POSITION RUNNING FOR: Ward 3 Regional Councillor
OCCUPATION: Municipal Infrastructure Asset Management Practitioner
VOLUNTEER/COMMUNITY SERVICE SUMMARY:
Public service is a profound trust rooted in stewardship—acting as a trustee for the next generation. Locally, I have advocated for Milton’s families on my daughters’ School Council and regularly volunteer at community events to build strong, trust-based relationships with my neighbors.
I also regularly volunteer my technical expertise to strengthen municipal governance, providing experience that translates directly to a Councillor’s oversight role. Since 2018, I have represented Canada as an ISO subject matter expert on international forums, using diplomacy and consensus-building to develop and help municipalities adopt global asset management standards.
I currently serve on the Board of Directors for Asset Management Ontario (AMONTario) advancing public infrastructure stewardship. I have also been involved with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) for the delivery of technical assistance and funding programs for local governments across Canada.
PREVIOUS POLITICAL OR ELECTION EXPERIENCE:
While I have not held elected office, I intimately know how municipalities function and the severe challenges they face, such as outdated provincial-municipal funding models, massive infrastructure deficits, and climate change vulnerabilities. Over my 13 years as a municipal practitioner, I have worked alongside elected officials and funding agencies to solve these fiscal challenges, and I am ready to bring this policy and financial expertise to Council.
At the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), I spent seven years streamlining the administration of the Canada Community-Building Fund for 443 Ontario municipalities. I also delivered capacity-building initiatives for 200+ staff across 80+ municipalities.
Additionally, while working directly for multiple Ontario municipalities including Halton Region, I have successfully led cross-departmental asset management initiatives to develop and implement governance structures, policies, strategies, risk management frameworks, and actionable plans to drive responsible budget development.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RUN IN THE MUNICIPAL ELECTION?
Milton’s rapid growth demands more than empty promises. I was inspired to run by a dual sense of professional duty and moral stewardship. Professionally, I’ve watched Milton’s expansion drastically outpace our infrastructure. I am running to bring data-driven decision-making to Council, ensuring investments align with true affordability and service equity.
I will apply an intergenerational equity lens to infrastructure, so we stop deferring climate resiliency and the true cost of growth out of political convenience. Kicking the can down the road creates hidden tax increases for our children.
As a strategic leader, my focus is on turning Council’s core responsibilities into clear outcomes. To realize true value for our community, I will work to align our future priorities around three areas. First, we must anchor our day-to-day operations in good governance, regulatory compliance, and civic responsibility. Second, we must manage Milton’s immediate pressures by balancing our capacity to meet demand with smart growth and connectivity while protecting public health and safety. Finally, we must secure our future through service excellence, bold climate change action, and strict fiscal sustainability.
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE TOP TWO ISSUES FACING MILTON?
First, we are hitting severe infrastructure capacity limits. Our surface-level housing is being approved much faster than the highly expensive water, wastewater, and transportation infrastructure required to support it. Recent growth monitoring reports explicitly show that developer proposals are outpacing our underground water and wastewater capacity. This “infrastructure bottleneck” doesn’t just mean more traffic on our local Milton transit routes and roads; it translates directly into capacity constraints for our utility networks and strains the emergency response services—like Police, Fire, and Paramedics—that keep our community safe.
Beyond physical gridlock, Milton faces massive growth-related funding gaps. Due to provincial legislative limits on development charges, existing taxpayers are often forced to bridge the funding gaps created by new developer growth. Everyday residents are being hit with rate increases to fix aging, neglected assets as a catch-up tax, while the municipality floats hundreds of millions in debt to subsidize new subdivisions. We must shift from a reactive growth model to rigorous asset management, ensuring that new growth fully funds any additional infrastructure requirements.
HOW BEST CAN TOWN COUNCIL APPROACH ECONOMIC GROWTH OVER ITS NEXT TERM?
Because Regional Councillors vote on both Milton Town Council and Halton Regional Council, I will approach economic growth holistically, leveraging my educational background in economics and public policy. We must strictly enforce the principle that “growth pays for growth” across both local services and regional services. We need to move away from endless residential sprawl and focus on sustainable, balanced economic expansion.
To do this, we must fully consider the long-term costs of delivering services at an acceptable service level that also accounts for climate resilience and existing capacity before any development approvals are granted. A well-planned town with predictable taxes attracts top-tier businesses. Attracting these companies creates local jobs and builds a strong commercial tax base, driving Milton’s economic growth and protecting our community’s financial future.
WHAT SINGLE EXPERIENCE FROM LIVING IN MILTON WOULD SERVE YOU BEST ON COUNCIL?
Raising my two daughters here with my wife, Shifa, has shown me the true human cost of gridlock—time stolen away from our families. But my most encouraging experience has been out knocking on doors. When you step away from the toxicity of social media and talk to people face-to-face, you realize we all share the exact same priority: ensuring a better, not declining, quality of life for our kids. That shared vision with my fellow parents is what grounds my professional commitment to being a steward for our community’s future.
I am committed to proactively engaging, educating, and consulting the community before making major financial decisions that impact our children. In doing so, I am deeply guided by the Indigenous Seventh Generation Principle: ensuring that the decisions we make today create a sustainable world seven generations into the future.
WHY SHOULD MILTONIANS VOTE FOR YOU THIS FALL?
Miltonians need a strategic practitioner who understands that dual-tier municipal governance is about responsibly managing a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure portfolio, not a popularity contest. With my real experience and true approach to stewardship, I know how to resolve capacity bottlenecks, secure federal grant funding, and ensure that developers pay their fair share across both the Town and the Region. I promise to prioritize auditable evidence, climate resiliency, and intergenerational equity over political noise and convenient assumptions.
Above all, I promise to serve as a faithful trustee for our community, putting my 13 years of professional experience to work to build a socially, environmentally, and financially sustainable Milton for everyone.
Source: www.miltontoday.ca/municipal-election/meet-your-candidate-salman-zafar-vying-for-ward-3-regional-council-seat-12394045
