My promise: Cap property taxes & protect our waterfront on Day 1.

Growth in Pickering must benefit the people who live here, not just the developers who build here. Currently, our community faces two massive, irresponsible development plans that threaten our environment, our infrastructure, and our quality of life. As your Mayor, I will use every power available to the office to reject, downsize, and correct these projects.

Note to Voters: On June 24th, 2026, I personally submitted formal freedom-of-information requests with the City of Pickering to secure Council-conduct and integrity costs, Security and meeting format costs, Council and Mayor expenses, Northeast Pickering servicing, Elexicon, and naming rights agreements. We are committed to building a fully detailed and transparent report on verified facts rather than guesswork. We will post an update here and on our social media accounts as soon as we receive and analyze this data. — Shaun Rickard

The Problem: Frenchman's Bay and the Pickering waterfront belong to the community, yet they face continuous pressure from massive, out-of-scale development proposals. For years, the City has offered nice words about public ownership while failing to secure a permanent solution, leaving residents to fight off high-density projects on their own. I don't just talk about transparency and accountability — I have fought for them, and delivered results.

As a passionate outdoorsman who has spent years enjoying Lake Ontario, Frenchman's Bay, our trails, conservation lands, parks, and natural areas, I will fiercely protect the places that make Pickering unique. Future generations deserve the same natural treasures we enjoy today. I will fight to ensure that our waterfront and Frenchman's Bay are secured and preserved for the people of Pickering.

Update — September 17, 2026: The City of Pickering now has a conditional Agreement of Purchase and Sale in place for Frenchman's Bay. The proposed acquisition is structured around a three-way funding arrangement involving the City, Province and federal government, targeting roughly $30 million, with due diligence underway before the deal can close. This is an important opportunity to secure the Bay as a permanent public asset—but public ownership must come with a responsible plan for its protection, upkeep and long-term value to residents.

My Blue Economy proposal would keep the shoreline public and protected while building a self-sustaining waterfront economy around boating tourism rather than housing. A well-managed transient marina, shore-side amenities and partnerships with local businesses can help Frenchman's Bay pay for its own upkeep, support jobs and bring visitors to Pickering without selling off public shoreline or placing high-density development beside a sensitive wetland.

Read the full report: BREAKING - Frenchmans Bay has been sold to the City of Pickering, conditionally

A Proven Track Record of Action:

• Stopping the 23-Storey Towers: When an irresponsible proposal emerged to build two 23-storey condominium towers beside our protected waterfront, marshlands, and public beach, I refused to sit on the sidelines. I organized residents, led community opposition efforts, and demanded transparency.
• Uncovering the Truth via FOI: Through Freedom of Information requests, our team uncovered documents that raised serious questions about discussions involving city officials and Ontario Power Generation regarding the nuclear emergency planning zone and the proposed development. We brought those discussions into the public eye where they belonged.
• Elevating Our Community Voice: This fight attracted significant provincial media attention, shining a critical spotlight on the safety concerns of local residents and ensuring broader public scrutiny.

Media Coverage of Our Fight

CBC News

Pickering residents fight waterfront condo proposal over safety concerns

Global News

Residents voice concerns over proposed Pickering waterfront condo development

Together, residents stood up, spoke out, and ultimately stopped that project. That victory proved something important: when residents are informed, engaged, and united, they can hold government accountable and achieve meaningful results.

Our Plan:

• A Fully Funded Acquisition Plan: We will work to complete the conditional purchase responsibly, secure the proposed funding partnership and bring Frenchman's Bay into public hands while protecting taxpayers through full due diligence and a transparent long-term operating plan.
• Preserving the Nautical Village: We will strictly enforce zoning limits to stop the creeping expansion of high-density projects that threaten the character and delicate ecology of our shoreline.

The Problem: Finding a family doctor in Pickering has become an exhausting challenge. While hospitals and medical licensing are primarily provincial responsibilities, municipal leadership has sat on the sidelines for too long. A lack of primary care clinic space forces residents into overcrowded emergency rooms for minor ailments, cutting across every demographic in our city.

Our Plan:

• Doctor Recruitment Incentives: We will design a municipal physician recruitment program, offering local incentives and streamlined zoning to attract primary care doctors and family practices to Pickering.
• Community Health Hubs: We will look into leveraging city-owned land and facilities to establish dedicated spaces for community health clinics, making it easier for medical practitioners to open up local offices.
• Provincial Advocacy: We will actively partner with Lakeridge Health and the provincial government to ensure Pickering's rapid growth is matched by a corresponding increase in healthcare funding and hospital capacity.

