District 7 · Kingscourt-Rideau Heights
Open governance. Careful budgeting. Results-first advocacy for District 7.
A lifelong builder and community health advocate running for Kingston City Council. Two decades of board governance, frontline advocacy, and policy wins that reached from Queen's Park to the House of Commons — now brought home to District 7.
Monday, October 26, 2026. Advance polls Oct 16–17. Online voting Oct 14–26.
About Michael
“Good governance connects the dots. It doesn't just check boxes ward by ward.”
I am a lifelong builder — of homes, of businesses, and of community. Two decades across the trades, corporate leadership, and consulting shape how I approach public service today: careful stewardship of public dollars, clear-eyed oversight, and a refusal to let big decisions get made behind closed doors.
An injury led me to retire early from the trades, and in 2018 I made Kingston my home. That transition gave me firsthand experience with the very systems — healthcare, housing, and accessibility — that I now work to improve. It's also why I take municipal decisions personally: they show up in real lives, in real neighbourhoods, every day.
As Community Spokesperson and Ambassador Program Lead for the Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Ontario Health Team, I champion the principle of "nothing about us without us" — ensuring lived experience shapes health policy rather than being an afterthought. That's the same discipline I want to bring to Council.
I believe municipal politics should stay free of party lines. Council business belongs in the open, not in camera. And city-wide decisions must connect the dots between wards rather than being made in silos. For Kingscourt-Rideau Heights, that means a councillor who already knows how to manage budgets, hold institutions accountable, and win — for the people they represent.
“Good governance connects the dots. It doesn't just check boxes ward by ward.”
In Business
Tradesman, business owner, corporate executive, consultant, landlord. That range has taught me to look at problems from more than one angle — which is exactly what good governance requires.
I trained as a carpenter through a formal apprenticeship and George Brown College, then spent over a decade building and running my own custom kitchen and bathroom renovation company. Owning a business myself — not just working for one — taught me early on how every dollar has to be accounted for, and how decisions made on paper eventually show up in someone's real life.
I moved into senior sales, executive leadership, and business development roles, including national accounts work with recognized brands like Kohler and years as the sales and development lead for Burcam — a manufacturer of commercial, residential, and industrial pumps (including the sump pumps, well pumps, and water systems municipalities and homeowners rely on every day). That work meant understanding water infrastructure from the inside, not just in theory. It's part of why I take water safety oversight in the current MSC discussion as seriously as I do. I managed large territories, negotiated agreements, and took direct responsibility for revenue that ran into the millions annually — on some major builder and developer accounts, budgets that reached a scale comparable to a city's annual budget.
I spent years consulting for manufacturers looking to enter or expand in the Ontario and Canadian market — representing their products, building relationships with C-suite decision-makers, and helping new brands establish themselves here. That work sharpened a skill that matters just as much in council chambers as in a boardroom: knowing how to evaluate an unfamiliar proposal quickly and ask the right questions before committing to it.
Today, that same practical instinct shapes how I approach governance. Serving on the boards of healthcare and community organizations has meant real financial oversight, strategic planning, and accountability to the people those organizations serve. Whether the budget belonged to my own company, a client, or a not-for-profit board, the discipline is the same: understand where the money goes, ask hard questions, and make sure decisions deliver real value — not just good intentions.
Proven Advocacy
I don't just talk about problems, I fix them. Here are three campaigns where I turned advocacy into policy — and one long-running effort still delivering for Kingston families today.
When credit card and retail loyalty points were set to expire on Canadians — taking hard-earned rewards from families who had paid for them — I fought for a change in the law. That advocacy reached Queen's Park and helped bring in protections that now stop those points from expiring, saving Canadians millions of dollars.
Covered by CBC Marketplace and The National.
Awarded through Canada's Chancellery of Honours.
I personally advocated to get hip resurfacing — a procedure and implant — approved first in Ontario and then across Canada, opening that option to patients who need it.
I raised disability parking directly with government. MP Mark Gerretsen presented my petition in the House of Commons, and MPP Ted Hsu brought the same petition before the Ontario Legislature. A resident's vehicle is sometimes their accessibility aid — not a convenience — and that petition made the case at both levels of government.
Over the past four and a half years, I've helped facilitate and coordinate more than $580,000 in food and essentials for local families — including a recent 35,000-pound shipment of Barilla Canada pasta (roughly $170,000) delivered to Partners in Mission Food Bank.
Recognized with the King Charles III Coronation Medal at Rideau Hall.
The Big Issues Right Now
Five issues on the table this term — with clear positions, careful reasoning, and honest questions where I still need answers.
I have carefully reviewed the proposed MSC model for our water and wastewater infrastructure, and several concerns deserve a direct answer. This proposal is fundamentally a change in financing structure and borrowing capacity, not simply an infrastructure fix — the real question is whether that restructuring actually improves efficiency, accountability, transparency, and long-term cost to residents.
