Shah Mohamed · Wawa 2026
The 5-Pillar
Platform.
Five concrete commitments for Wawa's next chapter — built around the people who live here, work here, and call this community home.
@shahshahindawawa
My family calls Wawa home. Everything I'm working for is for them — and for every family that has chosen to build their life here.
Young People
& A Place to Belong
Building a Wawa where the next generation can put down roots · Ages 0–29
Wawa's future depends on young people — those growing up here, those who leave and may one day return, and those who haven't discovered Wawa yet.
The goal shouldn't simply be to convince every young person to stay. Young people should have opportunities to leave Wawa, pursue education, travel, build careers and experience the wider world. Our job is to build a community worth coming home to — and one that others will choose to call home.
"Not by becoming a smaller version of a big city — but by becoming an exceptional version of Wawa."
For young people coming from larger centres, Wawa can offer something increasingly valuable: a more connected way of life. A place where neighbours know one another. Where nature isn't something you drive hours to experience. Where starting a business, buying a home, raising children and contributing to the future of your town can still feel achievable.
This is about belonging. It means creating places and experiences where a 10-year-old can make friends, a 17-year-old can study and spend time safely with their peers, a 23-year-old returning from university can rebuild a social network, and a 28-year-old moving from the GTA can find friends, community and a reason to stay.
It also means recognizing that attracting a young worker without considering the rest of their life isn't enough. They need somewhere to live, employment for their partner, childcare and education for their children, social connections, access to nature and culture — and the genuine sense that their ideas and participation are welcomed.
Specific Commitments
Create spaces to belong.
Work toward dedicated, safe and welcoming spaces for children, teens and young adults — including after-school homework and study space, drop-in opportunities and places simply to spend time together.
Build year-round social programming.
Support structured and informal programming from childhood through age 29, with particular attention to teens and young adults who fall between traditional recreation and adult programming.
Give young people a voice.
Establish a youth and young-adult advisory group with a meaningful connection to Council so that decisions affecting the next generation include the people who will live with those decisions the longest.
Create pathways home.
Work with local schools, employers, post-secondary institutions and community partners to maintain relationships with young people who leave Wawa and connect them with opportunities when they are ready to return.
Actively attract young people and young families.
Develop a targeted resident-attraction initiative aimed at people in communities such as Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury and the Greater Toronto Area who are looking for a smaller, safer and more connected community with access to nature.
Connect newcomers to community.
Attracting someone to Wawa is only the first step. Develop ways to connect new residents with clubs, recreation, volunteering and community events so that newcomers don't simply move to Wawa — they become part of Wawa.
Connect young people with opportunity.
Strengthen pathways into local employment, skilled trades, entrepreneurship, mentorship and business ownership so young people can see a realistic economic future for themselves here.
Build for young families.
Recognize that housing, childcare, recreation, health services, employment and community connection are all part of youth attraction and retention. A community that works for young families is a community with a future.
The Goal
Success isn't measured by whether every young person stays in Wawa. Success is when young people can leave knowing Wawa will always be a place they can come home to — while a new generation begins looking at Wawa and thinking:
"I could build a life there."
A Place to Belong
Building a Wawa where young people can grow up, leave, explore the world — and always have a community worth coming home to.
Aging with Dignity
A Wawa where growing older doesn't mean leaving your community — with appropriate housing, health care and connection at every stage of life.
Seniors &
Aging with Dignity
A Wawa where growing older doesn't mean leaving your community
Wawa's seniors helped build this community. They raised families here, built businesses, volunteered, worked in our industries and institutions, coached teams, supported neighbours and contributed decades of knowledge and experience to the town we have today. They should be able to remain part of it.
For many people, the challenge isn't simply "aging in place." Our needs change as we grow older, and the home or lifestyle that worked at 55 may no longer work at 75 or 85. A senior may find themselves over-housed — living alone in a three- or four-bedroom home that has become expensive or difficult to maintain — while a young family is struggling to find exactly that kind of housing. The problem is that downsizing only works when somewhere appropriate exists to downsize to.
