Let me introduce myself, I am Lori Foster and I have lived in Milton Ward 2 for the last 20 years. I grew up in Acton and lived in the big bad city of Mississauga for several years.

For over 25 years I have held various roles doing IT Support and System Administration in various industries and environments, including Government and Healthcare. This means I understand the need for well documented and consistent processes that don’t change just because there is a change from above. The majority of my career involved troubleshooting problems and working with people to find solutions that support the business need and was acceptable for the Client, as a result I found it is much easier to adjust technology to people than forcing people to change to technology.

Needless to say, I know I will never be a traditional politician and I will bring a very different lived experience to other candidates that are missing in the Town Council. Milton needs a council that reflects its new diversity, where there are voices who can guide policies to reflect the future while respecting its past.

I have accepted, like many, that I will be a life long renter, unless the lottery comes into play (fingers crossed). I have also been learning live with a disability that has forced me to do a career shift as I can no longer run around the building doing support calls. My lived experience is one of the greatest assets I can bring as it can provide a very different perspective that is often missing from Council. I also grew up in rural Acton just a few km east of Milton, so I understand the core values of this community, I also can relate to what it’s like coming from the big city to a small community and the need to embrace the new community yet be open to the opportunities a diverse community brings.

My preference has been to work in the background as a problem solver, learning about people and organizations rather than just showing up for the occasional photo. I love learning about new people and things and while my past jobs made it difficult to get as involved in the community I would like, I have found different ways to give back including a few years helping to organizing the Hospital Haunted House at the Mall, and am currently helping at the Repair Cafe Hosted by Sustainable Milton. I was a member of the Milton Choristers for a few years and for the past 10 years have fostered cats and kittens for the Humane Society of Oakville, Milton & Halton when I have time.

Like many others, the last few years have been very challenging, as a result I have needed to utilize some of the Town and Regional services. For the most part Town Hall Staff have been amazing, however on a couple of occasions there were issues that I ended up needing a councillor to help escalate. I was fortunate to have first met Councillor Colin Best about 15 years ago when working on a hospital fundraiser. In all of these cases the root cause was with a process that didn’t anticipate additional options so there became cracks in the system. The reality is these cracks will grow as Milton does if we don’t start to address them now while Milton is still at a manageable size. My unique experience within small and large Service Desks, IT operations and a Business Analysis background allows me to ask the critical questions and help Town Hall into an organization to support the City it will become.