Candidate for Mayor of Waterloo · Candidate profile
Jamie Hari
Stated goals and qualifications drawn from the candidate’s campaign website.
- Candidate record
- August 21, 2026
Political landscape
Economic and social position
Positions are measured from the centre; they are placements, not ratings.1
- Economic position
- 8 points left
- Social position
- 9 points progressive
- Overall position
- 8.5 points left
The chart places Hari strongly on the economic left and near the progressive end of the social axis, consistent with a platform of municipal ownership, non-market housing, universal free transit, progressive taxation, stronger unions and a smaller police budget.
For the overall placement, progressive movement counts leftward and conservative movement counts rightward; the two axes are then averaged.
1 Plotted positions were transcribed from The Star’s Vote Compass results. Candidates absent from that chart are clearly marked as estimates.
The goals and qualifications below summarize statements published by the candidate’s campaign.
Goals for the term
Basic Needs
- Provide existing food banks with resources to meet residents’ current needs.
- Create at least one city-owned, nonprofit, union-operated grocery store.
- Use bylaws to restrict corporate grocers’ real-estate contracts that limit competition from small businesses.
- Incentivize community food gardens and food-production and distribution cooperatives.
- Prohibit water privatization by bylaw and advocate legal action to defend public water.
- Require major commercial and industrial water users to disclose consumption publicly.
- Require public consultation before a business begins materially drawing local water.
- Set a water service standard of 99.9% availability and a 24-hour restoration objective for systemic issues.
- Automatically declare a state of emergency when the water availability standard is breached.
- Revoke landlord licences when a rental unit fails the water availability standard.
- Introduce landlord licensing and a public rent and holdings registry with scaled registration fees.
- Require affordable units in new developments: 25% affordable for singles and 50% for families.
- Create a municipal corporation to build and operate non-market housing, targeting 10% of the city’s stock within 20 years.
Economic
- Replace residential property taxation with a progressive scheme, a $250,000 tax-free allowance, 2% revenue growth in 2027 and subsequent growth tied to inflation.
- Set municipal fees and fines as percentages of household income instead of flat amounts.
Environment
- Create a pollution licensing and emissions registry and levy contributions to an environmental resilience fund.
- Condition businesses’ access to local programs on meeting provincial and federal emissions standards.
Government
- Advocate replacing first-past-the-post municipal elections with ranked choice or a similar system.
Public Safety
- Reduce the City’s contribution to the Waterloo Regional Police Service budget by half.
- Ban automatic licence-plate recognition and facial-recognition cameras by bylaw.
- Replace the regional police service with a community security service.
Public Services
- Phase in free GRT passes, beginning with seniors and students and then extending them to every Waterloo resident.
- Create publicly funded, regional, union-operated city-wide snow removal, using electric equipment where practicable.
- Advocate free tuition for Waterloo residents at local postsecondary institutions.
- Put binding service levels, penalties and communication and documentation requirements into outsourced infrastructure contracts.
- Limit how far ahead of actual construction demolition, road grooving and lane closures may occur.
- Set binding transit service targets and publish wait-time and customer-satisfaction performance metrics.
- Require future city development to be transit-centred rather than car-centred.
- Improve path safety through traffic separation, lighting, sight lines and signage.
- Support road and path coexistence education in schools, newcomer programs and the wider region.
- Consider non-emergency construction freezes in busy areas during critical periods.
Qualifications and experience
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Has lived in Waterloo for more than 20 years. Source ↗
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Ran as an independent candidate in the 2025 federal election. Source ↗
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Works as a Director of Product Management. Source ↗
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Is a cybersecurity evangelist. Source ↗
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Founded the Marvel Database. Source ↗
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Is a public speaker. Source ↗
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Has more than 15 years of experience managing people. Source ↗