"Wawa needs to think about seniors as part of becoming a full life-arc community — a place where residents can move through different stages of housing, health and independence without having to leave simply because their needs have changed."
That means having appropriate housing. It means access to health care. It means opportunities to remain physically active and socially connected. And, as people's needs increase, it means advocating for the supportive, respite and care services that allow them and their families to navigate those changes with dignity.
Specific Commitments
Create appropriate housing choices for seniors.
Work with public, nonprofit and private-sector partners to encourage smaller, accessible and affordable housing options that allow seniors to downsize while remaining independent and connected to Wawa.
Make housing part of the full life arc.
Better senior housing doesn't only benefit seniors. When someone can comfortably move from a larger home into housing appropriate to their stage of life, that home becomes available to another family. Wawa's housing supply should serve people throughout their lives.
Advocate for better access to health care.
Continue advocating with health providers and senior levels of government for stronger local access to medical services and innovative ways of reducing unnecessary travel for care that can reasonably be delivered closer to home.
Support the transition from independence to greater levels of care.
Work with health, housing and community partners to identify gaps in supportive housing, home supports, respite and care options so families have more choices before leaving Wawa becomes the only option.
Keep people moving.
Support accessible physical activity, mobility, balance, strength and recreation opportunities designed around older adults. Maintaining physical capacity is an important part of maintaining independence and continuing to participate in community life.
Strengthen social connection.
Support regular social, cultural, educational and intergenerational programming that gives people opportunities to meet, participate, learn, volunteer and contribute.
Reduce isolation.
Explore community check-in, neighbour-to-neighbour and volunteer programs that help identify and connect with residents who may otherwise become isolated.
Keep seniors involved in Wawa's future.
Our older residents possess decades of professional knowledge, community history and lived experience. Create more opportunities for seniors to mentor, volunteer, teach skills and contribute their knowledge to younger generations.
The Goal
Aging with dignity isn't simply about adding programs for seniors. It's about building a community where people remain connected to Wawa as their lives and needs change.
Someone who has spent decades building a life here should have realistic options to stay — to move into a smaller home when the family house becomes too much, to remain active and connected, to receive more support when it is needed, and to continue being part of the community they helped build.
"Wawa should be a community where growing older doesn't mean giving up your friends, your connections, or the place you belong."
Local Business
& A Vibrant Downtown
Building opportunity — and bringing people together
A strong local economy isn't created by one large employer or one major investment. It is built every day by the people who open their businesses in the morning, employ local residents, take a chance on a new idea, renovate a building and invest their time and money back into Wawa.
Supporting those people needs to remain at the heart of Wawa's economic development. At the same time, we should continue pursuing larger opportunities in mining, forestry, energy, technology and other emerging industries. These aren't competing approaches. Wawa can support the businesses already here, grow the next generation of entrepreneurs, revitalize our downtown and still actively pursue larger industry and investment.
"Our downtown should be more than somewhere we drive through. It should be a place where residents meet one another, businesses benefit from foot traffic, visitors stop and explore, and community life happens."
Downtown revitalization means continuing to encourage investment in storefronts and buildings, finding productive uses for vacant and underused spaces, improving the experience of being downtown and creating more reasons for people to spend time there. A vibrant downtown also strengthens Wawa's ability to attract residents, visitors, entrepreneurs and investment.
A Wawa Community Hub
One opportunity that deserves serious exploration is a flexible, welcoming downtown hub designed around community connection, entrepreneurship and civic participation — space for meetings, business incubation, shared work, workshops, mentorship, youth activities, cultural programming and informal gatherings where connections happen and new ideas take root.
Specific Commitments
Support the businesses already here.
Maintain regular dialogue with Wawa's business community, understand the barriers businesses are facing and ensure municipal economic-development efforts respond to the needs of existing businesses as well as prospective investors.
Revitalize our downtown.
Continue efforts to activate vacant and underused properties, encourage storefront and building improvements, strengthen the downtown experience and create more reasons for residents and visitors to spend time in Wawa's commercial core.
Build Wawa's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Create stronger pathways for residents with business ideas to access mentorship, business-development support, funding information, training and connections to regional economic-development resources.
Explore a Wawa Community Hub.
