Written by Georgios Kalkounis in answer to our questionnaire, and published as given. Not our description of them.
GEORGIOS KALKOUNIS - Mechanical Engineer, Business Consultant, Public-Service Professional, Candidate for Mayor of Toronto. Accomplished senior professional with extensive experience in engineering, construction, power generation, telecommunications, and real estate/facility management across public and private sector environments. Demonstrated ability to lead complex, multi disciplinary initiatives involving contractual negotiations, regulatory compliance, infrastructure development, and operational oversight. Recognized for sound executive judgment, strategic planning, effective stakeholder engagement, and rigorous contract and project administration. Proven capacity to support organizational mandates, advance corporate and government priorities, and deliver high value outcomes in technically demanding and regulated environments.
Our questionnaire
Georgios Kalkounis’ own answers to the questions we put to every candidate, published as given — including, where they wrote one, their reasoning in their own words.
Citywide intensification can improve supply and reduce approval complexity, if supported by engineering‑based assessments of infrastructure capacity, safety, market impacts, and neighbourhood cohesion.
When an indoor space meets safety, accessibility, and household needs, transitioning supports coordinated services, reduces risk, and aligns with integrated public‑safety and health‑system standards.
Road planning must follow engineering‑based demand analysis, evidence‑driven capital planning, lifecycle maintenance, and streamlined processes. Remove unnecessary restrictions, integrate operations, ensure transparency, and deliver measurable mobility improvements, WITHOUT adding Taxpayers burden.
Infrastructure reliability requires disciplined engineering standards, lifecycle maintenance, and efficiency‑based savings. Revenue tools must PROTECT taxpayers’ single wallet and prevent costly deferral of essential repairs.
YES - Publishing project‑level budgets, schedules, and performance metrics strengthens transparency, engineering‑based oversight, disciplined planning, and accountability across all major capital programs.
Strengthen public safety, crisis prevention, public space management, neighbourhood cohesion, and community stability through coordinated prevention, enforcement, and integrated recovery‑focused supports delivered jointly across municipal, provincial, and federal partners.
Increase police presence and response reliability by reducing administrative burden and directing resources to frontline operations, supported by clear service accountability and streamlined processes.
Limit surveillance technology to targeted, high‑risk investigations and legally justified assessments, with deployment governed by strict rules for access, data retention, and data sharing.
Transit funding must focus on reliability and measurable mobility performance through streamlined operations, engineering‑driven capital planning, and disciplined lifecycle maintenance.
Prioritize congestion reduction by removing unnecessary restrictions, simplifying transit‑roadway interfaces, improving system efficiency through integrated operations, and planning future street capacity using demographic trends, user forecasts, and long‑term mobility needs.
Use engineering‑based planning to align housing with demand and lifecycle costs. Improve affordability through streamlined approvals and reduced duplication. Integrate related government programs to protect taxpayers’ single wallet.
Strengthen affordability through streamlined regulatory pathways, reduced inter‑agency duplication, and predictable approval timelines. Integrate municipal, provincial, and federal housing initiatives to eliminate redundant expenditures and protect taxpayers’ single wallet.
Focusing density on major corridors and transit nodes supports demand‑driven planning, optimizes existing infrastructure, improves mobility outcomes, and concentrates growth where engineering assessments show the strongest capacity and long‑term performance.
Cost reduction in Toronto’s housing delivery should be achieved through simplified approvals, reduced duplication, predictable regulatory conditions, and integrated municipal‑provincial‑federal programs that lower administrative overhead.
Reduce project delays and cost overruns through transparent, competitive procurement, engineering‑based evaluation, and strict accountability. Integrate financial planning across governments, eliminate duplication, simplify processes, reduce waste, and align spending with long‑term economic trends.
Public employees deliver most municipal services more efficiently than contractors. Contractors are effective for short‑term heavy construction, but long‑term services are more reliable, secure, and cost‑effective when performed by municipal staff, particularly under strong, disciplined leadership.
Residential property tax should be REDUCED, with the shortfall offset through efficiency gains, integrated financial planning, transparent competitive procurement, engineering‑based evaluation, fewer duplicated administrative structures, and reduced city‑appointed directors — NOT service cuts.
Rely on best‑and‑highest use of city assets and cost reduction—not new revenue—achieved through efficiency gains, integrated financial planning, transparent competitive procurement, consolidation, strict accountability, simplified processes and eliminating duplicated administration.
The infrastructure repair backlog is an operational defect caused by inadequate planning and preventive maintenance. It must be addressed through long‑term planning, disciplined practices, professional standards, clear priorities, transparent metrics, engineering‑based criteria and strict timelines.
Taxpayers fund all governments, so partnership and coordination is essential to eliminate redundancy, protect the single wallet, align operations under unified priorities and long‑term planning, and ensure accountability, metrics, procurement discipline, and strict timelines.
Strong‑mayor authority should enforce simplification across ~120 agencies, intergovernmental coordination to eliminate redundant programs and protect taxpayers’ wallet, and decisions anchored in affordability, accountability, transparent metrics, public safety, and long‑term planning discipline.
Investment, housing, and development must support growth and human needs, with engineering‑based long‑term planning aligned to demographic and market trends, affordability strengthened through simplified approvals, integrated programs, and social supports with performance standards.
Reduced operating budget by 15% through efficiency gains, consolidation, and eliminating duplicated administration—not service cuts. Stabilized property taxes through waste reduction, simplified processes, and alignment with long‑term economic trends.
Sports and leisure activities should use dedicated facilities, not streets. Streets are for vehicles — not bikes, delivery couriers, or restaurant tables. Public transportation must be encouraged and supported.
Protests must be properly planned, safely managed, and conducted peacefully, with clear controls that protect public order and uphold lawful expression.
Prioritize tech investment in resident services for faster permits and payments, internal operations to improve procurement and administrative efficiency, and performance systems that provide public data, measure outcomes, and strengthen departmental accountability.
When facing a structural budget gap, Toronto should first reduce or redesign lower‑priority services, cut internal administration, staffing, and contract costs, maximize revenue from its own assets, and only then consider taxes, fees, or new revenue measures.
Toronto should improve its business climate by lowering commercial costs, reducing delays in permits and inspections, and strengthening fundamentals such as housing, transportation, public safety, and infrastructure.
Toronto should attract major employers by using targeted incentives where appropriate, strengthening citywide fundamentals like housing, transportation and safety, and focusing sector strategies on industries where the city already has a competitive advantage.
Toronto should increase construction capacity by maintaining a predictable long‑term project pipeline, expanding workforce training and credential recognition, and improving productivity through modular construction, prefabrication, and more efficient building methods.
Toronto should prioritize basic maintenance to ensure clean, safe and reliable public spaces, while balancing selective major improvements and programming that support activity, community use and economic vitality.
Toronto should support arts, culture, and nightlife through regulatory reform that simplifies permits and operating rules, targeted public funding for facilities and affordable cultural space, and planning tools that protect venues and workspaces from displacement.
Toronto should prioritize mandatory data disclosure to ensure transparent reporting on trips, collisions, congestion, and curb use, while maintaining accessibility and service standards and avoiding unnecessary municipal conditions beyond provincial regulation.
Each card is one question, with Georgios Kalkounis filed under the answer they gave and their own words underneath it. The other options offered are not shown, nor how the rest of the field answered.
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