2020 and our son in 2021 - so we have a very busy house! We love Carleton Place for its parks, playgrounds and trails; river, beaches and pool; tree-lined streets; unique local businesses and delicious restaurants; beautiful heritage downtown, and much, much more.
I am running for town council because I want to protect and enhance these things, and ensure Carleton Place doesn't become a sprawling suburb of Ottawa. I hear constant dissatisfaction with the current housing developments and I want to do whatever I can to ensure we don't continue making yesterday's mistakes, but instead guide our town to reach its potential.
One of the most important achivements of the current council and staff is their creation of a polite, courteous atmosphere where opposing views can be shared civilly. As both a councillor and citizen, I will certainly maintain and contribute to this - the town simply won't function if we're constantly bickering with each other!
Although I am new to politics, my decade of experience as a software developer in multiple different industries has given me an eye for detail and the ability to learn quickly. Through my involvement on the Ad-Hoc Stakeholder Comittee, I have already been an active advocate for improvements to the town's Official Plan. I closely follow council proceedings, have frequent conversations with town staff, and have provided detailed feedback and suggestions for major development projects and all of the major in-progress Master Plan projects. With your support I can continue to make progress on several concrete, achievable proposals.
