Who would have thought that this would be the last place for me to share that I have decided to run for the position of City Councillor in Dollard-des-Ormeaux District 4?

Not me….Yet here we are. The election is on Sunday and I am only mentioning it on the blog now.

I would have imagined it differently- daily social media updates from the ‘campaign trail’ ( aka visiting door to door with residents) with witty and fun shares on FB and Instagram. In reality, other than memorializing my 32K-step day with a photo of my Fitbit, I have shared precious little on social. That’s because I have been spending almost all of my time getting to know the people of District 4 face-to-face and helping them to get to know me…and truthfully, isn’t that what it’s all about?

I thought I would have been taking pictures nonstop. In fact what happened was I was so ‘into’ the conversations that I was having with residents, my phone and social media were the last thing on my mind. One of my very dedicated volunteers, Kenny Mandel, went door to door with me so many times that I have lost track. Every day we kept texting at night saying ‘We forgot to take a picture!’

I honestly considered entitling this post ‘If I didn’t share my campaign on social, did it really happen?’

I can assure you it did happen.

From getting the posters and brochures done to going door-to-door meeting residents, rain or shine, hearing about what they love about life in DDO as well as their concerns.

Going door to door was actually the highlight of my campaign experience. I LOVED meeting so many different people. I love how on one street I went to 10 houses in a row and every single household was of a different ethnicity ( Can anyone say International Food Fest Block Party?!?!?!?).

Loving life in DDO is pretty unanimous, after all, we were ranked as the third happiest city in Quebec 🙂 That said, District 4 where I live could use a little TLC in certain areas and some enhancements in others. A few of the issues that have come up relate to road safety, lighting, the fact that the tennis courts at Westpark have been closed for two consecutive years. Everyone agrees that we can use our green spaces to benefit residents of all ages and that we need to inject some ‘new life’ into the district.

Those of you who have been reading for awhile know that when I see a need in the community, I have a tendency to rise up to the challenge.

This is me rising up to the challenge. I want to bring my energy to the district and revitalize our green spaces. I want to bring in some more community building initiatives that will enhance our lifestyle in DDO even further. I want to continue meeting residents throughout the year…not just for a month…going door to door, and getting inspired with new ideas to make life here even better.

Before I go, I will share a few photos that I did manage to take during the campaign.

And with that, I leave you and return to my last minute camping To-Do’s!

I encourage everyone to go out and vote this weekend.

Should you happen to live in DDO District 4, know someone who does, or simply be interested in my platform, please feel free to check it out at: tanyaddo4.ca/vision and make sure to VOTE Tanya Toledano for Municipal Council!

Please wish me luck – and don’t forget to VOTE!

Tanya