I recently had the opportunity to participate in a candidate Q&A with local freelance journalist Laura Steiner for her Substack, Laura’s world: https://laurasworld.substack.com/p/municipal-election-candidate-salman
She asked every Regional Councillor candidate the same five questions to help voters with their decision-making process:
- Why are you running?
- How will you deal with the fact that the Regional Chair will be appointed by the province, instead of elected?
- What are your top three priorities for your ward at the Regional Council?
- Why should people vote for you?
- What is something about you that would surprise people (eg: a hobby, or a fun fact)
I am sharing my unedited responses below:
1) WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?
Milton is our home, where my wife and I are raising our two daughters. I want to ensure we proactively plan for its rapid expansion with foresight and integrity. While my name will be on the Ward 3 ballot, my goal is to bring responsible, long-term planning to the Council table to serve, represent, and be a strong, practical voice for all Miltonians. Managing our town’s rapid growth requires competence, not political rhetoric. As a public policy and strategic infrastructure asset management practitioner with 13 years of experience working with Ontario municipalities, I will ensure your tax dollars are never committed without clear evidence and accountability.
We need to shift the conversation at the Council table from short-term tax rates to long-term value. Rather than only asking what the tax rate is, we need to ask what value we are delivering to our community and how we sustainably fund the infrastructure services we rely on. True leadership is not about keeping taxes artificially low for a single term to win an election by deferring maintenance, which only creates a hidden, compounding infrastructure funding deficit. We need the courage to have honest conversations with residents about trade-offs and evaluate every new project based on the total lifecycle costs of infrastructure assets, so we don’t build things today that we cannot afford to maintain tomorrow.
I believe we need the most capable, qualified, and professionally successful people stepping into political leadership roles. The truth is, managing municipal infrastructure is what I do every day. Milton is facing complex growth challenges, and volunteering on a local committee won’t fix our gridlock or ensure our property taxes are aligned with community expectations and affordability. The Council table is where my municipal practitioner expertise can make the greatest impact.
2) HOW WILL YOU DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT THE REGIONAL CHAIR WILL BE APPOINTED BY THE PROVINCE, INSTEAD OF ELECTED?
My focus from day one will be building a productive working relationship with the Chair and all members of Council. An appointed Chair has a direct line to the province, and I intend to use objective data and sound business cases to help align provincial growth targets with Milton’s fiscal realities. That also means advocating to proactively scale provincial infrastructure, including GO service, schools, and hospital capacity to keep pace with Milton’s growth.
3) WHAT ARE YOUR TOP THREE PRIORITIES FOR YOUR WARD AT THE REGIONAL COUNCIL?
a) Scaling infrastructure first to manage growth while ensuring developers pay their fair share before new subdivisions are approved. This includes proactively widening our roads, optimizing transit routes and improving connectivity to schools, hospitals, employment hubs and places of worship to reduce traffic congestion. This, in addition to increasing Milton’s non-residential tax base, will help limit future tax increases for homeowners.
b) Establishing minimum acceptable service levels across all neighbourhoods in Milton, and championing upstream investments in community housing, long-term care, community paramedicine, and homeless shelters to avoid the consequential downstream policing and healthcare costs. This way we will be able to free up our expensive policing resources to focus on traffic enforcement, organized property crime and auto theft.
c) Implementing objective and transparent decision-making criteria for Council that will be aligned with the election commitments of all future Council members and affordability for taxpayers. Regardless of the election outcome, I am committed to establishing a new youth task force to independently undertake quarterly audits of Council decisions against these criteria. By empowering our youth, we will be developing our next generation of community leaders. This approach also guarantees that Council remains accountable to the very generation that will inherit the long-term consequences of any short-sighted decisions made during the next term of Council.
4) WHY SHOULD PEOPLE VOTE FOR YOU?
I bring a unique perspective to decision-making at the Council table based on my 13 years of relevant and verifiable municipal sector experience in Ontario. I have administered federal funding programs for 440+ Ontario municipalities for 7 years, supported advocacy efforts of municipal associations, delivered technical assistance and coaching to 80+ Ontario municipalities, and advanced infrastructure asset management programs working as staff at 4 Ontario municipalities, including Halton Region.
I also currently serve on the Board of Directors for Asset Management Ontario (AMONTario), and as a Canadian Vice-Chair for the international ISO Technical Committee on Asset Management. My professional journey has helped me specialize in developing evidence-based criteria to identify capital investment priorities for local governments to provide sustainable service levels to the community.
Additionally, having relevant experience as a Peer Reviewer of municipal funding applications and as an Evaluation Committee Member for Partnership Grants under FCM’s Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation initiative, I will provide beneficial oversight to develop “investment-ready” business cases to secure external funding for climate change adaptation projects.
My motivation behind running for office (I call it true stewardship) is about applying the knowledge I have gained over 13 years in the municipal sector to serve and advance the best interests of my community without any financial gain. That is why I have also pledged to donate 100% of my salary as an elected official to local food banks and charities.
I believe in proactive community engagement, and I am committed to educating and consulting the community before major financial decisions are made by Council. If elected, I will translate complex municipal budgets, investment requirements, and funding constraints into plain-language choices for the general public to understand. I will also host regular “Pre-Council Coffee Chats” before Council meetings to seek community input.
The Regional Councillor position also aligns directly with my experience working for upper-tier municipalities in Ontario and municipal advocacy groups, so I believe this is where my skills can deliver the greatest value. Running for Regional Councillor gives me a dual mandate to work with our community on local, grassroots bylaws, while also ensuring our Town has a strong voice at the Regional Council table.
I am ready to do all the heavy lifting to advance your interests, balance diverse community needs with affordability and fiscal responsibility, and be a proactive, rather than reactive or passive, voice at the Council table.
5) WHAT IS SOMETHING ABOUT YOU THAT WOULD SURPRISE PEOPLE (EG: A HOBBY, OR A FUN FACT)
As an individual, I don’t believe in accumulating assets or wealth beyond my basic living needs. This is why my pledge to donate 100% of my salary as a Regional Councillor to local charities is not a political statement; it is rooted in my core principle of true stewardship. I take inspiration from profound lessons in human history, philosophy, and spirituality to fuel my inner drive, my commitment to self improvement, and my desire to make a positive contribution to those around me.
Growing up, I always stood up against bullies even when the odds were stacked against me, which is why I have long been fascinated by the story of David’s triumph over Goliath as the ultimate symbol of human perseverance overcoming any major hurdle. A year ago, I also learned that David used to fast every other day, which is considered one of the most difficult spiritual disciplines. Since then, I have adhered to a strict schedule of fasting on alternate days from dawn until sunset.
This self imposed hunger has helped me build mental resilience, while reminding me of my civic responsibility towards vulnerable residents in our community facing financial hardships, and why food banks and affordable services matter.
The same mindset is required in public service: challenging the traditional approach of reactive and short term decision making, helping municipalities build internal capacity and adopt best practices, and driving change management through innovation and continuous improvement.
I believe I am ready to advance the best interests of Miltonians collaboratively through evidence based decisions, and through bold leadership and relentless advocacy with senior levels of government.
Sincerely,
Salman Zafar
Candidate for Regional Councillor
Milton Ward 3