Grant Munday is a Registered Professional Planner with 18 years of municipal, urban, and rural planning experiences. He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Urban and Regional Planning from Ryerson University with a minor in Public Administration and a Certificate in Geographic Information Systems from Mohawk College.

He is currently the Manager of Development Approvals with the City of Welland and has been with the City of Welland for six years. He has held various Planning positions with the City of Toronto, City of Oshawa, City of Colborne, and the Township of Wainfleet.

In Welland, he has been successful in streamlining the development approvals process, helped lead the way to new and innovative Zoning-By-Law for the City for the future and today, and has been actively seeking to create a customer service environment that is inviting to both residents and investors.

In your view, what’s the most important attribute of a leader?

I believe honesty is the most important attribute of a leader. If one can’t be trusted by the public, they will not be able to affect positive change for today or the future. Honesty and integrity of Civic Leaders has been a problem that had plagued civic leaders and politicians both in Niagara and beyond. In many ways, this has stalled progress on sustainable development and finding meaningful solutions to the problems we collectively face today.

How do you define civic leadership?

In my opinion, Civic Leadership is about finding ways to make a positive impact for the common good of the community now and in the future.

It is about inspiring others to change in a positive way, solving shared problems, and bridging barriers. To be successful, civic leadership requires individuals who have skills including, but not limited to, honesty, dedication, eagerness to learn and adapt, and motivation.

Why are you personally motivated to explore civic leadership?

I am personally motivated to explore civic leadership for a number of reasons.

First, I believe Civic Leadership is critical to the success of our community. We need more leaders that can be forward-thinking and transcend political cycles.

Secondly, I have young children and I would like to help ensure that we leave our community in a better environment, social, and economic position for the future and for the common good. The alarm bells of affordable housing, climate change, and other problems are ringing, we have to find good solutions to these problems.

Finally, as a Registered Professional Planner, having Civic Leadership skills is crucial to the success of our profession and is embedded in our Profession Code of Practice. As a result, exploring civic leadership further will be a great asset to my professional development.

What, in your view, is the most significant issue/opportunity facing our community? Why?

In my opinion, the need to achieve a more sustainable community/society is critical for the common good of the community. The fact that we are out of sync economically, socially, and environmentally is evident in major problems/issues society faces today, which include, but are not limited to the following symptoms:

• Climate change;
• Water quantity and quality;
• Lack of affordable housing/housing crisis;
• Economic competitiveness;
• Environmental degradation; and
• Opioid/Drug epidemic

The reason why this is significant is that these symptoms have the potential to negatively impact our community, both in the short-term and the long-term. The solutions to these problems must be multi-pronged, cross-jurisdictional, transcend political cycles, and will require inspiration from Civic Leaders to create a more sustainable future. Inaction in my opinion, will leave our future generations with a far less livable and unhealthy community.