Though he enjoyed his time volunteering for local politicians, Jason Davis decided it was time to enter his own name in the race for a spot on Stratford city council.
Davis volunteered in the past for current city councillor Jo-Dee Burbach and candidate Kevin Kruchkywich, both of whom are running against him in this year’s election.
A self-proclaimed blue collar candidate, Davis is a 310T diesel technician at Shakespeare Truck Centre. He has worked with women’s advocacy groups and wealth and inequality advocacy groups, and has experience working with special needs individuals.
“I always had aspirations to work in politics,” he told StratfordToday in an interview. “As a blue collar worker, I’m very approachable.”
The tipping point in his decision to run came when the current city council was declared the most secretive in Canada, a tongue-in-cheek award presented by the Centre for Free Expression, a Toronto-based think tank.
Despite that, he says: “I have been very open in the fact that as a candidate I don’t want to just go out and say I acknowledge we have an issue with transparency.”
What Davis does want to acknowledge is the city’s “issue with affordability”, the main reason he is running for council. He has researched and released plans for housing affordability.
The basis of his plan is to build war time homes, basically smaller dwellings designed for individuals and families. The city would maintain ownership of the land and hire a building association to build the homes to dictated price points and size, he said.
“At that point, while they are being built, we allow first time buyer families or individuals to apply for the program.”
Davis said the program relies on three key prerequisites for potential buyers, including residing in Stratford, passing a financial stress test for the cost of the home and whether the applicant currently or has formerly owned property. Davis anticipates a large number of applicants, which would require a lottery selection process until more homes are built. The hope is homes can sell from $250,000 to $300,000, while avoiding selling to investors.
“We can sell directly to families in need who are not being hit by market manipulation.”
As a renter, Davis said he notices things that homeowners may not, including parking problems in and around the downtown core, which impacts renters. With a fair percentage of the city’s population renting their living space, that group should be represented on city council, he said.
“I realized there were a lot of things that were not being noticed or taken care of by city council. We have massive parking problems. There is no overnight parking anywhere. If you park on the street, you get ticketed, it’s not fair to renters.”
Another of Davis’s affordability plans includes tiny homes for homeless individuals.
Davis has tried not to make any promises during his campaign because the city’s audited financial statements have not been released. Without seeing the books, he said, it is difficult to understand where the city’s finances sit and chart any sort of fiscal future. This presents difficulty in discussing the future of the former Cooper Site block, for example, he noted, or fixing roads and other infrastructure concerns noted by residents.
Davis and his wife, Larhya Miller, fell in love with Stratford after visiting and decided to make it their home. Since moving here five years ago, they have welcomed a son – Zander.
Davis said they were blown away by the Festival City’s welcoming nature - people saying hello on their walks on the river or wandering into a Harry Potter festival on the way to grab a coffee downtown.
“We just fell in love with the city. The beauty of being in Stratford is, it’s the people, a feeling of community. We decided this is the place we want to be.”
