The work in
Ward 4 isn't
finished.
A doctor you can get to. Sidewalks and roads that hold up. A town your kids can still afford to live in. Joan Christensen is running for re-election as your councillor, because that work is not finished.
Service · Passion · Experience
won for local primary care, so 9,000 more people in south Niagara can see a provider.
new homes approved since 2023, including places people can actually afford.
new businesses open in Fort Erie, from family shops to major employers.
from the province to fix the beachfront water main and reconnect 84 homes.
The next four years
Six things I intend to finish.
The fight that is not over
Fort Erie is scheduled to lose its urgent care in 2028.
Douglas Memorial has already been cut back twice. The emergency department became an urgent care centre in 2009, and the overnight hours went in 2022, so it now closes at 8pm. When the South Niagara Hospital opens in Niagara Falls in 2028, Niagara Health plans to close what is left.
That leaves a town of nearly 37,000 people, heading for 52,500 by 2050, with the nearest emergency department about 25 kilometres away. For anyone without a car, or with a parent who no longer drives, that is not an inconvenience.
Joan has led on healthcare at the Town since 2018 and sits on the board of Bridges Community Health Centre, which has been allocated $4.75 million so 9,000 more people here can reach a provider. The Town now has consultants building the business case for a health hub at the Bertie Street site, with urgent care and up to 70 beds. The next four years are about turning that work into a building you can walk into.
How Joan plans to do it arrow_forward
In her words
You may not see me at your door.
A campaign is supposed to mean knocking on five thousand doors. I have not been doing much of that, and you deserve to know why. Council still meets. Committees still meet. The healthcare file does not pause for an election. Given the choice between sitting in those rooms and standing on your porch asking for a vote, I have picked the rooms.
The other fair question is this. If I were any good at the job, would the work not be finished by now? Some of it is. The tree by-law passed. The Climate Change Action Plan and the Affordable Housing Plan are written. Bridges received $4.75 million for primary care. But a Facilities and Recreation Master Plan takes longer than one term, and so does reimagining Douglas Memorial, and so does getting senior levels of government back into housing.
Plans that outlast a Council need somebody at the table who remembers why they were written. That is why I am running again, and why I am spending this year doing the job instead of campaigning for it.
Joan Christensen
The last four years
Four years, on streets you know.
Council work can feel far away. Here is some of it, close to home.
Thunder Bay Road
Sidewalks, lighting, water and sewers from Prospect Point to Cook Avenue, plus a roundabout to slow traffic down.
Flooding on Shirley and Bethune
Stood with residents through the study that got a 425 metre berm approved to keep lake water out of basements.
The tree by-law
Proposed after a clear cut in the ward. Cutting down mature trees without permission now costs something.
Care for older residents
A rebuilt Gilmore Lodge with a community hub, a new ten bed hospice, and two new seniors housing projects approved.
Meet Joan
She never planned to be a politician.
Joan came to Canada from Manchester as a girl and has lived near Prospect Point for years. You will usually find her walking two rescued poodles in Ridgeway or Crystal Beach, or doing her shopping downtown.
She spent a career working on healthcare and community services before she ever ran for office. In four years on Council, through the hardest year of her life, she has not missed a meeting.
Read Joan's story arrow_forwardThis is Ward 4
Heritage brick, cottages, dunes and deer.
Five thousand of us live between the lake and the ridge, in a place with wild turkeys in the yard, a battlefield in its history and a main street that refuses to give up.
What people tell Joan at the door is simple. They want their kids to be able to stay. They want the lake, the dunes and the trees left alone. And they want the basics done well.
More about the ward arrow_forward
Voting
Three ways to vote.
Online, from October 5
Internet voting opens Monday, October 5 and stays open until the polls close. You can vote from home, on any device.
Advance polls, October 14 and 17
Wednesday and Saturday, 10am to 8pm, at the Leisureplex Banquet Hall, 3 Municipal Centre Drive.
Election day, Monday October 26
Polls are open 10am to 8pm. Your voter information card tells you where to go.
If getting to a poll is difficult
Voting online avoids the trip altogether. Polling places are accessible, and the Town Clerk's office can help with accessible voting equipment, bringing a support person, or checking that you are on the voters' list. Reach them at elections@forterie.ca or 905-871-1600. If you would rather not sort it out alone, ask me and I will help you find the answer.
Lend an hour, a lawn, or a good idea.
In a ward this size, elections are decided by neighbours talking to neighbours.