Develop the concept and business case for a flexible downtown community hub that could combine community gathering space, town halls, entrepreneurship and incubation, shared workspace, training, programming and community events.
Create opportunities for local businesses from larger development.
When major projects and industries invest in the region, work to ensure Wawa businesses and entrepreneurs are positioned to participate in the supply chains, contracts and economic activity those investments create.
Continue attracting major investment.
Actively pursue responsible opportunities in established and emerging sectors — mining, forestry, energy, technology — that can bring new employment, investment and economic diversification to Wawa.
Make Wawa easier to invest in.
Look at municipal processes through the eyes of someone trying to open a business, renovate a property or invest in the community and identify unnecessary barriers, delays or complexity that can reasonably be improved.
The Goal
Economic development shouldn't be something that only happens when a major company comes to town. It happens when a local business expands. When someone turns an idea into their first business. When an empty storefront comes back to life. When people gather downtown. When a regional project creates opportunities for local contractors.
We can grow Wawa from the inside while continuing to bring new opportunity in from the outside.
"That's how we build a stronger local economy, a more vibrant downtown and a community where people want to participate, invest and belong."
Building Opportunity
Support the businesses already here, revitalize our downtown and bring people together — while pursuing larger investment from outside.
Infrastructure,
Low-Hanging Fruit.
Quick Wins, Real Impact — Practical improvements we can see and use
Not every improvement in Wawa needs to be a multimillion-dollar project or take years to accomplish. Sometimes relatively small, achievable investments can make a meaningful difference in how people experience their community every day.
A splash pad, better public washrooms and improvements to our basketball courts and recreation spaces are examples of practical projects that can benefit families, young people, summer programming, visitors and the broader community — without requiring massive new infrastructure.
"Projects that are achievable. Projects that are fundable. Projects that deliver a lot of community benefit for the dollars invested."
With my background in project development and securing external funding, I want to bring a strong focus to identifying these opportunities, developing fundable projects and aggressively pursuing provincial, federal and other funding so we can accomplish more while limiting the burden on local taxpayers.
A Splash Pad for Wawa
A splash pad is a relatively simple piece of community infrastructure that can provide years of use for children and families. It supports summer camps and recreation programming, gives families another free activity during the summer months and creates another reason for people to gather in our parks. Rather than simply putting it on a wish list, I want to help move the idea toward a real project.
Better Public Washrooms
Good public washrooms aren't glamorous infrastructure — but they matter. Residents using our parks need them. Families with young children need them. Community events need them. And the thousands of travellers who pass through Wawa every year notice the quality and accessibility of the public facilities we provide. Clean, accessible and well-located public washrooms are a basic investment in both quality of life and the visitor experience.
Basketball Courts & Recreation Spaces
Before always looking to build something new, we should ask where relatively modest investments in existing facilities can produce significant improvements. Our basketball courts and outdoor recreation spaces are opportunities to look at surfaces, equipment, seating and overall usability — particularly for young people. A relatively small capital investment can sometimes transform an existing space and extend its useful life for years.
Specific Commitments
Advance a splash pad for Wawa.
Identify an appropriate location, determine realistic capital and operating requirements, pursue available funding and partnerships, and work toward making a splash pad a reality.
Improve public washroom facilities.
Identify priority park and community locations where clean, accessible public washrooms would have the greatest impact for residents, recreation programming, events and visitors.
Upgrade basketball and outdoor recreation spaces.
Work with residents, young people and Parks staff to identify practical improvements to existing courts and recreation infrastructure — surfaces, equipment, seating and usability — that can be delivered at reasonable cost.
Get more value from the parks we already have.
Look for smaller improvements — seating, shade, accessibility, amenities, signage and other practical additions — that make existing spaces more useful and welcoming.
Use outside funding whenever possible.
Actively pursue provincial, federal and other infrastructure funding so that external dollars help stretch Wawa's municipal investment further and limit the burden on local taxpayers.
Build a pipeline of quick-win projects.
Work with staff and the community to maintain a list of smaller, well-defined and costed projects so Wawa is ready to act when appropriate grant and funding opportunities become available.
