If I Were Mayor: Extend-a-Family director would focus on meeting basic needs to create a stronger, more involved community
June 21, 2026
Ahead of the municipal elections in October, the Waterloo Region Record has a question for residents and community leaders: What would you do if you were mayor?
We want to know how the community wants to see tax dollars used during the next term of council.
Have an idea for what you would do as mayor of your municipality? Share it with The Record here or by emailing obarrett@metroland.com.
Allan Mills, executive director of Extend-a-Family Waterloo Region
As mayor, I want to lead a city in which everyone belongs and where it is difficult to experience loneliness and poverty, where people thrive and contribute and have social connections, and their basic needs are met.
It is difficult to thrive, work and contribute to your community when you are both hungry and lonely. I would focus on intentional development that brings people together, increasing our investment in affordable housing as well as our parks, libraries, community centres, trails and natural areas, as these will all foster connection.
I would enhance our investment in our food-security systems, ensuring everyone in the city has enough to eat.
I would engage the community in finding ways to promote a living wage as a goal for all of our minimum-wage employers, incentivizing those who achieve that target. We would market living wage as a value that we share in this city. People should not have to choose between paying rent and buying groceries.
I want to be proud of our city as a place where everyone belongs.
The measure of a city is not how well it serves the most privileged, but how deeply it cares for and includes those who are often overlooked.
Many of us have our basic needs met and have the opportunity to make decisions about how or where we’ll participate in the community, where we’ll get involved. For people who are struggling to eat or struggling to have safe housing, they can’t even think about that.
The more people are contributing to our community, I think, the stronger our community will be. If we can help people overcome barriers, that can unleash their potential.
Responses have been edited for clarity.
