(re)Elect Claire Holloway Wadhwani

I have approached housing not as a technicality of land use planning but as a question of who gets to belong in our community. In my first term, I brought forward the motion affirming housing as a human right, grounding Port Hope's approach to housing policy in a values framework that goes beyond targets and density numbers.

I have been a consistent voice for removing barriers to accessory dwelling units and other alternative and affordable housing solutions, arguing that overly restrictive zoning and unnecessary regulatory hurdles have no defensible planning purpose and serve only to limit the range of people who can find a home here. I am proud of the zoning bylaw amendments shaped by my resolutions, which removed barriers to additional residential units with respect to size restrictions and restrictive parking mandates.

Recognizing that housing is a regional challenge that no single municipality can solve alone, I co-drafted the motion establishing the Intermunicipal Taskforce on Housing Solutions alongside colleagues in Cobourg and Brighton, and have co-chaired that body for the past two years, including alongside Councillor Todd Attridge. As lead author of the Taskforce's 2025 report on housing solutions, a report subsequently endorsed by resolution of Port Hope Council, I helped translate regional collaboration into a concrete set of recommendations grounded in the realities of Northumberland County communities. My article on the Taskforce's collaborative, cross-sectoral approach is forthcoming in an upcoming edition of Municipal World Magazine, bringing that work to a national municipal audience.

I recently spoke at a Community Matters Session on Housing hosted by the United Way, bringing the regional perspective from the Taskforce to a broader community audience. I also seconded a motion, brought forward by Councillor Vicki Mink, calling for subwatershed studies in rural settlement areas before growth is allocated there, pushing back on the idea that upper-tier government alone should determine where growth lands without adequate consideration of local environmental capacity and community context. I brought forward a resolution directing the Mayor to raise the need for a county-led encampment management plan at County Council, reflecting my view that our most vulnerable residents deserve a consistent, humane, and coordinated response.

I seconded Port Hope's climate emergency declaration, brought forward by Mayor Olena Hankivsky, and then chaired the Environmental Advisory Committee through the full development of Port Hope's Sustainable Future, the municipality's Community Climate Action Plan. Throughout that process I championed genuine community engagement, insisting that a plan shaped by residents, local organizations, and community groups would be more meaningful and more durable. I subsequently brought forward the motion to delegate leadership of the plan's implementation to the EAC, reflecting my belief that community ownership is the plan's greatest strength.

I continue to serve as Chair of Community Power Northumberland, which funds local sustainability initiatives across the region. My municipal environmental leadership has been recognized through my appointment as the municipal representative for Ontario at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Green Municipal Fund, a $2.6 billion fund investing in community sustainability across the country.

I brought forward the motion to commission a Vision Zero road safety strategy, helped make the case for sustainability as a core pillar in Port Hope's Strategic Plan, and have consistently advocated for green infrastructure approaches, like the silva cell system on Walton Street, that deliver environmental benefits while saving the municipality money over the long term compared to conventional grey infrastructure. I also identified an opportunity to bring a youth environment internship to the municipality through Environmental Leadership Canada. I served as Political Mentor for that intern, connecting my commitments to climate action, youth engagement, and building the local capacity Port Hope will need to do this work well into the future.

Most recently, in July I worked with Mayor Olena Hankivsky to bring forward a resolution recognizing Port Hope's tree canopy as essential municipal infrastructure, which passed with the unanimous support of my Council colleagues. By invitation of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, I also recently presented on a panel at their annual conference on Making the Case for Green Infrastructure.

Ensuring that young voices are part of the conversation, and that Port Hope is a community where youth's needs and interests are genuinely met, is something I hold especially close. I am raising my three children here, and that makes this work personal. A community that invests in its young people, gives them real ways to participate, and makes sure they can pursue their education and build their futures right here in Port Hope, is the community I am working to build.

As an ex officio member of the Port Hope Education Network, I have collaborated with local champions to engage more than 500 students and parents through community-led surveys, workshops, and reports that have directly influenced board decision-making for our hometown schools. Complementing efforts led by Mayor Olena Hankivsky, this work contributed to the successful establishment of French Immersion at Port Hope High School, so all students can get the education they deserve right here in Port Hope.

I brought forward a motion to make municipal transit free for students attending Port Hope High School, addressing a real gap for young people who live too far to walk but do not qualify for school board transportation. I brought forward a motion directing that youth leadership and participation be considered in the Committee Bylaw Review, after a delegation from Vote 16 facilitated by Mayor Olena Hankivsky. I then worked with the EAC to add youth representation to the committee's Terms of Reference and collaborated with Vote 16 on a Youth Leadership Workshop, treating youth civic engagement as a matter of democratic participation. This spring I participated in the Port Hope Fall Fair's Youth Leadership Symposium, sharing my own experience and encouraging young people to see themselves as potential leaders in their community.

