Peterborough doesn't need more drift or more division. It needs a mayor who listens carefully, decides clearly, and follows through. That's how Keith Riel has worked his whole life - on the shop floor, at the bargaining table, running his businesses, and on council. He's ready to lead on day one.
Fix the roads we’ve let fall behind.
We’ll tackle the worst roads first, get an early resurfacing project moving in every ward and finally put a long-deferred major corridor on a funded reconstruction schedule.
Take back pride in our public spaces.
Clean streets, cared-for parks and trails, working washrooms and well-maintained public spaces are basics people already pay for. We’ll set clear standards and show residents whether the City is meeting them.
Make City Hall answer you.
Tell us once, by phone, online or in person. City Hall will own the handoff, track the problem and get back to you instead of sending you from department to department.
A downtown that welcomes everyone.
Our downtown, parks and trails belong to everyone. We’ll respond consistently to unsafe behaviour without criminalizing homelessness, while connecting people in crisis to shelter, treatment, bridge housing and other supports.
Build transit around people’s real lives.
Routes and schedules should reflect where people actually work, study and access services. We’ll improve those connections and begin making transit more accessible for people with low incomes.
Make Peterborough easier to do business with.
Businesses shouldn’t get bounced around City Hall. We’ll give them one clear point of entry, clear requirements and dependable timelines for decisions.
You’ve invested millions in Cleantech Commons. It’s time to get results.
We’ll set public targets for tenants, occupied land and infrastructure so taxpayers can see what their investment is producing.
Turn employment land into jobs.
We don’t need another study telling us we need serviced employment land. We need a route to getting it ready for businesses and a timetable to deliver it.
Strengthen Peterborough’s creative economy.
Our artists and cultural organizations shape Peterborough’s identity, bring people together and strengthen the local economy. I’ll move established arts organizations toward stable, multi-year support and use the new Cultural Plan to turn good ideas into action.
Bring more film, television, commercial and gaming production here. Ontario attracts billions in screen production, and Peterborough should be getting more of that work. We’ll strengthen our existing film service under the Electric City Film and Media banner and make it easier for producers to choose Peterborough.
Keep Wolfe Street working. Fifty homes in six months showed what Peterborough can do when we decide to act. We’ll keep measuring whether Wolfe Street is helping people move into permanent housing and expand bridge housing if the evidence says we need more.
Get up to 1,500 new rental homes moving. Peterborough Housing Corporation already has public land with the potential for up to 1,500 net new rental homes. I’ll make securing the financing and getting those projects built a top priority.
Use public land to help ordinary people become homeowners. We’ll work with nonprofit housing providers, local builders and trades to create starter homes for first-time buyers and smaller homes for seniors who want to downsize without leaving Peterborough.
Keep those homes affordable for the next family — and the next. Using Habitat for Humanity-style protections, homeowners will build equity while the public investment stays in the system. When a home is sold, another eligible household gets the same opportunity.
Protect renters and the homes we already have. We’ll make bad-faith renovictions harder, strengthen rental inspections where problems persist and give renters one clear place to understand their rights and get help.
Put every major promise on a delivery plan. Within 90 days, the major commitments in this platform will have someone responsible, clear milestones, a target date and a budget status.
Let residents see whether we’re delivering. A simple public dashboard will show what’s on track, what’s late, what changed and why, so people don’t have to wait until the next election to find out what happened.
Tell taxpayers the truth about the budget. We’ll show the real cost of major decisions, stop using one-time money to hide permanent expenses and look for genuine efficiencies that protect services while getting better value.
Use strong-mayor powers to deliver, not to shut people out. I’ll use the authority of the office when it’s needed to move important work, but not as a shortcut around Council or the public. Democracy comes first.
Prepare the next Council to govern. New councillors deserve serious preparation for the job, and the whole Council needs to be able to work through disagreement without dysfunction taking over.
Give the public its City Hall back. Residents should be able to speak to Council and influence major decisions while there’s still time to change them. City Hall is the people’s house, and its rules should reflect that.
Make public service something good people want to be part of. Harassment, threats and online abuse can’t become the price of serving your community. We’ll take seriously the barriers that drive capable people, especially women and people from under-represented communities, away from public life.