Spencer Radford says his decision to run for Bay Ward city council is rooted in a lifelong desire to help others.The 24-year-old says public service has always been the direction he wanted his life to take, even if the path changed along the way.
“The earliest memory that my parents like to share is I saw one of those commercials for helping kids in Africa,” Radford recalled. “I left the room, put my allowance into an envelope and wrote ‘Africa’ on it, and they were like, ‘No, that’s not how it works.’”
Radford graduated from Algonquin College with diplomas in Police Foundations and Social Service Worker. Most recently, he served as president of the Kiwanis Club of Kanata-Stittsville.
During his time with the organization, he helped establish a youth centre for students in Grades 7 through 12, providing a safe place for young people after school. He also supported initiatives to provide computers to youth, organized free movie nights in the park and coordinated other community events.
If elected, Radford says his focus will be on improving communication between residents and city hall, rather than making promises he says are beyond the authority of an individual councillor.
“My platform basically is all about what a councillor can do,” he said. “It’s easy to say I’m going to get 20 new bus routes or I’m going to build three big buildings of low-income housing. But what a councillor can do — you’re four per cent of the vote, one of the 25.”
Instead, he believes councillors should prioritize listening to residents and making themselves more accessible.
One of his priorities would be establishing a dedicated ward office in Bay Ward, something he says the community currently lacks.
Radford also hopes to ensure residents can access services in multiple languages. While he currently speaks only English, he says he is learning both French and Arabic and would like a ward office capable of serving residents in all three languages.
Another proposal is what he calls “community voice stations.”
“People just going to get their coffee can have an input and a say on what’s current and what’s going on in city council,” he said. “That also helps the councillor actually bring facts and evidence to council instead of saying, ‘My people want five new bus routes.’ You’d say something like 72 per cent of people are interested in taking this bus route and they’re willing to give away this bus route or make it shorter.”