Note to Voters: Access to primary care is a highly complex issue tied directly to provincial funding and regional health networks. Because we refuse to make vague or unachievable campaign promises, our team is currently gathering data on local clinical shortages and space availability. We will update this section with specific, costed targets as our research is finalized. More to come as we gather more data.

The Problem: Keeping our neighbourhoods safe is a top priority, but it requires honest leadership. Pickering does not have its own municipal police force; we are policed by the Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS). True public safety means working effectively within our regional system rather than making empty promises about services the mayor does not run.

Update — August 2026: The numbers from our Freedom of Information request are in, and they tell a troubling story. Some will point out that policing is a Durham responsibility, not Pickering alone, and that doesn’t change what’s happening here: Pickering’s own numbers, in this same DRPS data, are falling. If anything, it shows why Pickering-specific reporting matters — a regional average can look fine while a specific community is falling behind. More on the specific numbers here: https://shaunrickardformayor.ca/news.

That’s part of why what I learned this month matters. I had an eye-opening conversation with Durham Regional Police Service’s Director of External Relations, who walked me through DRPS’s Community Safety Data Portal, launched in March 2026: https://open-data-drps.hub.arcgis.com/. It’s a genuinely comprehensive, detailed tool, and DRPS deserves credit for building it.

But like most residents, I had no idea it existed until DRPS reached out after reading the Public Safety & Crime Prevention section of my campaign platform: https://shaunrickardformayor.ca/platform. I’ve never heard a city councillor or Mayor Ashe mention it, let alone promote it. A valuable public safety resource has existed for months, and City Hall never told residents it was there.

What this means for Pickering:

Rising crime, falling clearance rates, and a City Hall that never told residents about a safety tool that already exists aren’t three separate problems — they’re one problem: a lack of leadership and communication at City Hall.

As your next Mayor, I will:

• Push for a Pickering-specific public safety strategy, developed collaboratively with DRPS, not just region-wide numbers that can mask what’s happening in our own city.
• Get DRPS’s Community Safety Data Portal, and a plain-language Pickering-specific summary, promoted directly on the City of Pickering’s website, so residents and anyone considering a move here can actually find it: https://open-data-drps.hub.arcgis.com/
• Work with community organizations and DRPS on prevention-focused initiatives and solutions, particularly around property crime (including motor vehicle theft) and violent crime, including youth-involved violent crime.

Source: All figures in this release are drawn directly from Durham Regional Police Service’s response to Freedom of Information Request #26-1014, covering the years 2022 through 2025. 2026 data was excluded from year-over-year comparisons because DRPS’s release only covers January 1 to July 1, 2026, a partial year. Full source data is available upon request.

The Problem: Over the past several years, City Hall has become increasingly disconnected from the people it serves. Decisions impacting thousands of residents are rushed through behind closed doors, and the elimination of regular in-person council meetings in 2025 severely restricted public debate.

Update — September 28, 2026: When I filed a Freedom of Information request for the Elexicon records, the City refused to process it — claiming the request was “frivolous and vexatious.” Residents deserve to see the primary records behind decisions affecting a major public asset like our stake in Elexicon, not a wall of denials. I don't accept that refusal, and I'm not letting it go: I have filed an official appeal with Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, and that appeal is now underway. If elected, I will make sure the law is applied fairly and that your right to know is defended.

Read the full report: UPDATE - City of Pickering's Freedom Of Information Request refusal - I have filed an official appeal and it's underway

Our Plan:

• Reopen City Hall: On day one, I will restore regular, in-person council chambers to ensure residents have a direct, face-to-face voice in local government. Public delegation opportunities will be fully restored to their full 10 minutes, along with all Q&A sessions.
• Plain-Language Budgets: We will replace confusing, thousand-page financial reports with clear, plain-language annual budget breakdowns so you can see exactly where every dollar goes.
• Strict Developer Accountability: We will introduce rigorous transparency measures for all planning applications, ensuring public consultations occur before frameworks are approved, not as an afterthought.

The Problem: Property taxes continue to outpace household budgets, driven by a "growth at all costs" mentality where existing residents are forced to subsidize major new developments.

Update — September 28, 2026: Pickering's total property-tax bill rose more than nine percent in just two years—5.35 percent in 2025 and 3.81 percent in 2026. That increase was nearly double inflation over the same period, and both budgets were proposed by Mayor Kevin Ashe under strong-mayor powers. This happened while Durham Region recorded more than 300,000 food-bank visits in one year, a 20 percent increase, placing another burden on households already facing a cost-of-living crisis.

