Meet Charlottetown mayoral candidate Amir Zuccolo

Municipal elections are on Monday, and tonight we hear from the final mayoral candidate in Charlottetown. We've been going in alphabetical order by last name, so we end with Amir Zuccolo. She spoke with our Cody McKay. Hi, my name is Amir Zuccolo, and I'm a candidate for the mayor of Charlottetown. Heading into this election, this is your first time running for the mayor of Charlottetown, and what are your priorities as you see it? I have four main priorities. The first one is around housing, particularly affordable housing. So while the city is building a lot of housing, it still is out of the reach of most people. So I think that we need to look at different housing models such as housing co-ops. My second priority then related to that is around transportation, particularly bus stop infrastructure. I don't think that we have adequate infrastructure at our bus stops. My third priority is more transparent government, limiting closed door meetings and following the Municipal Government Act. My last priority is around climate events, so we need to be better prepared for storms like Fiona. What stands out to you that is different from what you had said, and that people are talking about, you with the doors or things like that? People are very concerned with the high property taxes, particularly around what they're getting for those property taxes. So people are concerned that the city is spending money... frivolously on projects like the football turf and Hertz Hall and while those problems are well those projects are valuable when we have other issues that we need to address those should be a priority. For 2026 up to 2030 why are you Amir Zucalo the person to lead the city? Well I think Charlottetown has changed and grown a lot in the past decade and we with that There has come a lot of costs to the city, so we have higher cost of housing now, higher cost of living. More traffic congestion, more unhoused individuals. So we're sort of experiencing all these big city problems. And I don't feel that the leadership that is currently there is really ready to take it on. I think they've been on council for a long time, decades. A lot of the candidates have been there and it's time for new ideas and fresh perspectives. And I bring a totally different approach. I have served in municipal politics before in Brackley, but I also bring experience as a mom. As a professor at UPEI, as a biotech entrepreneur, as a scientist, and working a lot in the nonprofit sector. So I bring all that experience to the role as well.