I have made it a priority to visit Grade 5 classes at local schools each year to speak about municipal government as part of the curriculum unit on levels of government, and am a regular tour guide for classes visiting Town Hall. I have collaborated with classes of students and their teachers to advance their ideas as part of Council decision-making, including facilitating a delegation of kids from BTPS that led to a resolution being passed about single-use plastics, and most recently coordinating with teachers to have their classes submit correspondence that led to a Council motion about considering play equipment for older kids at Hewson Park. In the fall of 2025, I facilitated the participation of students from two local elementary schools in planting a Miyawaki forest on municipal land with the Environmental Advisory Committee.

I have been appointed as the Council liaison for the Youth Wellness Hub and will be picking up the torch from Mayor Olena Hankivsky, who established the Hub in Port Hope and chaired the fundraising efforts that made it the space it is today. I am committed to supporting and building on that foundation.

I believe that local democracy works best when it is transparent, accessible, and genuinely responsive to the people it serves. Across my term, a consistent question has guided my work on governance: who gets a seat at the table, and whose voice shapes the decisions that affect our community? Elected representatives owe their communities not just their vote, but their candour, their presence, and their accountability. That conviction runs through everything I have worked on, from procedural bylaw amendments, to the Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity policy, to the ward boundary review.

I seconded the motion to commission Port Hope's EDI policy, moved by Councillor Todd Attridge, and pushed for it to have practical teeth, advocating for the municipality's 10 Guiding Questions to be embedded in every staff report template so that equity analysis is not a box to check at the end but a lens applied at the beginning. My focus has been on ensuring that residents across the full range of Port Hope's communities, rural and urban, young and old, and across socio-economic lines, are genuinely respected and included.

I brought forward a motion ensuring that previously approved but unfulfilled Council directions are automatically included in subsequent budget deliberations, closing a gap that had allowed approved priorities to quietly disappear from the agenda without ever being formally reconsidered. I brought forward amendments to the procedural bylaw to ensure that council-initiated business moves through the agenda on the same footing as staff reports, and brought forward the motion allowing supporting documents to accompany Notices of Motion so that all councillors have equal access to the context behind a motion before it comes to the floor, recognizing that councillors also do rigorous work in researching solutions and bringing good ideas to the table. I seconded a motion, brought forward by Councillor Darrell Toms, requiring at least one affirmative vote from each ward for the adoption of the annual budget, a proposal designed to ensure that the full geography of Port Hope would have meaningful weight in fiscal decisions, but that was subsequently rendered moot by changes to the process under Strong Mayors.

I have also pushed back on procedural changes that I believe tilt the balance too far toward staff direction at the expense of elected members' ability to advance the priorities they were chosen to pursue. My view is clear: councillors bring a democratic mandate to the table, and that is not a bias to be managed but a feature of representative government to be respected.

I have not only brought forward the motions I believed were important; I have strived to be an engaged and responsive colleague with my fellow councillors. Over the course of this term, I have seconded notices of motions initiated by nearly all my council colleagues, a reflection of my collegial approach and my genuine interest in advancing the work of the full table, not just my own agenda.

That collaborative instinct extends beyond Council chambers. I have worked across political and community lines to find common ground, build coalitions, and advance ideas that serve Port Hope as a whole rather than any single constituency within it.

While I have not shied from advocating for changes to internal processes when the situation has called for it, I also endeavour to work with staff as collaboratively as the role allows. That means seeking to understand the constraints and considerations staff are working within, sharing ideas early, and where possible advancing proposals that have been discussed with relevant staff leadership and carry a degree of buy-in before they reach the Council table. I view that approach not as softening my positions but as doing the work needed to turn good ideas into durable outcomes.

For me, centering community means more than consulting residents at the end of a process. It means creating conditions for genuine conversation, elevating voices that might otherwise go unheard, and following through when residents raise concerns. This includes ensuring residents are able to shape solutions as part of work initiated through official municipal processes, and also means working to advance conversations and take action responsively on issues where community is mobilizing already.

When residents raised concerns about the proposed installation of a cell tower on the Oak Ridges Moraine, I listened and acted. I liaised closely with the community throughout the process and drafted preamble language for the municipality's cell tower siting protocol making explicit that the process and any siting decisions must be conducted in the interests of the Port Hope community.

After the 2023 salmon fishing season brought tensions to the surface over the use of the Ganaraska River, I convened a residents' roundtable on salmon fishing, bringing together voices from all sides of what had become a heated debate. My goal was not to impose a solution but to create the conditions for genuine conversation, and the process produced recommendations for compromise and practical ideas for making the salmon run a positive experience for all residents.

When Northumberland County moved to develop new growth amendments to its Official Plan, I raised concerns at the Council table about the lack of meaningful consultation with Port Hope residents in that process. I advocated directly for a public consultation event to be held in Port Hope, giving residents the opportunity to be informed and to provide input on decisions that would shape the future growth of their community.

