Election Day, October 26, 2026
About Leroy
I grew up in Hamilton. My father worked in a steel factory, my mother at Tim Horton's. They built a good life on two working incomes during a time when that was still possible.
School was a struggle. I was a slow reader and didn't like being there. It took my Grade 4 teacher giving me extra support and encouragement to set me up to succeed, something I've never forgotten.
I came to London on my own for university and stayed. Over twenty years now. I went to Montcalm Secondary School here in Ward 3, studied at King's University College, and built a career, a family, and a life in London.
What drives me to run is simple. The life my parents built for us isn't available to the next generation, not in London, not in most of this country. That's not just a policy problem. It's a fairness problem. And I think more than just housing can be fixed if we're willing to do the work.
I hold a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counselling and am currently completing my MBA. I have worked as a counsellor and student affairs administrator, spending years working with young people, families, and folks falling through the cracks.
These experiences have shaped how I look at every issue on this platform.
I've served on committees with the City of London and, most recently, as a Thames Valley District School Board trustee. That last chapter is a longer story. I've written about it honestly on a separate page. Read: What I Learned at the School Board →
My positions and work have been covered by the London Free Press, CBC London, and local radio going back over a decade. See media coverage →
Experience & Leadership
Thames Valley District School Board Trustee
2022 - Present
Elected to represent Wards 2–6. I pushed for transparency, asked the hard questions, and held the system accountable. My counselling background gave me a different lens at the board table: focused on the whole child, not just the policy.
Community Advocate and Volunteerism
2010 - Present
Community involvement has always been hands-on. I've volunteered as a crisis phone responder, coached Timmie soccer, served on the Supervised Alternative Learning Committee with TVDSB, and held past Vice-Chair roles with Block Parents of London and the City of London's Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Oppression Advisory Committee, and served as a past condo board member (President & Member at Large).
Business Professional
2005 - Present
Years in management and operations taught me that good intentions mean nothing without follow-through. And follow-through means nothing unless it creates lasting impact.
The Platform
Ward 3 City Council platform priorities for London Ontario. Leroy Osbourne's policies cover Ward 3 housing policy, London Ontario transit solutions, and infrastructure maintenance. Leroy Osbourne Ward 3 platform for the 2026 municipal election.
Housing & Affordable Homeownership
- Real paths to owning a home for working families and young professionals
- Prevention and support that keeps people housed before crisis hits
- A path for seniors to downsize comfortably and free up single family homes
Transit & Traffic
- Smart signals that cut wait times at the worst intersections
- On-demand minibuses that connect neighbourhoods to the BRT
- Safer streets for drivers, riders, and cyclists
Infrastructure
- Sensors on city vehicles that spot problems before roads collapse
- Planned repairs cost a fraction of emergency fixes
- Tap existing provincial and federal grants that cover these initiatives
Priorities & Stance on Issues
Data centres are coming to Ontario. The provincial government has made that clear. The provincial government has also made clear that it has the power to override municipal moratoriums when it wants to. Oakville, Hamilton, and Mississauga are examples of this.
City Council has the responsibility to protect the interests of London and Londoners to make sure any data centre project meets legally binding requirements that are tied to project approval and operation of the site.
My position is that no data centre application moves forward in London without meeting all of the following written into the site plan agreement:
- •No use of London's municipal drinking water for cooling. Closed-loop cooling or equivalent technology is required.
- •Powered entirely by renewable energy, verified annually.
- •Noise impact assessment with enforceable limits.
- •Local hiring and training commitments with annual reporting.
- •A community benefit agreement negotiated for the ward before construction begins, with claw back provisions if commitments are not met.
This is the only path forward that protects London against the agenda of the province.
A resident in Old South solved a road safety concern in months that the city could not resolve in years. A $375 AI sensor captured what one manual count missed. Council approved the 4-way stop. Residents should not have to arrive at the solution themselves.
When someone raises a concern about their street there should be a transparent process to address the concern. The current system is not working. Manual counts taken in winter or on rain days are being used to evaluate complaints.
Fix the process
The process needs to be easier for residents to request safety measures to be added to their neighbourhood and to have calming measures that were added years and decades ago to be audited for their current effectiveness.
The city already has the data from police and other emergency services about accidents and resident complaints. This aggregated data should be used to proactively address road safety concerns. Action cannot be solely based upon traffic volume.
In general, manual counts need to stop being used as the means of data collection.
The money is already there
Ontario's Road Safety Infrastructure Fund covers speed cushions, raised crosswalks, and radar speed signs in school and community safety zones. London's initial share is $1.29 million. Federal active transportation funding covers bollards and bump-outs. It requires someone at Council making sure London is applying these measures proactively or with more urgency when residents identify the issue.
London adopted a Climate Emergency Action Plan in 2022.
The implementation gap is visible. Ward 3's newer northern neighbourhoods have significantly less tree canopy than older parts of the city. London averaged 27 percent coverage citywide and was named Forest Capital of Canada this year, but the distribution is uneven. Meanwhile, downtown London has potted plants on its main streets instead of trees. To be serious about the urban heat island effect, we need permanent trees in the downtown core, not seasonal planters, so people can actually use these spaces again.
What I would push for at Council
- •Require bee bricks as a condition of approval for new residential and commercial developments. Bee bricks provide nesting habitat for solitary bees whose populations are declining. A London, Ontario company makes them. Montreal ran a pilot this summer. The cost to a developer is negligible.
- •Develop an eco-roof incentive for green, blue-green, and cool white roofs on existing buildings. Toronto offers up to $100,000. London does not have an equivalent.
- •Make BetterHomes London a program every Ward 3 homeowner knows about. Low-interest loans up to $40,000 for heat pumps, insulation, and windows, tied to the property so the loan transfers if the home sells. It launched this spring. It needs uptake to matter.
- •Expand parklets and pocket parks in Ward 3's higher-density corridors and the city.
London builds parks. It does not always design destinations. A park for adults is not a park with benches around a field. It is a space people choose to spend time in, with pathways that draw you in, trees that create shade and atmosphere, and a design that makes the space feel like an oasis within the city.
A circular basketball court designed into a naturalized landscape serves three times the players on the same footprint and creates a space worth watching from the outside too.
A naturalized playground built from boulders, logs, earthforms, and native plantings creates a richer sensory experience than a manufactured structure, costs less to maintain over fifteen years, and gives children something they cannot get from a metal slide.
As a school board trustee I watched schools struggle to replace aging playground equipment. A typical mid-size municipal playground installation runs $75,000 to $150,000. Most of them are just a place, not a destination or an experience. There are better ways to design these spaces, cost effectively.
A uniquely designed splash pad with a dual-use surface becomes a community gathering point in summer and a skating surface in winter. One installation. Two seasons. A destination rather than a concrete pad sitting empty half the year.
What I would push for at Council
- •Require a design standard for park renewals that considers naturalized materials and plantings as the starting point rather than an option.
- •Pilot a uniquely designed splash pad in Ward 3 that converts to a skating surface in winter. Twice the use and fun for a neighbourhood.
- •Open park renewal decisions to resident input before the design is set, not after.