By Kathryn Stocks

I had coffee with former councillor Jennifer McKelvie a few weeks after she became the federal Liberal MP in Ajax. The first thing I asked was how she was doing. “Excited and a little overwhelmed,” she said. “It’s a lot of transition underway.”

Jennifer said she had only planned to do two terms on Toronto City Council. “At city hall you could spend 1 percent of your time on 100 things and never advance anything or you can say these are my three files and work on those. My three files were in good shape, my list of things I wanted to accomplish was done or on track, and so when the opportunity opened up to serve our country in a new way, I knew I had to do it.”

She chose to run in Durham because it was “a good fit.” Her father and several aunts live there, her son goes to Durham College, and the riding has similar issues to Scarborough–Rouge Park.

Jennifer’s three priority files at City Council have been ravines, climate action and the Eglinton East LRT.  “I really championed for the ravines, and working alongside former environment minister Catherine McKenna we created the natural infrastructure fund. That was a $20 million investment in The Meadoway and the ravines. We also repaired the trails down on the waterfront, especially to the west of the Highland Creek bridge.”

On the climate action file, she said, “We developed a resilience strategy to be prepared for the impacts of climate change, and created a carbon budget where every department reports not just on their financials, but also on their emissions.” Toronto had lots of firsts and bests while she was councillor, including the largest fleet of electric buses.

Jennifer’s third file was the Eglinton East LRT. She worked with the mayor’s office to negotiate the deal to get the province to pay for the Scarborough subway, which freed up the money the city was going to put into it. This was then reallocated to the Eglinton East LRT. Now $1.2 billion is dedicated to that project.

Jennifer said she has taken these three priorities as far as she can municipally. They now need federal or provincial funding to proceed.

Locally, Jennifer wanted to advance two big infrastructure projects. One was the Port Union Rd. widening, which should be complete by year end. The second was the Rouge Valley Community Recreation and Child Care Centre at Conlins, which should open in the fall.

She’s also proud of all the playground upgrades she instigated in our community at Port Union Common, Bill Hancox and Wanita parks, and the resurfacing of the Charlottetown tennis court.

The last thing Jennifer launched was the community safety teams in the Kingston Rd./Morningside area to help people with homelessness, addictions and mental health. So far there’s been an 11% reduction in minor crimes and a 23% reduction in the amount of time police are spending in the area.

“My list is complete,” Jennifer said. “It’s time for someone with new ideas and a new list of things they want to do.” She will be missed here in Centennial, but we wish her all the best in her new role as the Member of Parliament for Ajax.

Staff will remain in the new constituency office at 382 Old Kingston Rd., which is open 9 to 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can also call them T 416-338-3771 or email ward25@toronto.ca. A byelection to replace Jennifer will be held in the fall.