Writing
Meat and Potatoes
My thoughts on Ward 9, and beyond.
October 24, 2026
Six Votes to Pass It, Ten to Stop It: London's Strong Mayor Powers, Explained
Since July 2023, London's mayor has held the province's strong mayor powers over the budget, City Hall staff, committees and housing-related by-laws. Here's what those powers are meant to do, where they stop today, how they've been used in London so far, what they would allow in the wrong hands, and why the council you elect on Monday is the real safeguard.
Read →October 16, 2026
London Muslims Vote Asked Me 13 Questions. Here Are All My Answers.
London Muslims Vote sent every candidate 13 questions on faith, free expression, community health and schools. Here is every question and every answer I sent, word for word.
Read →October 16, 2026
No More Noise Asked Me Four Questions About Loud Vehicles. Here Are My Answers.
No More Noise asked municipal candidates four questions about vehicle noise. Here is every question, and my full explanations.
Read →October 15, 2026
A Journalist Asked Me About the Emergency Services Campus. Here Are All My Answers.
A journalist asked every candidate six questions about London's Emergency Services Campus: what it costs, how the numbers fit together, and who pays. Here is every question and every answer I sent, with my sources.
Read →October 14, 2026
ACORN Asked Me About Tenant Protections. Here Are All My Answers.
ACORN London sent every candidate a survey on tenant protections: rental licensing, a landlord registry, inspections, vacant downtown buildings, and housing quality. Here is every question and every answer I submitted.
Read →September 19, 2026
The Council of Canadians Asked Me About Water, Bill 5, Housing, and More. Here Are My Answers.
The London Chapter of the Council of Canadians sent every candidate a questionnaire covering public water services, Bill 5, the opioid crisis, housing, municipal finances, human rights, policing, and land use. Several questions were structured as a bare yes-or-no. Here are my full, nuanced answers for the public record.
Read →September 18, 2026
What You Didn't Hear at the Ward 9 Debate
The Urban League sent every Ward 9 candidate 37 questions ahead of Thursday's debate. The random-draw format only gave the room time to hear answers to 5 of them live. I researched and prepared answers to all 37. Here they all are.
Read →September 14, 2026
I Changed My Own Bylaw. Here's Exactly Why, in Public.
The PACT bylaw no longer measures the property tax levy. It measures the tax rate on a home whose assessment didn't change, the number that decides what you pay. Here's why the earlier design missed that, why the fix makes the bylaw both more accurate and more likely to pass, and why my own pledge against tax rate increases hasn't moved.
Read →September 10, 2026
Your Tax Bill, City Contracts, and Who Steers Council: My Answers for CCAL
Concerned Citizens Association of London asked every candidate about property taxes that outpace inflation, procurement that hides until someone files an FOI, bureaucracy that never faces a real annual review, and staff who steer elected officials. Matt Millar answers all fifteen on the record for Ward 9.
Read →September 9, 2026
The London Free Press Asked Every Candidate the Same Questions. Here's What I Told Them.
The London Free Press sent every council and mayoral candidate the same survey: whether council would be my sole occupation, my top three priorities, the city politician I identify with, my vision for London, the biggest challenge the city faces, and what sets me apart. I answered every one, on the record, in my own words.
Read →September 7, 2026
London Decides Sent Every Candidate the Same Five Questions. Here's Every Answer.
London Decides, a nonpartisan election-info site, sent every candidate the same five questions: the one thing I'd change by 2030 and what I'd give up to get it, a time I brought people around who mostly disagreed with me, one thing residents will ask for that council can't actually decide, the issue I most want to be known for and the strongest argument against my own position, and one thing I've already done for Londoners that anyone can check. I answered every one, on the record, in my own words.
Read →September 3, 2026
The London and District Labour Council Sent Me A Questionnaire About the City and Working Londoners. Here Are My Responses.