Governance and oversight also remain unresolved. I want clear answers on how much Council oversight will exist over borrowing decisions, what public accountability mechanisms will be in place, and how operational independence is maintained given the overlap in leadership between Utilities Kingston and the proposed MSC.
Water and wastewater systems are critical public health infrastructure, and Ontario has already lived through the consequences of insufficient oversight in Walkerton — a history I raise not as a prediction but as a reminder of why robust safeguards exist. With a $1.3 billion infrastructure deficit still unmanaged, we need to show that existing assets are being managed responsibly before we expand borrowing capacity or structural complexity.
The burden of proof lies with the proposal, not with the residents who ask questions about it.
The initial alarm over $400,000 in unaccounted funds was avoidable, because we now know exactly where that money went. $262,000 covered an Ontario Superior Court labour dispute judgment against the KATC, between $30,000 and $40,000 is owed directly to the CRA in unpaid payroll taxes, and roughly $167,000 — nearly half of the KATC's entire 2025 operating budget — was spent on consultants and legal fees.
On April 7, 2026, Council voted unanimously to advance up to $400,000 from the City's reserves to cover these costs, including a forensic audit estimated at $50,000 to $100,000. All of it falls on taxpayers.
The money is already accounted for. Spending tens of thousands more on a forensic audit to retrace funds that are already documented is not accountability — it is an expensive way of confirming what we already know, with little realistic chance of recovering anything for taxpayers.
What we actually need is a Governance Gap Study. City Councillors sat directly on the KATC Board throughout this entire collapse. I want answers to the questions that matter: did appointed Councillors complete onboarding and sign the required documentation, why did financial information fail to flow back to City Hall, and why are meeting minutes and agendas missing?
Too much city business is still conducted behind closed doors, away from the public view it deserves. It feels like we are heading toward more time in camera than in open council, and that does not sit well with me.
Council's business belongs in plain view — debated openly where residents can see it, not settled quietly behind closed doors. That is a standard I will hold myself and my colleagues to if elected.
Too often, I see city decisions made ward by ward and department by department, without anyone connecting the dots between them. Councillors vote on issues that affect the whole city, not just their own ward — we cannot afford to govern in silos.
My approach is to keep a finger on the pulse of all of Kingston — from the MSC to the taxi commission to everything in between — so that city-wide decisions genuinely support daily life here in Ward 7. Good governance connects the dots. It does not just check boxes ward by ward.
Council recently voted to increase its own pay by 19 percent, justified as catching up on several years of modest or skipped cost-of-living adjustments. That is not how cost-of-living works for most people. Many Kingston workers went without meaningful raises during the same period and simply absorbed it — with no compounded, multi-year top-up waiting for them once things stabilized.
If every group whose income was frozen or reduced during that period had since received a compounded increase like this, on top of resuming normal annual adjustments, it simply would not be sustainable. It only happened here because council was setting its own compensation.
An increase of this size should not have been decided by council alone. Ontario law already allows municipalities to place a question directly on the municipal ballot — residents could have had a real voice on something this significant, either through that mechanism or a genuine public consultation process, rather than council settling it entirely on its own terms.
On the ground in Kingston
I hear about these issues everywhere I go — in the community, on doorsteps, through emails, across social media. And through the research and governance oversight I do regularly. They are not going away on their own. Here is what we're up against, together.
Public health infrastructure needs public oversight.
Water & InfrastructureLow-income, geared-to-income, and affordable — rental and ownership. All of it.
HousingPer the City of Kingston's own numbers.
Streets & MobilityKingston's most persistent, urgent, intertwined crisis.
Health & CommunityWhat the site becomes matters to the neighbourhood, not just the balance sheet.
Public AssetsThe basics people notice every day.
Quality of LifeConsultation should mean listening, not narrating.
GovernanceNot the amount — the process. Ratepayers deserved a say.
GovernanceGrowth is good; growth without stewardship isn't.
GrowthSidewalks, curbs, parking, transit — and the buildings we approve.
AccessibilityA high-school that's outgrown its site — with real safety issues.
SchoolsThe transition itself creates gaps that hit the most vulnerable first.
Health ServicesThe right facility for the right community — with the right price tag.
Big BuildsHow it connects to transit, housing, and District 7 residents matters.
Big BuildsOnce expanded, rarely reversed. Deserves a real conversation.
Land UseCity to purchase; future still undecided. The neighbourhood should weigh in.
Land UseA rare urban working landscape worth protecting.
Green SpaceWhat the airport becomes affects the whole region.
TransportationA generational project with generational impact.
InfrastructureReal prevention, clear accountability, honest data.
Public SafetyEvery avoidable friction costs residents money and time.
