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Council candidate Rob Woon-Fat aims to make local government more accessible

October 15, 2026   ·   0 Comments

With the 2026 municipal election approaching, the Orangeville Citizen is introducing readers to the candidates seeking to represent the community at the local level.

Below are responses from Rob Woon-Fat, who is running for the position of councillor.

What made you want to run for municipal office?
In Orangeville’s last municipal election, roughly 73 per cent of eligible voters didn’t vote. For a long time, I was probably more representative of that 73 per cent than the 27 per cent who participated.
Municipal government often felt distant from my everyday life. Like many residents, I was balancing work, commuting and family responsibilities, and I wasn’t particularly connected to decisions being made at Town Hall.
That experience is a big part of why I’m running.
I want to explore how we can make local government easier to understand and easier to participate in. My #AmplifyOrangeville platform proposes a “Digital Front Door” where residents could easily see what council is considering, understand issues in plain language, provide input before decisions are made and see what happened afterward.
Town halls and council meetings remain important. I don’t want to replace them. I want to add another doorway and make the room bigger.

What do you see as the biggest issues facing the municipality?
Orangeville faces important questions around affordability, growth, infrastructure, traffic safety, housing, attracting investment and jobs, and protecting the character of our community.
But underlying many of these issues is another challenge: how do we make better decisions while bringing more residents into those decisions?
I believe we can do more with what we already have. Good municipal decision-making should combine professional expertise and data with the lived experience and ideas of residents.
I’m focused on greater accountability for how taxpayer dollars are spent and whether initiatives actually achieve their intended outcomes; making Orangeville more attractive for investment through responsive municipal processes; safer streets and school zones; and finding new ways to connect residents, youth, seniors and community organizations.
As Orangeville considers its future, there will be difficult trade-offs. Residents should be able to understand those trade-offs, contribute their perspective early, and see how and why council ultimately made its decisions.

What makes you best suited for the role?
I don’t believe the best candidates for council are necessarily the people whose names are on the ballot. Some of them are probably at home juggling work, commuting, kids, and bills, and have enough common sense not to run. I’m on a mission to make sure we hear from them too.
I believe Orangeville can do more with what we already have. We have knowledgeable residents, community organizations, businesses, Town staff, volunteers, and technology. My goal is to build better systems that connect those resources and amplify their impact.
That means amplifying community by connecting people who can help with people who need help. Amplifying accountability by making it easier to see what we’re doing and whether it’s working. And amplifying engagement by creating a system where residents can understand issues and contribute before decisions are made.
I’m not running because I think I have all the answers.
I’m running to build a system that helps Orangeville find more of them.

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