Mayoral candidate Josh Morgan makes pitch for your vote

Josh Morgan outlined his vision for London in a weighty 23-page platform unveiled at a campaign event in front of supporters, four council colleagues and several council candidates on Wednesday.

Josh Morgan outlined his vision for London in a weighty 23-page platform unveiled at a campaign event in front of supporters, four council colleague, and several council candidates on Wednesday.

The five pillars in his platform are:

Morgan began laying out his campaign platform by focusing on its boldest commitment — addressing the housing crisis by setting a target of 50,000 new homes over the next decade, at least 10,000 of which would be in the city’s core neighbourhoods.

His plan includes, “creating a new development charges waiver Community Improvement Plan (CIP) (for developers) in the transit villages” identified in The London Plan, and pursuing a new CIP for affordable housing to incentivize below market rents.

Morgan adds that The London Plan predicts the creation of just 20,000 new housing units over the next 10 years, so he supports updating the 2016 planning document, saying, “We have this massive housing crisis that was never contemplated during the development of that plan, so yes the plan needs to be updated.”

Among his other commitments, Morgan supports the police chief’s request for 52 additional officers, he wants to reallocate $4 million to advance parks and recreation projects, and will finalize the Mobility Master Plan of transit and transportation improvements in just one year.