City Systems“This isn't a wishlist — it's a working watchlist. Good governance means keeping your finger on all of it at once.”
— Michael Judd
Governance & Community Leadership
Board rooms, health tables, and community committees across Kingston and the region. This is where the fiduciary discipline and lived-experience advocacy meet.
“When a building has zero parking, it can also have zero accessible parking in Kingston. I've raised this directly with Council, as a resident's vehicle is sometimes a legal accessibility aid for them, not a convenience.”
— Michael Judd
As of 2026, Bill 9 gives Ontario municipalities real teeth — elected officials found guilty of serious wrongdoing can now actually be removed from office, not just have their pay suspended.
Endorsements
From regional councillors to former MPPs, educators, and long-time friends — a cross-section of Ontarians who have watched Michael lead.
“I've known Michael Judd for 20 years, and I'm giving him my strongest endorsement for Kingston City Council. I first met Michael through our local yacht club, where he served as racing captain of a sailing crew I raced with for many years. He was a patient and effective leader — teaching us what it took to compete and win. That kind of leadership isn't theoretical; it's earned in real time, under pressure, with a team counting on you. I know Michael as someone who gets the best out of people without micromanaging them, who takes time to make sure everyone understands the "why" behind what they're doing, and who shows up consistently for the causes and people he cares about. Kingston will be well served by his presence on City Council.”
I've known Michael for a number of years through my role as a Regional and Town Councillor in Halton and Oakville. Michael has always advocated fiercely for his community and neighbourhood. He is approachable, consistent, and would make a great municipal Councillor.
Michael will make an excellent Councillor in Kingston. A passionate advocate for consumer and community causes, he will bring energy and thoughtful approaches to help Kingston be the best it can be.
Congrats on putting your hat in the ring for the local Kingston City Council — they certainly would benefit from having a passionate person such as yourself at their Council Table.
In the Press
From an op-ed in The Whig Standard on the quiet power of giving, to Global News coverage of waterfront advocacy — and a formal letter to Council still awaiting reply.
When I moved to Kingston about eight years ago, I didn't anticipate the way this community would reshape my understanding of what it means to serve and be served. Volunteering has not only connected me to causes and people I care about — it has helped me heal, find purpose, and realize that doing something meaningful need not require fanfare or funding. Sometimes, it's the quiet act of showing up that changes lives, including your own.
It's been an honour to contribute across a wide range of areas over the years — from accessible housing and alleyway cleanups, to sailing programs for people with visual impairments, to community health, food security, and mental health support. Most recently, I helped coordinate the delivery of over $300,000 worth of food and essential goods to our region in partnership with Barilla Pasta and several other organizations.
We sometimes frame volunteerism as a kind of giving with nothing in return, but perhaps that's the wrong lens. The return is often immense. It's social, emotional, even spiritual. Study after study has shown what many of us already know deep down: helping others improves mental health, eases depression and isolation, builds resilience, and contributes to longer life expectancy.
Years ago, while recovering from an injury that forced early retirement, I lost not just income, but a sense of usefulness. Small acts — delivering for food banks, organizing neighbourhood cleanups, launching a local photo contest in Rideau Heights — led to larger opportunities. One thing led to another, and today I serve on several boards and health committees across the region. The impact has stemmed from simply saying "yes" when help is needed.
So here's an invitation: if you've been on the sidelines, consider stepping in. Even an hour a week can make a difference. Find a cause that resonates. Or simply look around your street. Kindness, consistency, and care ripple outward. And to the many people who already serve quietly: thank you. You are not just making Kingston better. You are making yourself better too. That's the quiet power of giving.
Two Kingston waterfront stories. Two Global News crews. Same experience each time — pushing the same rope up a different governance hill.
After noticing an abandoned sailboat leaking diesel, coolant, and cleaning fluids into Kingston's harbour near Doug Fluhrer Park, Michael spent a full year lobbying his MP, the City, and the Coast Guard until the boat was finally removed in November 2022.
Read the story“I saw it as a real danger.”
A follow-up story on a second derelict vessel near the Belle Park and Belle Island bridge — a separate CKWS crew went out to the site in the middle of a rain and sleet storm to get the footage. Two boats, two stories, and the same experience each time.
Read the storyGet Involved
Questions about the platform? Ideas for Ward 7? Want to volunteer, host a sign, or just talk about the issues on this ballot? Reach out — I read everything.
For Kingscourt-Rideau Heights, that means a councillor who already knows how to manage budgets, hold institutions accountable, and fight — successfully — for the people I represent.Want a lawn sign, keen to help with door-knocking, or thinking about a contribution? Reach out and I'll follow up with everything you need. Campaign contributions and volunteer help are always deeply appreciated as we work to build a more sustainable and accessible community together.
