Mayor Terry Ugulini is facing competition in this year’s mayoral race from 21-year-old Damon Ford who wants to bring a new perspective to City Hall.
“It’s not the age that matters, it’s the ideas that matter and I think I have the right ideas,” Ford says, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “It’s very important that young voices get heard. I hope that once people meet me and get to know me they’ll understand that I might be a young candidate but my mind and my mentality is much older than you may think.”
Ford is currently studying child and youth studies, and Spanish and Hispanic studies at Brock University.
He has lived in Thorold his whole life and says he wants to bring back the city’s sense of community.
“I remember growing up as a kid there was a really tight-knit community, especially in old Thorold,” says Ford. “Over time with new developments and stuff like that it has taken away from the charm. There’s a point in time where everyone was flying a flag outside their door, everyone knew their neighbour, everybody greeted you with a smile. Now I walk down the street and nothing. I really want to bring it back to that point, to really feel like a community again.”
To get an idea of what people want from the city, Ford says he’s gone around town and talked to many local residents.
“A lot of people are unsatisfied right now and I want to try and make a difference,” he says. “We’re a small community and the way that these taxes are it’s becoming impossible for a small family to buy a house or even rent a house. The cost keeps going up and up and up.”
Ford’s platform will focus on four pillars: accountability, sustainability, infrastructure, and housing.
“The people who have lived here their whole life feel forgotten,” Ford says. “They feel like the city is now only trying to cater to people coming in, to students, to foreigners, to people coming in from the GTA. They feel like they’ve been left behind. My whole goal is to make them feel involved. I want people to feel like this is their city.”
To campaign Ford is using a grassroots style approach.
"If we’re talking financial I’ll be going in with a lot less than Terry Ugulini," says Ford. "I’m going in on a very grassroots style, minimal funding, just doing my hardest to knock on doors, go out in the community and get to know people."
At the end of the day, Ford says he hopes to make Thorold a better place for everyone.
“Taxes, inflation, everything is hitting the city hard right now,” he says. “I have not as much politic experience but I have young ideas on how to go forward. I want the community to come together.”