Read the full report: Remember Who Did This: Property Taxes Rose More Than 9% in Two Years

The City already receives an annual external financial-statement audit. That work verifies whether its consolidated statements fairly present its finances under public-sector accounting standards, but it does not investigate why particular spending decisions were made, whether developer agreements deliver fair value, how casino revenue is allocated, or whether growth is truly paying for growth. A forensic audit serves a different purpose: it follows those decisions and transactions to give residents the answers a routine annual audit was never designed to provide.

The records show why that deeper review matters. Provincial changes introduced in 2022 temporarily required municipalities to phase in development charges, and Pickering staff warned that reduced developer-charge revenue could leave the “Pickering Taxpayer” as the backstop. Although that phase-in was later removed, gaps remain for costs such as land needed for growth-related infrastructure, while Community Benefit Charges apply only to certain larger buildings and are capped. Residents deserve to know whether developer contributions, reserve funds and public revenues are keeping pace with the true cost of growth.

Read the full report: Does Pickering Already Get Audited? Yes, and That's Exactly Why We Need a Forensic Audit Too.

Our Plan:

• City Tax Cap: As Mayor, I will use municipal executive powers to cap the City of Pickering's portion of the property tax levy (which makes up roughly 30% of your total bill). While a mayor cannot directly cap regional or school board taxes, I will aggressively fight for fiscal restraint at the Durham Region table.
• Growth Must Pay for Growth: We will end the practice of taxpayers footing the bill for developer infrastructure.
• Independent Forensic Audit: Within my first 100 days, I will commission a full, independent forensic audit covering City finances, developer agreements, casino revenue, spending and legal costs so residents can see how their tax dollars are actually being used.

Fully restore public delegation opportunities at council meetings to their full 10 minutes, along with all Q&A sessions, and ensure residents always have meaningful access to their elected representatives. No resident should ever be prevented from bringing forward concerns, ideas, questions, or grievances. You deserve to be heard openly, respectfully, and fairly.

Restore meaningful public participation in municipal government. Residents should not feel excluded from decisions that affect their communities. City Hall must become more accessible, more responsive, and more accountable. Local government works best when citizens are informed, engaged, and empowered.

Update — October 2, 2026: And it isn't just transparency — it's conduct. Pickering council meetings have ended in cleared chambers, shouted “order,” and recesses called to empty the room. While the people at the table fought, residents were shut out of City Hall for more than a year and a half: in January 2025, council meetings moved fully online, leaving residents with no podium, no microphone, and no face-to-face with the people they elected. Chambers are only now reopening this September. These meetings decide your taxes, your roads and your services — and lately they can't make it to the end of the agenda. Pickering residents cannot afford another four years of this, nor should they be expected to tolerate it.

Read the full report: VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED — Pickering residents cannot afford another four years of this, nor should they be expected to tolerate it.

Encampments are growing in our parks, including Esplanade Park. Across Durham Region, roughly 1,345 people were counted as experiencing homelessness in the most recent count — more than double the 2021 number.

What the data actually shows:

• About half of respondents report substance use as an ongoing health challenge
• Over half report mental health conditions
• Income loss, not addiction, is the leading reported cause of housing loss

Housing and outreach:

• Fast track supportive and transitional housing across Durham Region
• Fully fund the 24-hour street outreach team so every person gets connected to a real housing plan
• Push Durham Region to use available federal encampment funding
• Turn seasonal warming centres into year-round low-barrier spaces
• Partner with local landlords and developers on affordable housing

Addiction and mental health:

• Expand detox beds and addiction treatment capacity in Durham, since demand for voluntary treatment already exceeds supply
• Invest in harm reduction and mental health outreach alongside treatment, since the two work together, not in place of each other
• Study involuntary treatment carefully for repeat offenders whose addiction is driving a cycle of crime, following Ontario's current review of this approach, while weighing the real concerns health experts raise about effectiveness and Charter rights

Keeping public buildings from becoming crash sites:

• Adjusted access hours and secured entry points at libraries, transit stations, and community centres
• Design changes like better lighting and clearer sightlines that reduce hidden crash spots without targeting anyone
• By-law enforcement paired with outreach on the same call, not enforcement alone
• Front-line staff trained to de-escalate and connect people to Durham's outreach line first
• Nearby washroom and warming access, so there is a legitimate place to go instead of a stairwell or transit shelter

Helping local businesses respond legally:

• Trespass to Property Act notices for specific individuals and specific behaviour, not for being homeless
• Documented incident logs that support a trespass order or peace bond when needed
• A shared BIA ambassador or outreach worker who checks in with people before it becomes a police matter
• Legal, non-hostile design choices like adjusted lighting and seating
• 311 or Street Outreach as the first call, with police reserved for actual criminal behaviour
• Cost-shared security patrols among businesses during high-traffic hours

A necessary caution: Courts have been clear that people cannot simply be pushed from public property to public property without any shelter alternative. Enforcement without outreach just relocates the problem instead of solving it. The most durable approach pairs enforcement with a real place for people to go.

