Dan Meinen·Ward 7·London, Ontario

Sources for the claims on this page

Every statistic and factual assertion in this platform is sourced from public reporting, City of London documents, or official government records. The references below are organized by priority area. If you would like to verify any specific claim, the original source is one click away. Last verified May 2026.

Election Logistics
  1. City of London. 2026 Municipal Election. Official election information, including nomination period, advance voting dates (October 1, 3, 5 to 10), and Election Day (Monday, October 26, 2026). london.ca/government/elections
Priority 1  ·  Tax Dollars Spent Carefully
  1. Lupton, A. What we know about the contract and the consultant that's cost taxpayers $800K. CBC News, May 2023. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  2. Lupton, A. London has spent almost $400K to develop housing software that's not being used. CBC News, May 2023. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  3. Lupton, A. Councillors to get report about housing software boondoggle in September. CBC News, May 2023. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  4. Global News. 10 years, $1M later: London, Ont. expected to exit social housing software consortium. November 2023. Source for the City's identified costs growing to roughly $1 million by late 2023, with about $210,000 recovered from other consortium members. globalnews.ca/news/10088649
  5. CBC News. London asks Queen's Park for $100 million to fund north-leg BRT. January 2026. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  6. CBC News. BRT readiness report. April 2026 (Stantec consultant report on BRT system already under construction). cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  7. City of London. Mobility Master Plan, July 2025. Successor to the 2019 Transportation Master Plan; reintroduced north and west BRT corridor planning. london.ca/living-london/roads-sidewalks-transportation/mobility-master-plan
  8. City of London. Multi-Year Budget 2024 to 2027. Source for tax history (8.7% in 2024, 7.3% in 2025, 3.4% in 2026, projected 4.7% for 2027) and the $9.6 million in identified internal savings. london.ca/government/budget-finance
Priority 1  ·  Vacant Commercial Building Bylaw
  1. Trevithick, M. London's downtown office vacancy rate is still the highest in Canada. CBC News, January 2026, citing CBRE Q4 2025 commercial real estate data. Source for the 31.5% vacancy figure and the Class A vacancy of 19.8%. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  2. Dubinski, K. Is the city doing enough to deal with downtown's vacant buildings? CBC News, March 2021. Source for the 30 per cent vacancy rebate that ran until 2019 and the approximately $2 million in foregone annual revenue. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  3. City of London. Core Area Land and Building Vacancy Reduction Strategy. Staff report, May 2023. Source for the concentration of vacancy in older Class B and Class C buildings. london.ca/business-development
  4. Province of Ontario. Municipal Vacant Home Tax framework. Authority extended to all single and upper tier Ontario municipalities effective March 27, 2024. Currently used in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Windsor, and Sault Ste. Marie. Commercial property is not currently within scope. ontario.ca/page/municipal-vacant-home-tax
  5. City of St. Catharines. Vacant Building Registry By-law (No. 2022-097). Enacted under sections 8 and 10 of the Municipal Act, 2001 with no requirement for provincial authority. Includes registration fees and Administrative Monetary Penalties for non-compliance. Primary precedent for Ontario vacant building registry programs. stcatharines.ca/en/by-laws-and-animal-services
  6. City of Oshawa. Vacant Buildings and Land Registry Bylaw, Report SF-23-10. Adopted under existing Municipal Act authority. Demonstrates that the registry-and-fee approach scales to mid-size Ontario municipalities without provincial intervention. pub-oshawa.escribemeetings.com
  7. Town of Prescott. Vacant Buildings By-law 46-2021 and Administrative Monetary Penalties By-law 48-2021. Per-suite escalating fee structure with revenue split equally between fire prevention, building and bylaw, and the town's Community Improvement Plan. Cumulative AMPs to $10,000. prescott.ca/town-services/by-laws
