For Naz Obredor, much more important than earning the vote of constituents in Ward 3 is getting to know them.
“I just don't want people to vote for me, I welcome them in getting to know me,” the Innisfil council hopeful said. There are approximately 5,400 eligible voters in Ward 3 and I truly hope to meet everyone where I can earn their trust first, and then their vote.”
Obredor recently returned to Innisfil last year, after first moving to the town with her family in 2013. She was born in Kitchener and began her family and career there, and then moved to Brampton, before the lure of Innisfil and having her children grow up in a small community near the water came calling. After her separation, she moved to Barrie but has since come back with her boys to Innisfil so they and her parents can spend as much time together as possible.
When she first moved to Innisfil, she had what she called the best job in the world: being a stay-at-home mom. But before then, she was in the banking industry, providing her with insight that could serve her well at the council table.
“Crunching the numbers with two working parents and daycare costs made it an easy choice to stay at home, where I could raise them and be available 24/7,” Obredor said. “Don't get me wrong: it wasn't easy on one average income but having a 10-year banking career, where I started as a teller and worked my way up to investing, it made me really understand the power of saving and being conscientious with where every dollar went.”
It's also why financial transparency is a plank of her platform, as she wants to ensure every resident in Innisfil has knowledge of how their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent at the municipal level.
She’s also keen to improve safety and access on area roads, calling to improve visibility and signage to combat speeding on town streets and to research and analyze an Innisfil-Barrie bus link in comparison to a community ride-sharing app.
Citizens’ rights are equally important to Obredor. Those extend from ensuring proposed town bylaws don't violate a resident’s property rights to overall questions of equality in the municipality and the greater society.
For her, change is a good thing that begins with one person, and she feels she can be the one to kick-start that change by asking the right questions and standing up to those in the provincial and federal governments.
“When things get trickled down from federal to provincial it inevitably ends up on the municipal level,” Obredor said. “It's so important that when policies and mandates are made, we question and challenge them. I'm that person that questions everything. We need our municipal councillors to stand up for us against special interest groups or even when things just don't make sense. Challenge things and demand answers. We need someone who will demand truth and transparency.”
Perhaps her biggest concern is the policies enacted by the previous council to combat COVID-19. If elected, she wants the new council to make some changes and avoid further lockdowns.
“I would reevaluate the ‘COVID’ mandates and drop the shot requirements to participate in society,” Obredor said. “Every person has the right to bodily autonomy. No one should be coerced into getting an experimental medical procedure in order to provide for their families and no child should be left out of any activity because of their medical status.”
There is no scientific evidence to back up Obredor’s claims.
Donna Orsatti, who represented Ward 3 for the last two terms, decided against running in 2022. Andrew Harrigan, Leslie Pollak and Jennifer Richardson join Obredor in seeking the seat.
Election day is Oct. 24.
