# Natasha Feghali, Ward 5

An episode of [Rose City Politics](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1247337855), 1 Oct 2026, 21 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75478496/5_natasha_11_thu.mp3

Pat interviews Natasha Feghali, Ward 5 candidate.

## Transcript

[0:22] Speaker 1: Welcome to a bonus episode of Rose City Politics. Thank
[0:26] Speaker 1: you for joining us for this special series on RCP
[0:28] Speaker 1: where we're talking with some of the candidates running in
[0:31] Speaker 1: the upcoming Windsor municipal election. I'm Pat Papadias and joining
[0:35] Speaker 1: me today is Natasha Feghali, candidate for Ward 5. Ward
[0:40] Speaker 1: 5 is an open seat following the retirement of longtime
[0:43] Speaker 1: City Councillor Ed Sleeman. Natasha is an educator, entrepreneur, and
[0:48] Speaker 1: community advocate who has lived in Ward 5 for more
[0:50] Speaker 1: than 30 years. She is the founder and CEO of
[0:54] Speaker 1: Fideli Group and FG Family Homes and has worked in
[0:57] Speaker 1: education in Windsor and internationally. She has also been involved
[1:01] Speaker 1: with a number of community and nonprofit organizations over the years.
[1:05] Speaker 1: Her campaign is built around five pillars, safer and more
[1:08] Speaker 1: connected communities, infrastructure and clean neighborhoods, support for local business
[1:14] Speaker 1: and economic growth, affordable housing and smart development, and greater
[1:18] Speaker 1: community engagement and transparency.
[1:21] Speaker 2: Natasha, welcome to Rose City Politics.
[1:24] Speaker 3: Thank you, Pat, for having me. I appreciate it.
[1:27] Speaker 2: It's good to meet you and see you.
[1:31] Speaker 1: You've lived in Ward 5 for more than 30 years,
[1:34] Speaker 1: so this isn't simply a riding you're campaigning in.
[1:36] Speaker 2: It's home.
[1:37] Speaker 1: What do you think Ward 5 needs from its next
[1:40] Speaker 1: councillor that perhaps it hasn't been getting, uh, in terms
[1:46] Speaker 1: of up until now?
[1:49] Speaker 3: Well, that's a great question, Pat. You know, I think
[1:51] Speaker 3: that all the counselors previous in Ward 5, and of course, Mr. Sleeman,
[1:57] Speaker 3: who is obviously stepping down, they've done their very best.
[2:01] Speaker 3: Of course, we know that. And there is possibly only
[2:05] Speaker 3: so much you can do every time you are running,
[2:08] Speaker 3: depending on whatever is happening fiscally. So what I'd like
[2:12] Speaker 3: to see is that definitely we do an audit on
[2:16] Speaker 3: the roads and infrastructure, of course, to see what we
[2:19] Speaker 3: still need to do and what needs to be done,
[2:21] Speaker 3: because that also helps with connectivity. And for an example,
[2:27] Speaker 3: just even cracks in the sidewalks. So I would like
[2:30] Speaker 3: to see an audit be done to see help with that.
[2:34] Speaker 3: That helps with connectivity, that helps with infrastructure. And all
[2:38] Speaker 3: my pillars come together as one, because if all of
[2:40] Speaker 3: that is being done and being repaired and being updated,
[2:44] Speaker 3: then businesses will want to move into the ward. And
[2:47] Speaker 3: we do see a number of businesses coming into the ward.
[2:50] Speaker 3: A few of them are friends of mine and women
[2:53] Speaker 3: entrepreneurs as well that have moved into ward five. And
[2:56] Speaker 3: so I'd like to continue to see that growth all
[2:59] Speaker 3: across the ward. of course, because we do have some
[3:02] Speaker 3: vacant areas. So it would be nice to have those
[3:05] Speaker 3: filled up and to work with the commercial landlords to
[3:09] Speaker 3: continue to fill those spaces. And then, as you know,
[3:12] Speaker 3: our ward has grown. We do have more ADUs in
[3:17] Speaker 3: our ward. And so there are more families. So, of course,
[3:21] Speaker 3: we want to keep our parks clean and safe. So
[3:23] Speaker 3: it'd be really good to have a little more police
[3:26] Speaker 3: presence in the ward. And also one thing that I
[3:29] Speaker 3: really advocate for and that I have been talking to
[3:33] Speaker 3: my own neighbors, family and friends that live on other
[3:37] Speaker 3: streets in the ward is a neighborhood watch.