  8. City of Toronto. Vacant Home Tax Bylaw 97-2022. Primary precedent for the beneficial-ownership look-through clause. toronto.ca/services-payments/property-taxes-utilities
Priority 2  ·  Smart Growth on the Hyde Park Corridor
  1. Sims, J. Committee backs major urban boundary expansion amid First Nation concerns. London Free Press, December 2024. Source for the 1,476 hectare Urban Growth Boundary expansion. lfpress.com/news/local-news
  2. City of London. The London Plan and Official Plan. Statutory planning framework. london.ca/government/strategic-planning/london-plan
  3. L82 Construction Limited. Hyde Park Road Widening Phase 2. Project page for the second of two phases on Hyde Park Road, with a stated combined value of approximately $40 million. l82construction.ca/project/hyde-park-road-widening-phase-2
  4. City of London. Government of Ontario invests $18 million in Sunningdale Road West Improvements. Confirms the Sunningdale Road West widening between Wonderland Road and Villagewalk Boulevard, expanding from two to four lanes, with construction anticipated to begin in 2026 and reported by CTV as a two-year project. london.ca/newsroom/feature/government-ontario-invests-18-million-sunningdale-road-west-improvements
  5. Lupton, A. Province kicks in $18M to upgrade Sunningdale Road in area of rapid growth. CBC News, August 14, 2025. Source for Mayor Josh Morgan’s statement at the announcement on the gap between infrastructure timing and growth, and the acknowledgment that without provincial funding the upgrades would have required London taxpayer borrowing. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  6. City of Pickering. Seaton Community. Master-planned community of approximately 7,000 acres governed since 2006 by the Central Pickering Development Plan and operating under Regional Front-Ending Agreements that require developer consortia to pre-fund trunk infrastructure as a condition of phased land release. Real-world Ontario precedent for a coordinated infrastructure-first growth model. pickering.ca/business-building-development/seaton-community
  7. City of Markham. Cornell Secondary Plan. New Urbanist planned community begun in the 1990s under a multi-phase implementation plan with land release gated to water-permit allocation by York Region. Long-running Ontario precedent for phased development tied to servicing capacity. markham.ca/economic-development-business
Priority 3  ·  Transit That Actually Works in the Northwest
  1. London Transit Commission. 2025 Service Plan. Source for the Route 10 termination at Masonville and Route 127 frequency range of 17 to 60 minutes. londontransit.ca/about/business-plans
  2. London Transit Commission. Bus Rapid Transit Network Handout. Source for the BRT corridor map and station locations (12.5 km North or South corridor, 14 km East or West corridor). londontransit.ca
  3. London Transit Commission. Annual Service Plan. Source for the 6,000 hour funded gap (24,000 service hours identified as priority versus 18,000 funded). londontransit.ca/about/business-plans
  4. City of London. Bus Rapid Transit Project Schedule. East London Link target completion August 2027; Wellington Gateway target completion summer 2028. shifthappens.london.ca
  5. London Transit Commission. Park & Ride Pass. Existing program covering Lots 1 and 2 north of Dundas Street downtown only, served by Routes 2 and 20. No suburban park and ride lots in current LTC system. londontransit.ca/fares/park-ride
  6. Calgary Transit. Park & Ride Policy. Source for the 17,000 spaces across 33 locations, 15 per cent of weekday transit ridership, and the five-kilometre minimum-distance-from-CBD rule referenced in the Park-and-Ride white paper. calgarytransit.com/content/transit/en/home/park-and-ride/policy
  7. Oxfordshire County Council. Free park and ride bus travel offer to continue. January 2026; and Park and ride proving popular with Oxford temporary congestion charge. February 2026. Source for the 119,172 additional journeys, 44.6 per cent year-over-year growth, and 63 per cent Redbridge increase cited in the Park-and-Ride white paper. news.oxfordshire.gov.uk
  8. Mingardo, G. A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of park-and-ride facilities. 2015. Forty-study, 180-site European meta-analysis identifying public-transport mode and point of intercept as the two strongest predictors of site effectiveness. researchgate.net
Priority 4  ·  Homelessness, Outcomes Not Effort
