Today, I’m starting a new series: Community Questions Answered
These are questions my team and I have been hearing again and again at the doors. Etobicoke Centre is a large and geographically spread-out ward, and while we’re working hard to reach as many residents as we can, we know we won’t get to every door right away.
So, if we’ve haven’t gotten to yours yet, we want to make sure you’re still part of the conversation. This series will tackle some of the questions we’re hearing most often and will give you a chance to learn more about me, my experience, and how I approach the issues facing our community.
And perhaps the most common question is: Why are you doing this?
I didn’t grow up dreaming about becoming a politician, writing about politics was more my preference, and my background is actually in Business Administration.
My grandparents settled here in the 1960s and I was late raised here. Today my husband and I are raising our two teens here, Etobicoke Centre is home.
My first real lesson in community advocacy came from something very ordinary: a school crossing. As a school council chair (at both Eatonville JS and Bloordale MS, yes at the same time), I became increasingly concerned about the safety of children crossing Renforth near Toledo. Other parents and our school staff members shared these concerns and so I took on the work to engage with the city and the local councillor to find solutions.
I wasn’t trying to launch a political career. I simply thought there should be a safer way for children to get across a busy road. But that work took seven years and in other communities in the city, I found this work could take as little as a year or two.
So I started asking more questions, learning the specific details about how decisions were made, and continued conversations with other parents and residents.
One local issue quickly became a much bigger realization: road safety wasn’t just a one neighbourhood problem, it was a ward-wide problem.
That led me to explore the idea of a local pedestrian advocacy group, Walk Safe Etobicoke, with the hope of bringing residents together around pedestrian safety.
It didn’t work the way I hoped it would and I’m actually glad it didn’t. It taught me something important.
Etobicoke Centre is a collection of neighbourhoods. Major roads, highways, ravines and infrastructure can separate communities that are geographically close but surprisingly disconnected, even when they share very real concerns.
I had been trying to bring people together around a single issue before finding ways to help build the connections between neighbourhoods, the connections that are needed to build a community that works together.
Walk Safe Etobicoke would have to wait.
So I adapted and I started asking a different question: how do we create more opportunities for people to know what is happening around them and to meet the people who live around them?
That question eventually led to The Etobicoke Voice.
I wanted to create a space where our neighbourhoods could see themselves reflected. Where local stories mattered. Where community organizations could be heard. Where residents could learn about what was happening down the street, not just what was making headlines across Toronto.
I brought together all of Etobicoke, so we could be proud of our western edge of the city. Most importantly, I wanted people to realize that the issue they were experiencing wasn’t necessarily theirs alone. Someone else might be experiencing it too.
A connected community is a stronger community.
My community work is what eventually pulled me more deeply into politics. I became increasingly interested in civic engagement and voter turnout, and started to see that while I could make an impact from the outside, there was also a need to understand and work within the political system itself.
I got involved locally at the Provincial riding level and then looked for other ways to contribute.
That eventually led me to the Ontario Women’s Liberal Commission, where I work alongside women involved in leadership, politics and public life. I currently serve as Regional Vice-President for the region that includes Downtown Toronto and, of course, Etobicoke!
Each step taught me something different about how change happens and about the difference between being an advocate and actually being in a position to make decisions.
Over the years, one issue has led to another.
I’ve learned how our government works. I’ve learned that sometimes the answer is at City Hall, sometimes at Queen’s Park, sometimes in Ottawa, and sometimes the real problem is that we are missing that needed connection as many issues have solutions that need multiple levels of government involvement. We need all levels to be willing to work together for the communities they are elected to serve.
I’ve learned that residents often see problems long before they become headlines. I’ve also learned that the people closest to a problem often have some of the best ideas about how to address it. And I’ve learned that community advocacy isn’t about having all the answers.
It’s about asking questions, listening, learning, organizing and keeping going.
For years, I’ve done that work from the outside; as an advocate, volunteer, community organizer, writer and mom.
Eventually, I had to ask myself: what if I stopped asking someone else to do it?
What if I put myself forward? Public service is an important job and one that I feel very qualified to take on. You need to have a passion and my passion is to work to make positive impacts on our communities across Etobicoke Centre.
It was never an easy decision, politics can be a hard space to work in and becomes even more challenging as a woman in the current climate, but I keep coming back to where this started. It started with a question about a crosswalk. It grew into the knowledge that our communities needed stronger connections. It became The Etobicoke Voice. It became years of advocacy and community work. Eventually, it brought me to the realization that if I want to help shape the decisions that affect the community I love, I need to be willing to step into the room myself.
I did not start this journey because I wanted a political title.
I am running because I believe I can contribute more from inside City Hall than I can from the sidelines. I want to be a councillor who listens, asks the tough questions, brings people together and turns good ideas into action.
I want a City Hall that works with communities proactively, not one that waits until a problem becomes a crisis.
Someone who is accessible. Someone who is honest. Someone who tells you what happened, even when the answer isn’t popular.
I know how to ask questions. I know how to listen. I know how to organize. I know how to bring people together. And I know that when something isn’t working, accepting “that’s just the way it is” has never been particularly good enough for me.
So that’s why I’m doing this. Not because politics was always the plan but because community was.
After years of listening, learning, advocating and building connections, I’m ready to take the next step.
I put my name forward on May 1st because I believe I can contribute more from inside City Hall than I can from the sidelines. I believe the best ideas for our community don’t just come from City Hall. They come from the people who live here and that is why I’m doing this.
To help the campaign move forward go to jenalexander.ca for information on how to donate and connect with the team on volunteer opportunities.
Follow this substack for more updates as we head towards Oct 26 2026!
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