[3:41] Speaker 1: Excellent. You know, you mentioned business and entrepreneurs and supporting
[3:46] Speaker 1: local business is a major part of your platform. And
[3:50] Speaker 1: you talk about revitalizing commercial corridors and encouraging investment. What
[3:54] Speaker 1: do you think the city can do to make it
[3:56] Speaker 1: easier to start, operate and grow a business? And, you know,
[4:03] Speaker 1: what is even in the city's control that municipal government
[4:07] Speaker 1: can support?
[4:10] Speaker 3: Well, I believe first thing is, and it's great that
[4:14] Speaker 3: you just asked me that because this morning I went
[4:16] Speaker 3: to the new Pilates studio. I was invited to go
[4:19] Speaker 3: and she has just opened in Ward 5. And we
[4:23] Speaker 3: just had this exact discussion. And one thing that she
[4:26] Speaker 3: brought up that I was going to make a video
[4:27] Speaker 3: about today is it is so beautiful that we have
[4:31] Speaker 3: Project Greenlight downtown. But what about other businesses across the city?
[4:36] Speaker 3: They might not need as much. They might not need
[4:39] Speaker 3: as much money. Why not match them $ 1, 000? Why not
[4:43] Speaker 3: have a lottery throughout the year? Businesses can put their
[4:46] Speaker 3: names in and possibly have a lottery. 25 businesses are chosen.
[4:50] Speaker 3: The city will match you $ 1, 000. You pay $ 1, 000, show
[4:54] Speaker 3: your receipt, the city will match you. Small things like
[4:57] Speaker 3: that incentivize business. I also know that there is a
[5:01] Speaker 3: vacancy tax, I believe. I have to do more research
[5:05] Speaker 3: into that. I don't believe in that. I think that
[5:07] Speaker 3: is disincentivizing people. We need to tell them, come open.
[5:12] Speaker 3: We're not going to continue to tax you if you open.
[5:15] Speaker 3: And I think that we do need to open our minds.
[5:17] Speaker 3: As someone who has lived and worked and studied all
[5:20] Speaker 3: over the world, there are models that work and we
[5:24] Speaker 3: should utilize them. We have so many bloggers and influencers
[5:28] Speaker 3: in Windsor. The city could offer each of them something
[5:33] Speaker 3: small to go around and blog because businesses are giving
[5:36] Speaker 3: it to them for free. But why not have the
[5:38] Speaker 3: city offer them something, have the city pair up with them?
[5:42] Speaker 3: And that's why I think sometimes we need new and
[5:44] Speaker 3: fresh ideas, as well as I also was thinking about
[5:48] Speaker 3: something that would be great. We have the parking meters.
[5:52] Speaker 3: But why not something different, you know, as opposed to
[5:55] Speaker 3: people having always to pay to park their car? We
[5:58] Speaker 3: are in very difficult financial times for a lot of people,
[6:02] Speaker 3: as we spoke before the show. Why not having some
[6:05] Speaker 3: reliefs so that people can go out? and enjoy themselves
[6:11] Speaker 3: because it's not that easy. It's just not that easy
[6:14] Speaker 3: right now. And it's not easy for businesses. And as
[6:17] Speaker 3: a business owner who is in a very difficult business,
[6:20] Speaker 3: housing is extremely difficult, housing and investment. I know that
[6:24] Speaker 3: every single penny to the penny counts.
[6:29] Speaker 2: It's interesting.
