Katy
Moore

Ward 3 changed last year — the boundary adjustment brought Palmer and North Tyandaga into what has long been a ward with deep rural roots. That's an opportunity, but only with a councillor who genuinely knows both. I've spent 25 years in the wine trade and built Katy Moore Wines right here in Lowville — selling to Burlington homes and restaurants, running tastings, knowing my neighbours. I'm running because the new Ward 3 deserves a councillor who already knows the old one.

But if I'm being completely honest, I'm also running because I've been walking Lowville Park with Winston for eight years, I flagged a garbage problem there in 2018, and it still isn't fixed. Speeding and traffic on Guelph Line have been a concern for as long as I can remember. These aren't complicated problems — they're problems that haven't had someone in the right chair pushing hard enough to resolve them. I know this ward. I know what's broken. And I've waited long enough to do something about it.

Honestly? On many issues, not as much as you'd expect — most of us running want lower tax pressure, safer roads, and protected green space. The difference is roots. I've lived, worked, and built my business in Ward 3 for years — long before last year's boundary adjustment redrew the map. I know this ward's history, its files, and its people, from the rural roads to the newest urban neighbourhoods that just joined us. Ward 3 doesn't need someone learning the ward; it needs someone who already knows it.

Because you didn't just get moved into a ward — you got moved into a community, and I want to make that real. And I'll be honest: I've done my homework on both neighbourhoods before knocking on your door.

Palmer residents know what just happened at 1396 Guelph Line. Burlington City Council unanimously rejected that Infinity development on safety grounds — pedestrian risk, a dangerous right-in right-out onto Guelph Line fifty metres from Palmer Drive — and the OLT overruled Council anyway, approving it with a painted white line as the fix. That's not good enough, and it won't be the last time the OLT is used to push development past a community that said no. Palmer residents deserve a councillor at the table early, not after the OLT has already decided. I'll be there.

For North Tyandaga: flooding is the issue that doesn't go away. Tyandaga Park Drive has flooded three times in 18 years — including July 15, 2024, when sewage poured into residents' basements while their street had just been repaved with brand new pavement, sidewalks, and water mains. The City upgraded everything except the sewers. That's not a weather problem — that's a priorities problem. As your councillor, Tyandaga Park Drive goes on the stormwater priority list — not after the next flood, but before it.

My first commitment to both neighbourhoods: a listening session on your turf — Palmer and North Tyandaga separately — within the first 60 days. Not a town hall with PowerPoint slides. Just me, your questions, and a notepad.

I'll give you a straighter answer than you'll usually hear, with the City's own numbers. Burlington's 2026 budget identifies $300 million to be funded over the next ten years just for provincially required infrastructure renewal — that alone adds 2% above inflation to your taxes. That's on top of a repair backlog the City's Asset Management Plan pegged at over half a billion dollars, while our capital reserves sit at roughly $40 million against the City's own $143 million minimum target. Those aren't my numbers — they're the City's. So any candidate promising to freeze taxes and fix the infrastructure isn't being honest with you. My approach is to grow the base rather than squeeze it — making Burlington a city where businesses want to invest and expand, so new commercial investment helps carry the load instead of it falling on homeowners. That's how you protect taxpayers for the long run, not just for one election.

I'll answer this one personally first: I live on the valley floor in Lowville. When it rains hard, we flood. The creek runs through the neighbourhood, and I know exactly what it looks like when the water rises.

The July 15, 2024 storm flooded 1,620 Burlington homes and cost the City over $2.2 million. The stormwater system was overwhelmed at up to 19 times provincial design guidelines — not because the storm was entirely unprecedented, but because the infrastructure hadn't kept pace with the city's growth. In North Tyandaga, Tyandaga Park Drive flooded while its sewers were being left out of a street reconstruction project that replaced everything else. This is what the $300 million infrastructure gap looks like when it rains.

Those of us who live in rural Burlington already know the lesson the city keeps learning the hard way: being proactive costs a fraction of being reactive. Every dollar of maintenance deferred doesn't disappear — it comes back as two dollars of emergency repair, plus the cost no spreadsheet captures: the basement, the furnace, the insurance cancelled, the sleep lost. Up here we fix the culvert before it fails, not after the road washes out.

My position: stormwater infrastructure has to be treated as the critical system it is — accelerated, fully funded, and prioritized by risk rather than by who complains loudest. Ward 3's creek and culvert network belongs on the inspection and upgrade schedule, not the waiting list. I'll also be watching the Nelson Quarry expansion closely: the proposed blast zone sits above the headwaters of Bronte Creek, and what happens to that watershed happens to everything downstream — including us.