This takes all of us:

• The city
• The region
• The province
• The community

Sources:

• City of Pickering (Homelessness FAQ)
• Region of Durham 2024 Point-in-Time Count Report
• Association of Municipalities of Ontario (Jan 2026 report)
• Government of Canada (Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative, Aug 2026)
• CMHA Ontario and CAMH policy briefs on involuntary treatment
• CBC News (May 2025) on Ontario's review of involuntary addiction treatment for the correctional system

The Opportunity: With the City of Pickering now positioned to become the owner of Frenchman's Bay through a tri-party funding arrangement (City, Province, and Federal government) targeting roughly $30 million, the real question shifts from "who will develop it" to "what should we do with it." This plan proposes a self-sustaining, revenue-generating waterfront built around boating tourism, not housing — without selling off an inch of public shoreline.

Why housing doesn't belong on this waterfront:

• Liverpool Road dead-ends at the water — it is the sole road in and out for residents, visitors, and emergency vehicles
• That road is already congested in peak season; hundreds of new units would compound a problem a single road cannot absorb
• Much of the land sits at or near the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station's exclusion zone
• The Bay is a sensitive wetland and marsh environment that concentrated construction would damage

A better place for growth:

Pickering still needs new housing — but the Highway 401 corridor offers direct highway access, existing municipal infrastructure, and none of the safety and environmental trade-offs of the waterfront. As Mayor, I will direct planning staff to prioritize the 401 corridor for new residential density and treat Frenchman's Bay as a protected public asset, not a housing site.

The Plan — a boater destination, not a housing development:

• Transient dock system: Overnight, weekend, and weekly dockage with tiered fees for visiting boaters
• Shore-side amenities: Washrooms, showers, laundry, pump-out, Wi-Fi, and covered gathering space
• Fuel (gas) dock: A practical, achievable revenue stream that often determines whether boaters choose one harbour over another
• Connect the Bay to Liverpool Road: Clear wayfinding so visitor spending flows into the Nautical Village and downtown Pickering
• A fully functional public boat launch: Core infrastructure, not an afterthought. In 2017 the City locked the West Shore spit, which residents had used for 80+ years. I started a petition (2,400+ signatures) documenting the City's promise of a replacement launch — a promise never kept. The 2023 Rotary Frenchman's Bay West Park rebuild delivered a canoe/kayak launch, not the motorized launch residents were told to expect. As Mayor, I will build a public boat launch into the plan from day one.

Implementation phases:

• Phase 1: Independent feasibility study — slip capacity, capital costs, permitting (TRCA, Ministry of Natural Resources), revenue projections
• Phase 2: Capital planning and funding strategy, pursuing provincial and federal marina/tourism grants before committing tax dollars
• Phase 3: Phased construction — transient docks and washroom/shower facilities first, then the fuel dock
• Phase 4: Market Frenchman's Bay as a boating destination to marine tourism networks and Great Lakes cruising publications

Funding and safeguards:

• Self-sustaining revenue from docking fees, fuel sales, and seasonal slip rentals
• Provincial and federal tourism and marine infrastructure grants
• Competitively tendered operating agreement with the City retaining ownership of land and water
• Environmental review (TRCA, provincial) for all dock expansion and fuel dock work
• Public shoreline access preserved and enhanced; existing lakefront businesses supported, not competed against

Governance:

The Bay's commercial operations will be run either directly by the City's parks and facilities division or through a clearly accountable, City-owned operating structure, with public annual reporting on revenue and expenses — no private entity gaining long-term control of public land.

The bottom line: Pickering doesn't have to choose between towers on the waterfront and a bay that costs taxpayers money. A well-run, publicly owned boater destination can turn Frenchman's Bay into an engine for Liverpool Road's businesses and the wider local economy, while keeping the water, the shoreline, and the decision-making in public hands.

Source note: The 2017 gate closure and the community's account of the promised boat launch are documented in a Change.org petition (2,443 signatures, closed) started by Shaun Rickard in November 2019. In 2017–2019 the Mayor was Dave Ryan, not Kevin Ashe (Mayor since November 2022). The Rotary Frenchman's Bay West Park rebuild, which delivered a canoe/kayak launch rather than a motorized launch, was completed in 2023 under the current Council.