Twenty-seven-year-old Kyle Yates was born and raised in St. Thomas. He has been employed in manufacturing for about 10 years. Before that, he attended Fanshawe College in London for computer programming, but switched out of that for CNC machining at Fanshawe’s St. Thomas campus. He is now a part-time student at Western, taking political science.
We began the conversation by asking about the origin of his keen interest in politics.
“It’s been something that I’ve been passionate about for more than half my life,” admitted Yates. “It’s something that I deeply care about. I’ve cared about this city my whole life. I want to give back to it the opportunities that it’s given to me. So politically, I think that’s the way to do it.”
His father, Russ Yates, was a staff sergeant in the St. Thomas Police Service.
“He’s supportive,” suggested Yates, when asked about family reaction to his running for office. “I think he has a similar opinion to some others out there who have this opinion that I’m a bit younger.
“But I see that as a benefit where I represent a subset of St. Thomas that doesn’t normally feel represented. And I think I can bring about bold, effective change with that as a driving motivator.
“I think that’s a common sentiment even with people that aren’t young. They feel like they’ve been kind of left out, and I’m running partly to say that that’s not the case, that there is somebody out there who can represent those views.”
For Yates, housing and housing affordability are key priorities as he campaigns.
“Even the current mayor, Joe Preston, says that there’s a massive need for new housing supply. And I wholeheartedly agree with that, but I think going about it in a smart way is really the key.
We next delved into transit.
“If you look at the transit master plan that the city has developed, you see that there’s a rapidly increasing need for attention to our public transit.
“Another big thing is that I would like to see is a central park in the railway district. We used to have one in front of the CASO station.
“My whole platform is based around the idea that St. Thomas is expected to reach a population of 80,000 by 2050. And in the transit master plan itself, it says that in order to prepare for that over the next 25 years, we’re going to be spending $500 million on infrastructure costs like roads.
“And when you break that down over 25 years, that’s $20 million per year, which is pretty much the entire city budget. So either we’re going to see roads built and maintained at a cost where we have no more money for anything else. Or we’re going to say, yes, we have money for some other things at the cost of our roads not being built.
“So we need to incentivize people to get onto our public transit in order to reduce the need and reliance on those builds and that infrastructure cost.
The city’s heritage and history are an important consideration for Yates.
“I’ve spoken to people at the Elgin County Railway Museum and the CASO station in terms of reinforcing the history and heritage of the town. I’ve been talking to them about ways that that could be achievable. I plan on talking to council members, MPs, MPPs. I plan on talking to the Parks and Rec Department just to see what can be done to expand access to the community programs that we need to see expanded.”
“Another big thing that I would like to see is a central park in the railway district. We used to have one in front of the CASO station. Whether it means working with Doug Tarry behind the CASO station, or whether it means putting a park south of the railway museum. I feel like there’s a couple different avenues to check out.
“I feel like council hasn’t paid enough attention to that area of town in recent years.
“I’m not sure if I have a good chance or a bad chance. But what I can say is what I’ve seen from the community reaching out to me is that the people are ready for some fresh blood and fresh ideas. And that just invigorates me. That gets me going.”
Yates let it be known that he wants to be part of the solution and not the problem.
He continued, “I feel politics has an impact on every single aspect of everybody’s life.”
We circled back to housing and housing supply.
“One thing that’s on my platform is introducing the idea of a vacancy tax where those units that are left sitting, the owners have to pay a fee for that.”
With his proposed 3 per cent vacancy tax, Yates is confident millions of dollars in revenue could be generated.
“Even if it is only hundreds of thousands of dollars, we could reinvest it into programs run by Indwell or like the YMCA’s Project Tiny Hope.
Yates admitted he is touched by the support he is receiving in his campaign.
“The outpouring of support that I’ve seen since I announced has been really touching to see. And the fact that a lot of people are resonating really well with a lot of my platform points is refreshing.”
He agreed social media will play a key role in his campaign, but it will not be his sole focus. He has been active in posting videos to his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/yatesforcouncil/
He was quick to announce his intention to seek a seat in the council chamber at city hall, and he attributed that to excitement.
Yates continued, “I think when I announced, I was definitely nervous. Even now, having this interview, I don’t know really what my chances are at the end of the day. I’m not sure if I have a good chance or a bad chance. But what I can say is what I’ve seen from the community reaching out to me is that the people are ready for some fresh blood and fresh ideas. And that just invigorates me. That gets me going.
“I think if this doesn’t pan out, it won’t be the last you hear of me, that’s for sure. I do believe in myself and my ideas.”
Written by Ian McCallum