This is one problem wearing two costumes in Ward 3. In our urban neighbourhoods, navigation apps route commuters off the main roads and through residential streets to shave a few minutes — and they bring their highway speed with them. On the rural side, those same apps send traffic down sideroads that were never built for commuter volume, sharing narrow lanes with farm equipment, cyclists, and school buses. My approach: traffic calming where residents actually want it, targeted speed enforcement on the worst-documented stretches, and peak-hour turn restrictions that make the cut-through slower than the main road — because the only thing that changes an app's route is making the shortcut stop being one.

And let's be honest about enforcement: Halton's officers cover a huge area and get pulled in every direction — Ward 3 alone is the size of some entire towns. That's why I'll push to make sure Ward 3's hot spots are on the map for joint operations like Project ERASE, the multi-force dangerous driving campaign Halton already participates in alongside the OPP and forces across the GTHA. Those provincial-scale operations are how a ward like ours gets enforcement muscle our local staffing can't always provide. Tell me your street's worst spot through the Talkback form — the case for fixes starts with residents' own evidence.

Ward 3 is Burlington's largest ward by area, and it's the city's ecological gem — escarpment lands, natural areas, and some of the best arable farmland in the region. Our boundaries were expanded to grow the population base, and I understand why. But growth and stewardship have to move together: the land that makes this ward special isn't something we can get back once it's gone. As your councillor, I'll treat Ward 3's green space and farmland as assets to protect and build on — not as inventory waiting for the next development application.

Stop it. Full stop. Ontario is not running out of rock — there are already 22 active quarries in Halton alone, with licensed capacity to produce 13 times the annual average demand for aggregate in Ontario. The Mount Nemo site produces a small fraction of the region's aggregate. So what is this expansion really about? Trucking costs. Aggregate is cheap; hauling it is expensive — and Nelson would rather blast deeper into the Niagara Escarpment than pay to ship from quarries that already have the rock. I understand that math; I run a business. But a company's shipping margins are not a public emergency, and they will never justify destroying a dozen wetlands, the headwaters of Bronte Creek, and endangered species habitat inside the Greenbelt and a UNESCO biosphere. This application was denied in 2012. Our Council unanimously asked the province to reject it in 2024. As your councillor, I won't just oppose this expansion — I'll fight for permanent Escarpment Protection designation for the Mount Nemo plateau, so no company can put our water and land back on the table every decade to save money on trucking.

Burlington needs more homes — and Ward 3 has some of the best places in the city to put them: near transit. I've held this view for twenty years; back on Woodland Avenue, our ratepayers association argued that land walkable to the GO station should be housing, not big-box parking lots. That's still my position: say yes to density where the infrastructure already exists, and protect the escarpment lands and farmland that can never be replaced. Growth and stewardship aren't opposites — they're the same plan, applied to the right places.

More than you might expect. I've spent 25 years in hospitality and the wine trade, and for the last several years I've run Katy Moore Wines right here in Lowville — sourcing wines from international producers, delivering to Burlington homes and restaurants, and running tastings for people who want to drink better without the guesswork. Running a small business in one of the most regulated industries in Ontario means I navigate the LCBO, manage supplier relationships, watch every dollar, and get results without a big team behind me. That's exactly the skill set a councillor needs at City Hall. And as someone who sells wine to your neighbours and delivers it to their doors, I know this community — not just as a resident, but as someone who's been serving it for years.

Life is demanding enough. Between work, family, and keeping your home and quality of life intact, most people don't have time to navigate City Hall on their own — and they shouldn't have to. A councillor's job isn't just to vote on reports; it's to be the person who picks up the phone, asks the right question, and breaks the logjam when a resident has been getting the runaround. I've been walking Lowville Park with Winston for eight years. I noticed a garbage problem there in 2018. It still persists. These aren't complicated problems — they're problems that haven't had someone pushing hard enough from the right chair to get them resolved. That changes. As your councillor, I'll be your direct line into City Hall — not a newsletter that tells you what Council decided after the fact, but someone who shows up, follows up, and doesn't consider the job done until the problem is resolved.

Email is the best way — I live in Lowville, where cell service is genuinely unreliable, so calls and texts aren't always dependable. But the bigger point is this: a councillor's job is to be your voice at City Hall, and you can't do that job if you're not listening. I'm on Instagram at @thirstformoore and Facebook, and I'll keep both active after the election regardless of the outcome — because the conversations don't stop on election night. You can also leave a message right here through the Talkback form. However you reach out, I will respond.

Three ways: request a lawn sign, volunteer an hour or an afternoon, or join the mailing list so you know where I'll be next. All just below.

Entirely by donations from people like you, and I publish where the money goes — see the full breakdown in the Fundraising section. Donations are capped per Ontario municipal election rules.