My name is Mara Nagy, and I am a lifelong resident of Pickering. I’ve grown up in this city, and have always lived within Ward 2. I am a teacher, a PhD candidate, a Teaching Assistant at York University, and a food service worker.

I am a community member, politically involved, a woman, and I don’t just believe that I am qualified to fill the role, I know that I am.

A Teacher

I have been in education for almost a decade now.

Working as an occasional teacher, or supply teacher, has given me the best and most immersive way to really understand our wards, because I know them all through my time talking to students and parents about their concerns and needs for the ward.

An Activist

I’ve always been extremely passionate about working to better the lives of those around me.

Through my environmental activism, I have worked to protect our communities, and our provincially significant wetlands.

As part of EANAP, I worked and succeeded in repealing the wetlands MZO in Ward 2 in south Pickering.

I have also stood with teachers and educators at the Rally for Education at Queens Park, and joined workers at the picket lines, because everyone deserves a fair shot.

An Essential Worker

I work 3 jobs, all while pursuing my PhD in community development and local history full-time, because I believe in lifelong learning, and that education does not only take place in the classroom; I am not afraid of new ideas and of new ways of understanding, in fact I am excited to see the ways that this world is constantly changing, and seeing how we can effect change within that.

As a food service drive-thru employee in Pickering, I’ve been front-facing all throughout the pandemic, serving my community and seeing the effects, medical and social, of the pandemic firsthand.

Why am I running?

As a teacher and a doctoral candidate, I bring a unique skill set, through my constant learning and development, my understanding and readiness for acceptance of new ideas, my ability to connect and meet people where they are, my knowledge and my distinct ability to support a growth mindset, as well as my comfort in diving into new and unfamiliar situations or scenarios and learning along the way, and my ease with admitting when I am wrong and when I need to think again or make a different decision.

We must recognise the safety of communities as our number one job, and we need to make sure, as councillors, that the City of Pickering is doing its job to make people feel safe and secure in their homes. Our community trusts me, and I want to honour that trust.

People are excited for change, as am I. Our council must be looking to work with residents, with the various communities of Pickering, as well as the larger community as a whole, in mind; we need to not just grow and encourage our businesses, but support them and their growth, as well as our essential workers, in order to both reduce resident taxes, and also to make Pickering a place to go and a place to grow.

I am here for the long run, and I am open, honest, and understanding. Transparency and inclusiveness are how I will succeed in my position as Ward 2 councillor, through engaging with and building trust in the community, and continuing to build and foster that trust for me within our neighbourhoods. Pickering has always provided me with opportunity, and I intend to be the voice Pickering needs now. Pickering has changed, and I am here to be that change on council, because I am the result of that change in the city. I have seen this change, moved with this change, and pushed myself into this change. I am prepared to work as hard as I can, to be mindful, sustainable, and community-oriented, and to amplify voices and provide platforms for others to speak, for everyone to come up together.