Get to know your Kitchener candidates ahead of Monday's municipal election
CBC
Homelessness, housing and climate change are among some of the top reasons candidates for council in Kitchener are running in this year's municipal election.
Three of the city's 10 councillors are not seeking re-election, which means there will be some new faces around the council horseshoe this fall. Those not seeking re-election are:
The municipal election will be held on Monday and to help people in Kitchener get to know their candidates, CBC Kitchener-Waterloo asked all candidates to answer a survey that listed their top three reasons for running.
Click on the links below to read what local candidates have to say:
The responses are in alphabetical order by last name.
There are five people running for mayor in Kitchener. They are:
Rehman-Ullah Khan did not respond to CBC K-W's survey.
Manikantan Nair says the top three reasons he's seeking the mayor's chair in this election are:
"Affordable housing, homelessness, addiction, mental health, lack of timely access to quality health-care services, rising cost of utility bills and property taxes are some of the challenges we are facing," Nair said.
"In order to overcome some of these challenges, we need bold leadership from the mayor and collaboration with other levels of government."
Nair moved to Canada from Delhi, India, 21 years ago and is a long-time resident of Kitchener. He currently works in the field of network and cyber security at a local university.
He says he's passionate about community service, public policy debate and social service. In 2018, he and some friends created Namaste Debate to promote Indo-Canadian candidates to run for public office and to help educate the public and voters about issues facing Waterloo region.
Nair says he's "open-minded and a good listener … compassionate and empathic."
Val Neekman said his top three reasons for running for mayor are:
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