The Goal
Good municipal leadership isn't only about developing long-term plans. It's also about recognizing the opportunities directly in front of us and getting things done.
A better basketball court won't solve every challenge facing Wawa. Neither will a splash pad or a new public washroom. But when we consistently identify achievable improvements, find outside funding and complete projects people actually use, those individual wins begin to add up.
"Small projects done well can make a big difference in people's everyday experience of Wawa — and residents should be able to see and feel the progress their community is making."
Quick Wins, Real Impact
Practical improvements residents can see and use — achievable projects, outside funding and results that add up over time.
Communication,
Transparency & Accountability.
A community that knows what's happening — and has a voice in what happens next.
Good municipal government starts with trust. And trust is built when residents understand what their municipality is doing, why decisions are being made, how public money is being spent, and how they can participate in the decisions that affect their community.
"Communication should be a conversation,
not simply an announcement."
Council needs to hear from residents — not only when something has gone wrong or when a major decision has already reached the Council table, but while ideas are being developed and important decisions are still being considered.
Plain-Language Information
Residents shouldn't need to read a 100-page Council package to understand what's happening. What are we doing? Why? What will it cost? What happens next?
Community Conversation
For significant decisions, town halls, surveys and open engagement — so residents can ask questions, hear perspectives and contribute before decisions are finalized.
Accountability for Results
Campaign promises only mean something if we come back to them. Council should report clearly on what's been done, what hasn't, and why.
Tell Wawa's Story Better
Communication isn\'t only about the people who already live here. It\'s about how we present Wawa to the outside world. Wawa has something increasingly valuable to offer: access to an incredible natural environment, a smaller and more connected community, and a quality of life that is very different from what many people experience in larger urban centres.
Our municipal communications, tourism marketing, economic-development efforts and resident-attraction initiatives should reinforce a clear and authentic picture of why people should visit Wawa, invest here and, ultimately, choose to build a life here.
Specific Commitments
Communicate Council decisions clearly. Support plain-language communication explaining significant Council decisions, projects and investments so residents can understand what is happening and why.
Create more opportunities for two-way communication. Support town halls, community conversations, surveys and other engagement tools when significant issues require broader public input.
Report back on progress. Encourage regular, understandable updates on major municipal priorities, projects and strategic-plan commitments — including what has been completed, what is underway and what has been delayed.
Be transparent about municipal spending. Make it easier for residents to understand the costs, funding sources and financial implications of significant municipal projects.
Build accountability into major projects. For significant initiatives, clearly identify the objective, anticipated cost, available external funding, expected outcomes and progress toward completion.
Improve how Wawa markets itself. Develop a stronger and more consistent story about Wawa as a place to live, raise a family, start a business, invest, work, visit and eventually retire.
Use modern communication tools. Continue improving how the municipality uses its website, social media, digital engagement and other communication channels to reach residents where they actually get their information.
Keep the door open. As a Councillor, remain accessible to residents, listen to different perspectives and bring those perspectives into Council discussions.
The Goal
Transparency isn\'t about flooding people with more information. It\'s about making the information that matters easier to find, easier to understand and easier to talk about.
Accountability means being clear about what we\'re trying to accomplish, reporting back on our progress and being willing to explain when something doesn\'t go according to plan.
And good marketing means becoming much better at telling the world something those of us who live here already understand:
"Wawa is more than a place you pass through. It\'s a place where you can belong, contribute and build a life."
Not every project will succeed.
Funding applications get declined. Costs change. Circumstances change. Accountability doesn\'t mean pretending everything always goes according to plan. It means being open about what happened and what we\'re going to do next.
That\'s the kind of municipal government I want to help build — one that communicates openly, listens genuinely, follows through on its commitments and keeps the community connected to the decisions shaping Wawa\'s future.
Election Day · October 26, 2026
5 Pillars.
One Wawa.
Shah Mohamed is running for one of four councillor seats in Wawa's 2026 municipal election. Voting is by telephone and internet from October 19–26.
Want to get involved or have a question? Send an email directly to shahmohamed@protonmail.com
@shahshahindawawa · Municipality of Wawa, Ontario