About Laura Ip and her platform

About Laura

I am currently one of the City Councillors representing St. George's ward in St. Catharines, and I live in the ward with my family. I am employed as a teaching assistant and occasional research assistant at Brock University; as a Continuing Education Instructor at Niagara College; and I teach on-line for Canadore College. All of my employment is part-time and permits me to do the vast majority of my work from home and on my own schedule.

Pondering Election Day

Well, it all comes down to this, folks.

Endorsements

I can't adequately express how humbling it is to have people believe in you enough that they will write genuine and meaningful endorsements for your campaign.

Format of St. George's Ward candidates' meeting

Last night, I received an e-mail from Ben Hannan of The Friends of Walkers Creek to layout the meeting format for Tuesday.

Update - Meet the Candidates Night - St. George's Ward

As many of you know, I have been trying to plan a Meet the Candidates Night for St. George's Ward. On Thursday, September 18, I wrote this blog entry outlining the plan for the evening and that John Storm would be our moderator.

Meet the Candidates Night - St. George's Ward

On Tuesday, October 7, 2014, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., a Meet the Candidates Night - St. George's Ward will take place in the Irene Locke Room at Kiwanis Aquatics Centre (425 Carlton Street).

Brochure

Here is the brochure with which my team and I will be canvassing St. George's Ward (Ward 3).

St. Catharines Standard ad

Here is a screen shot of the ad that appeared in the Thursday, September 4, 2014, edition of the St. Catharines Standard.

Is "one Niagara" the answer?

The discussion about amalgamating all municipalities in the Niagara region into one large municipality is already taking place again. It came up in both the 2006 and 2010 campaigns, and it certainly came up before that. It's something that has been talked about for years.

Niagara Workforce Planning Board - leave of absence

In my list of community involvement, I include that I am on the board of directors of the Niagara Workforce Planning Board.

Following the beginnings of some discussions amongst board members about the upcoming elections, I requested a temporary leave of absence. The leave of absence is effective immediately and will end on Tuesday, October 28, 2014, when I will happily return to the board table.

VoteNiagara2014.ca Response

On Monday, August 11, 2014, the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce sent a short survey to candidates who have filed to run in the October 27 municipal election. It is due on Friday, August 15, 2014.

Not running Green in provincial election

While I am extremely flattered to have been asked, here is the media release I distributed this morning regarding my commitment to St. George's Ward.

Special interest groups?

More than a few times, I've heard that I support/represent some special interest group(s), and that my support of these groups would "pollute" Council or some other such thing.

Niagara *can* be the best place to live

Thursday morning, I released my election platform. In it, I indicated that we need to do better at attracting and retaining young people. I said we need to ensure taxpayers are getting value for their dollar. I said we need to do better at engaging our citizens and building community. I said we need to work together as a city and as a region. I said I would keep these things in mind with every decision I make at the Council table.

On Thursday evening, I read this opinion column on the St. Catharines Standard's website: Niagara isn't the best place to live, by Grant LaFleche. It was based on this Money Sense article.

St. George's Ward Boundaries

As a refresher, here are two pictures that show the boundaries of St. George's Ward.

Essentially, the south side of Scott Street, to the east side of Geneva Street, to the north side of Welland Avenue/QEW/Eastchester Avenue, to the canal.

Election Platform

I hesitate to call it a "platform" because, of course, municipal politics does not work the way that provincial and federal politics do. There aren't supposed to be "party" politics at the municipal level. Councillors aren't supposed to vote on issues based on "party" affiliations (which isn't to say that it doesn't happen; just that it's not supposed to).

My (non-existent) political party affiliation(s)

The burning question for the last couple of weeks seems to be what my political affiliation(s) is/are.

Clarifications about the St. George's ward seat vacancy

Given all of the misinformation and assumptions being lobbed around on social media, I figured I should take a few minutes to clarify a number of things with respect to my position on the St. George's ward seat vacancy.

Re-introducing myself

It's been four years since I last formally introduced myself to St. George's ward and the City of St. Catharines, so I thought I should re-introduce myself and provide you with the list of qualifications that make me the best choice on October 27.

The promise I won't make

As you know, a seat at the City Council table has become available due to Greg Washuta's resignation on December 31, 2013.

Since that time, there has, of course, been a lot of talk about how to fill the vacant seat. The three options are:

2014 gets off to a start I wasn't anticipating

It was months ago when people began asking what my intentions were for the 2014 general election, and while I was leaning toward running, I was still immersed in the decision-making process.