After years of consistent concerns raised by residents about the intersection of Jocelyn and Victoria Streets, a crossing that connects a large residential neighbourhood to multiple local schools, recreation facilities, and the community health centre, I worked closely with Port Hope's Director of Works to clearly articulate the real need and document the impacts for the community. That collaborative effort resulted in a commitment from the County Infrastructure team for the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection, a meaningful safety win for residents who had been raising this issue for years.

Port Hope finds itself at the centre of two major multi-billion dollar undertakings: the Port Hope Area Initiative and the proposed new nuclear generating station at Wesleyville. These files are complex, technically demanding, and carry consequences that will shape the community for generations. I have taken them seriously.

On the nuclear file, I have been engaged in the federal Impact Assessment process, following it with a close eye to the public participation plans and advocating alongside my council colleagues to ensure that the process will allow us to properly understand the impacts, both positive and negative, for our community so that we can advocate for the resources we need to ensure it's a net benefit for Port Hope should the project move forward. I supported the MOU with OPG as a practical mechanism to secure Port Hope's seat at the table and the funding needed for independent expertise, while being candid with residents that I hold real questions about what this project would mean for the community's environment and sense of place.

I have been a consistent and outspoken champion for a proper Community Advisory Committee for the PHAI, a commitment I have held since before my election to Council. I was advocating alongside neighbours from Save Our Trees and other concerned residents, bringing delegations to the previous Council, and this work is documented in the 2024 documentary "Atomic Reaction." A functioning CAC is not only a legal obligation under the PHAI Agreement; it is a fundamental democratic requirement that residents living alongside this cleanup have a genuine, structured voice in decisions that affect their health and their community. I have spent time visiting many neighbours in their homes to listen directly and to understand their experiences, and I carry those conversations with me to every table where PHAI decisions are made. I will not stop advocating for the transparency and community engagement this file demands.

I also worked with Councillor Vicki Mink to bring forward a motion opposing Bill 5 and the creation of Special Economic Zones, which would have the effect of overriding local municipal authority over development lands. I also advocated against the inclusion of SEZs in a planned municipal delegation to the Province.

I believe that democratic participation requires more than holding office. It requires proactive disclosure, genuine accessibility, and a willingness to meet people where they are rather than expecting them to come to you. I remain actively engaged in the social media spaces where Port Hope residents discuss municipal issues, answering questions, sharing information, and working to ensure that everyone has access to what they need to engage effectively and have their voices considered in decision-making processes. That commitment has included my own offerings through several original content series: Down the Budget Rabbit Hole offers an honest accounting of the budget pressures and realities that Council and staff are grappling with; What's the Process demystifies municipal decision-making procedures and the public planning process; and Growth that Works takes a candid look at what has happened in recent decades and the opportunities residents have to shape the growth they want for Port Hope's future.

I am proud to have developed a reputation for responsiveness and openness among diverse neighbours and to have become a go-to contact for residents with questions or looking for help navigating municipal processes.

When Councillor Darrell Toms organized a series of open conversation circles and town hall meetings at the Canton Hub, I was proud to be his partner at the table, creating space for candid, informal conversations about the issues that matter most to neighbours in the community. I have made it a priority to attend open houses and information sessions for municipal business so I can hear directly from residents about what they are asking and what they care about.

Solving the challenges facing Port Hope requires innovation, but that does not mean inventing solutions from scratch. It means doing the research, finding what is working elsewhere, and building enough of a foundation to engage meaningfully on complex topics at the Council table. Innovation is a core pillar of Port Hope's Strategic Plan and vision, and I have made the continuous learning that drives it a deliberate part of how I approach this role.

Over the course of my term I have participated in the Tamarack Institute's Climate Transitions program, attended the Eastern Ontario Summit alongside Mayor Olena Hankivsky, and taken part in the Canadian Emergency Preparedness and Climate Adaptation Conference. I attended the AI for Municipalities Symposium organized by Mayor Olena Hankivsky and Councillor Todd Attridge, a Housing Solutions Workshop and a modular communal wastewater treatment learning event organized through the Intermunicipal Taskforce on Housing, the Rural Healthy Democracy Forum hosted by the Rural Ontario Municipal Association alongside Councillor Darrell Toms, and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario's Healthy Democracy Forum. I also attended the Civility Summit with the Kalen Academy.

I am currently enrolled in the Municipal Climate Resilience Certificate program at the University of Waterloo. I have also completed a range of webinar and training opportunities through ROMA, AMO, and the Apolitical Foundation on topics spanning planning, policy development, and asset-based community development. The goal in all of it is the same: to show up prepared, ask better questions, and bring the best thinking available to bear on the decisions that matter most for Port Hope.

Attending conferences and events outside of Port Hope is also an important opportunity to build a network of colleagues who can be called upon for advice and shared learning, to find out what is working elsewhere that could be an answer for what we are grappling with here, and to showcase our community to a broader audience. We have a lot of positive things going on in Port Hope that others can benefit from hearing about too.