  1. City of London. Homelessness Online Dashboards. Existing public dashboard with monthly aggregate data on people experiencing homelessness, demographics, and encampments. london.ca/living-london/community-services
  2. City of London. Snapshot of Homelessness in London, January 2025. Source for the December 31, 2024 active by-name list count of 1,595 individuals; 15.5 per cent chronically homeless; 19.7 per cent identifying as Indigenous; approximately 200 individuals at high acuity (12.5 per cent of the active list); 7,402 households on the Rent-Geared-to-Income wait list; and 42 households housed from the wait list in Q4 2024. london.ca/sites/default/files
  3. City of London. Health and Homelessness in London, Hub Strategy. Source for the approximately 600 Londoners identified as the City’s high-complexity-needs population for Hub-based interventions. getinvolved.london.ca/health-and-homelessness-in-london
  4. City of London. Q3 2024 Snapshot of Homelessness. Source for the September 30, 2024 active by-name list peak of 1,935 individuals. london.ca/sites/default/files
  5. City of London. Health and Homelessness Fund for Change. $37.6 million fund including a $25 million anonymous donation; more than $26 million committed to specialized Hubs and highly supportive housing. lcf.on.ca/fund-for-change
  6. City of London. Cheese Factory Road Micro Modular Shelter. 60 unit facility supporting up to 70 people; opened February 2026. london.ca/living-london/community-services
  7. Bhargava, I. 2 supportive housing projects come to life in London and St. Thomas, Ont. CBC News, April 9, 2026. Source for the Indwell 50-unit London residence opening. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  8. City of London. Whole of Community System Response. Coordinated approach to homelessness involving city, health, and community partners. london.ca/living-london/community-services
  9. City of Toronto. Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) Program. Primary precedent for using municipal revenue to acquire residential properties for non-profit operation as affordable and supportive housing. Pairs directly with the Vacant Home Tax framework cited in Priority 1. toronto.ca/community-people/community-partners
  10. Financial Accountability Office of Ontario. An Update on Subsidized Housing Programs in Ontario, March 4, 2026. Independent provincial analysis of subsidized housing spending, households supported, and projected gap between provincial program capacity and households in core housing need. fao-on.org/en/report/subsidized-housing-2026
  11. Wellesley Institute and Supportive Housing for Ontario Table. Ontario 2026 Budget submission on supportive housing, February 2026. Source for the analysis that the 2026 provincial budget’s 425-unit supportive housing investment, at the current pace, would take nearly a century to clear the wait list. wellesleyinstitute.com
  12. Ontario’s Big City Mayors. Solve the Crisis campaign. Provincial advocacy effort launched August 2024 by the OBCM caucus (Mayor Morgan, Vice-Chair) calling for a single responsible Minister, predictable funding, and provincial action on mental health and addictions as the drivers of homelessness. solvethecrisis.ca
  13. City of London. Council motion backing OBCM state-of-emergency call, December 16, 2025. Council voted 10-2 to support the OBCM request that Ontario declare a state of emergency on homelessness, mental health, and addictions, citing provincial interventions as “welcome, yet insufficient.” cbc.ca/news/canada/london
  14. Seguin, K. More than 7,000 people on London’s supportive housing waitlist, city data shows. CBC News, January 14, 2025. Context for the wait list arithmetic and average rental cost of $1,765 for a one-bedroom unit. cbc.ca/news/canada/london
Candidate Background
  1. Government of Canada. Sacrifice Medal. Decoration awarded for wounds sustained as a direct result of hostile action. canada.ca/en/department-national-defence
  2. Government of Canada. General Campaign Star, South-West Asia. Decoration awarded for service in or in direct support of operations in South-West Asia. canada.ca/en/department-national-defence
  3. Government of Canada. Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation. Awarded to military and civilian units for extraordinary action in extremely hazardous circumstances. canada.ca/en/department-national-defence