The London and District Labour Council sent every candidate the same questionnaire on ethical campaigning, City priorities, public services and unionized workers, wages and sick leave, housing affordability, reconciliation, the climate crisis, AI data centres, downtown revitalization, and municipal water and hydro. I answered every question, on the record, in my own words.
Read →August 29, 2026
The London Chamber of Commerce Sent Me Twelve Questions About the City's Future. Here's Every Answer.
The London Chamber of Commerce sent every candidate the same questionnaire on the economy, the Downtown Plan, health and homelessness, housing, culture, transportation, business regulation, the ReconciliAction Plan, growth infrastructure funding, the Climate Emergency Action Plan, strong-mayor powers, and arts and creative industries. I answered every question, on the record, in my own words.
Read →August 27, 2026
Pillar Nonprofit Network Sent A Questionnaire About the City and the Nonprofit Sector. Here Are My Responses.
Pillar Nonprofit Network sent every candidate a survey on the City's role with London's nonprofit sector, including a standing dialogue mechanism and multi-year funding. I answered every question, on the record, in my own words.
Read →August 25, 2026
Panopti.ca Sent Me Eight Questions About Licence Plate Cameras. Here's Every Answer.
Panopti.ca, a group that tracks the spread of automated licence plate reader cameras across Canada, sent every candidate the same eight questions on fixed cameras, data sharing, retention, audits, and oversight. I answered every one, on the record, in my own words.
Read →August 24, 2026
Climate Action London Sent Me Seven Questions. Here Are All My Answers.
Climate Action London sent every candidate a seven-question survey on transit, affordable housing, the City's Climate Change Reserve Fund, mode share targets, building heights, a lobbyist registry, and a proposed moratorium on AI data centres. I answered every one anyway, on the record, in my own words.
Read →August 3, 2026
Vote Compass Sent Me 30 Questions. Here Are All My Answers.
Vote Compass, a non-partisan questionnaire run by Vox Pop Labs in partnership with the Toronto Star, sent every candidate the same 30 propositions. Some ask about things a single city councillor has no power over, and a few are worded so a straight answer looks bad no matter which way you lean. I answered every one anyway, in my own words. Vote Compass will not publish anything until late September. You do not have to wait that long to see where I stand.
Read →June 3, 2026
High-Density Housing on Colonel Talbot: my objection, and how to file yours before June 9
On June 9, the Planning and Environment Committee considers a plan for six-storey apartment buildings and up to 100 units per hectare at 3924, 4012 and 4050 Colonel Talbot Road in Lambeth, beyond what the City's own Secondary Plan allows and filed without the traffic, servicing and school evidence the Plan requires. Here is the objection I filed, and how you can file your own before the deadline.
Read →May 23, 2026
London City Council Gets Paid HOW MUCH?
On November 4, 2025, a majority of London City Council voted nine to six to reset councillor base pay to the seventieth percentile of full-time employment income for Londoners. The base salary jumps from about $67,000 to about $94,000 at the start of the next council term. Here is who voted yes, who voted no, what the rules say about how council pay gets set, and the gap that none of them closed.
Read →May 17, 2026
The Canary in the Forest City
London's distress is a blaring siren that every city in Canada should heed. Our unemployment rate hit 9.2% in April, the highest of any large city in this country, and the ninth straight month it's climbed. 13,000 jobs gone in four months. Insolvencies at their highest since 2009. Mortgage delinquencies more than doubled since 2020. None of this is making the news.
Read →May 10, 2026
Lambeth lost a school in 2010. The City approved 31 townhouses where it stood.
Last June I wrote on my Substack about a rezoning application at 4402 Colonel Talbot Road. On November 12, 2025, the Planning and Environment Committee approved it five to nothing. Council carried the by-laws unanimously two weeks later. Here is what the City's own staff report says, what residents put on the public record, and the fifteen year arc that connects the closure of a Lambeth school in 2010 to 31 households on the same site in 2025.
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