Devon Caron

Nelson is growing, and that growth and the infrastructure required to support it need to be planned together. Our water supply, wastewater treatment, roads, public facilities and other essential systems require us to think beyond the next budget or election cycle.

Important work is already underway, and I want to see that momentum continue as we face major infrastructure decisions in the years ahead. As a councillor, I will press for long-term planning, careful oversight and transparency. As a community, we should understand what we’re building, why we need it, what it will cost and how we’re preparing for those costs over time.

Planning for our future also means preparing for the risks we know are here. Wildfire is a serious threat to communities across our region, and Nelson can’t afford to be complacent. We must continue investing in wildfire mitigation, protecting our watersheds and working with our regional and provincial partners to make our community as resilient as we can.

I want Nelson to invest before aging infrastructure becomes an emergency, prepare before foreseeable risks become disasters, and make sure the next generation isn’t left dealing with problems we already knew were coming.

People shouldn’t have to build their day around the bus schedule. I want transit in Nelson to be frequent and reliable enough that it works around people’s lives, not the other way around.

Right now, missing a bus by a few minutes can sometimes mean waiting an hour or more for the next one, and service drops off significantly in the evening. That’s not practical for someone finishing a shift at a hotel, restaurant or health-care facility long after buses have stopped running.

I want to see more frequent service throughout the day, better evening service and the return of Sunday service. Our community doesn’t stop on the weekend. People still work, go to church, use the library and pool, visit friends and family, and need to get around.

Nelson’s transit is part of a complex regional system, with funding and service decisions involving partners beyond City Council. I won’t promise changes that one councillor can’t deliver, but I will work with our regional partners, advocate for better service and make transit a priority in those conversations.

Nelson’s local economy is built by the people who live and work here, and it is sustained by visitors who choose to stay, eat, shop and come back.

Arts and culture, markets, community celebrations, sporting events and tournaments all play a role. They bring people downtown, fill hotel rooms and restaurants, support local businesses, and make Nelson a more vibrant and connected place for the people who call it home.

Council cannot create a strong local economy on its own, but it can be a good partner. That means maintaining the public spaces and facilities that make these activities possible, taking a practical approach to events and permits, and recognizing arts, sports, recreation and small businesses as pillars of our community, not extras.

Homelessness, substance use and mental illness affect our whole community, but not everyone experiences them in the same way. Some people are living without the housing, care and support they need. Downtown residents live with the strain of repeated break-ins, damage and emergencies near their homes. Business owners and workers manage crises outside their doors, while emergency responders and service providers try to fill gaps they don’t have the resources to fill.

Everyone deserves dignity, respect and safety, regardless of where they live. Being homeless, living with addiction or experiencing mental illness does not automatically make someone a threat. At the same time, smoking drugs in public places, break-ins, property damage and threatening behaviour have a real impact on others. The circumstances behind that behaviour matter, but they do not erase that impact.

Any response has to take both of those truths seriously. Ignoring what residents, workers and businesses are living with will not make our community safer. Destroying encampments or moving people along when they have nowhere to go may relieve pressure in one area, but it merely moves it somewhere else.

Much of what is missing is outside the City’s control. We need the Province to provide more mental health care, substance use treatment, housing and other support, and the City must keep pressing for those resources. There are no cost-free choices. When those needs go unmet, we pay through crisis response, enforcement and cleanup. The question is not whether we spend public money. It is what that spending accomplishes.

I won’t promise a solution I don’t have. I will pay attention, listen to the people living with these problems and be honest about what the City can and cannot do. I will make the best decisions I can, without losing sight of anyone who has to live with them.