About
Jason Davis
EXPERIENCE
Jason Davis is an experienced advocate for non-market housing. He operates Stratford Comic Stop online and at the local toy and collectibles show, where he has given away free books to every kid he sees for years. Jason is a licensed 310T Diesel Technician with over 13 years of experience fixing transport trucks, trailers, and farm equipment. Jason shares his life with his son, loving partner Candace McDonald and her two girls. Raising his son has given him first hand experience into the need for childcare and supports for neurodivergent children.Â
ACTION
Jason co-founded Stratford Affordable Alliance, and was named a director in Mikinaak CLT, a community land trust housing model Jason worked on as a private citizen to try to bring affordable homes to Stratford through collective ownership.
PASSION
Jason ran for city council four years ago, he also ran as the ONDP candidate in the provincial election. In both these campaigns Jason has fought for the need for affordable housing, and an economy that works for all members within it. He believes strongly in bottom up working class economics.
HOUSING
Stratford needs to look at providing year round overnight shelter as part of wrap around supports. With increases to supportive and transitional housing. We have had allocated funds and approval for supportive housing units on Erie street for over 5 years now yet it is moving at a snails pace. As a city councillor Jason will push to have this moved forward by looking at providing overnight shelter within the existing emergency shelter and homelessness prevention funding. While simultaneously looking at creating proposals for long term investments from other levels of government.Â
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Davis also believes that actionable proposals sent to other levels of governments should be done in the public eye with their response to those proposals on public record. One such proposal he would like to see Stratford write is non-market homes for purchase similar to the proposal from habitat for humanity in Waterloo. This should be done in partnership with non-profits and aimed to be revenue neutral or small revenue generating to feed an affordable housing reserve fund. While we should not be selling vital municipal resources especially vacant land cleared for development like the previous council did with 3188 Vivian line 37. The minimum council can do when they sell land meant for affordable housing is use the revenue to fund affordable housing.
CHILDCARE
Perth care for kids was in charge of licensed homecare up until November of 2022. At some point hopefully this year the city as well as the YMCA will be handling all licensing directly with 15 at home providers now lined up to operate as licensed facilities. That means while our wait list and need for childcare was so bad Jason was interviewed amongst city officials by CTV News to cover how bad the situation had become. Stratford did not have licensed home care for those 4 years. Jason also advocated urgency to council and staff on multiple occasions over that 4 year term.Â
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Before Perth care for kids stopped handling licensing we had closer to 26 licensed at home providers. Stratford needs more spaces as the nearly 1000 children on the wait list has maintained our waitlist of 4 for years care, the longest it could possibly be. Jason himself signed his son up for the waitlist the day he was born, and yet he was never contacted for a placement until his son started school.Â
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Another major issue for childcare is worker retention, the vast majority of licensed ECE's and ECA's no longer work in the field due to most making at best slightly above a living wage.
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Davis believes that we need to look at requiring a living wage for all employees of childcare spaces that receive municipal funding in any way or possibly even providing a top up fund directly from the municipal purse to help with employee retention.Â
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Not only have we had places such as the YMCA facility operate well below capacity due to a lack of staff but Perth care for kids had an entire classroom sit vacant due to no one to work it for years. Lobbying the province for more support is of course another avenue however "it's the province's problem" isn't a real answer to give parents in need.Â
TAXES
To prevent further increases to property taxes Jason believes the most viable long term solution is increasing Stratford's industrial property tax base from its current 8.1% to 12-15% this is the most effective way to prevent or reduce the tax levy on residential property owners by up to 7% without creating additional spending for the municipality. This will also help create more reliable jobs within our community. The goal of property taxes should always be 60-40 split for residential versus commercial and industrial property taxes. Stratford remains fairly off balance putting us at risk of becoming a bed city. Stratford maintains an incredibly low industrial tax rate of 4.1% and is home to plenty of educated, skilled workers. It's beyond time we get our workforce good jobs at home instead of having to commute.
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While increasing our industrial tax base is the most reliable long term solution Davis also believes that transitioning to a zero based budget for a period will help find efficiencies in our budget.Â
PARKING
Jason wishes to implement parking passes where residents and tourists can purchase a pass to park for a day, weekend, month, or even possibly year for those with addresses in the municipality. This would allow them to park in any city lot or legal roadside space abiding by any time constraints on those spaces. Saving money for those who frequent and work in the downtown area.Â
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While a long term solution to parking in the core of Stratford will require a multilevel parking garage in the future. In the interim Jason believes that some of the revenue generated from the large increase in pricing for parking tickets passed by the previous council, should be used to make parking cheaper for workers and residents who frequently park in the downtown.Â
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"If we are going to charge that much more for thise that break the rules, we should use some of it to make it easier and cheaper for those that follow them."
PUBLIC TRANSIT
City buses are something that many of the citizens who rely on the service regularly are unhappy with. That should mean something, on demand over the weekends is far less reliable for the demographic that is much more likely to require working on those days.Â
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Jason believes Stratford needs to revisit transit to increase frequency and reliability. Davis would argue for smaller buses with a lower carbon footprint driving more frequently. Yet the recent announcements about provincial investment in our public transit shows that decision is most likely not one that can be changed at this time.Â
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Stratford is a beautiful town and Jason believes more people should have cheap and efficient ways to see that beauty. That is part of the reason why he supports implementing a municipal Bixi bike program. Where individuals can rent bikes directly off racks strategically placed around the city with baskets for use in their day to day activities, or simply for a fun afternoon trip.Â
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Jason Davis believes this program should be contracted with existing local businesses for service and repair of the bikes, helping keep local businesses operating while providing another option for public transit. This program should aim to be cost neutral.
Upcoming Events
Town Hall on Housing
Candidates'
Debates
Key Dates & Election Day
Join Jason on October 6 at 7pm at the Falstaff Centre as he breaks down the issue of affordable housing in simple terms, followed by an open Q&A session.
Check the Perth Country Information Network site often for info on candidates and dates for multiple candidates debates taking place before the election.
Election Day is Monday, October 26th. Voting online and by phone starts Friday, October 16th. Make sure you check to see that you're registered to vote!
GET INVOLVED
There are lots of ways to get involved and help Jason Davis become a City Councillor. Take a free lawn sign, volunteer knocking on doors, setting up events, offering in-kind contributions, and helping people get to the polls. Click the button below to email Jason and his team about how you would like to get involved.