[6:30] Speaker 1: Your, your platform does have a lot of, um, you know,
[6:35] Speaker 1: innovative ideas you know new new fresh ideas and i
[6:39] Speaker 1: i suppose part of it is you know what is
[6:41] Speaker 1: the role of a city um and and to what
[6:44] Speaker 1: extent you know what is the budget of a city
[6:46] Speaker 1: to uh to be able to do certain things but
[6:48] Speaker 1: one one uh also you know different idea that you
[6:52] Speaker 1: have in your platform that i think everybody would agree
[6:55] Speaker 1: is sort of city responsibility is actually garbage And it's
[7:00] Speaker 1: pretty specific. You've called for Windsor to investigate weekly garbage
[7:04] Speaker 1: collection during the summer months while keeping biweekly collection during
[7:07] Speaker 1: the rest of the year. Have you looked into costs
[7:11] Speaker 1: related to that? And I guess the other thing I
[7:14] Speaker 1: would say, if you have or haven't, is, you know,
[7:18] Speaker 1: what would you want to see out of a pilot?
[7:20] Speaker 1: What would sort of convince you that it's worth continuing
[7:23] Speaker 1: or not?
[7:25] Speaker 3: The convincing piece is that every single person talks to
[7:28] Speaker 3: me about it. Every single person now discusses garbage with me.
[7:33] Speaker 3: We just had a meeting at the school level that
[7:36] Speaker 3: garbage will go to biweekly. And all the teachers turned
[7:40] Speaker 3: and looked at me because they know I have a
[7:42] Speaker 3: proposal about it. I'm not saying it's wrong. And I
[7:44] Speaker 3: know that it's a way to increase the tax base.
[7:47] Speaker 3: I'm not saying that it's wrong. Of course, I'm open
[7:50] Speaker 3: for different things, but I'm also open to look at
[7:53] Speaker 3: different innovative ideas. In the summer, it's very hot. And
[7:57] Speaker 3: we know that that can generate all different types of problems.
[8:00] Speaker 3: And putting on my landlord hat, every single day I
[8:05] Speaker 3: received messages. Not all tenants are operating in the same way.
[8:10] Speaker 3: So why not have a little pilot program? This doesn't
[8:13] Speaker 3: have to be on a large scale. Pilot it, see
[8:16] Speaker 3: who signs up, see what the demand is. And I
[8:19] Speaker 3: think we can do that for a lot of things.
[8:21] Speaker 3: There is not a one size fits all anymore for
[8:24] Speaker 3: all people in a city. Blanket statements don't work for
[8:28] Speaker 3: everyone anymore. You know, I'm not married. I have no children.
[8:31] Speaker 3: I have very little garbage. I was just out the
[8:34] Speaker 3: other day campaigning or door knocking and a lady spoke
[8:38] Speaker 3: to me about garbage. And that now, not only as
[8:42] Speaker 3: a new mom does, you know, she have to know,
[8:45] Speaker 3: you know, about the garbage and what goes out what day,
[8:47] Speaker 3: but now she has to take her diapers somewhere. How
[8:50] Speaker 3: much more are we asking? And we often don't look
[8:54] Speaker 3: through the lens of who is doing these tasks in
[8:58] Speaker 3: a home, you know, and there's also that piece as well.
[9:02] Speaker 3: And so I, you know, come also, I live with
[9:06] Speaker 3: my family. So I am in a big family. I
[9:08] Speaker 3: don't live alone. And I started to notice myself, my neighbors,
[9:12] Speaker 3: friends of mine, other landlords, people who helped me manage
[9:16] Speaker 3: my properties. Everybody was talking about this. And I thought,
[9:19] Speaker 3: why not investigate what other cities are doing and what
[9:23] Speaker 3: other cities have adopted? And I knew that people would
[9:26] Speaker 3: ask me, where's the money going to come from? So
[9:29] Speaker 3: I thought it would be good if we looked at
[9:32] Speaker 3: a pay to pick approach. So if you want this
[9:36] Speaker 3: service to come in the summer every week, you can
[9:40] Speaker 3: pay for it or it could go on your taxes
[9:41] Speaker 3: at the end of the summer. If you don't have
[9:43] Speaker 3: the means, if you don't care, if you don't want it,
[9:46] Speaker 3: that's fine.
[9:47] Speaker 2: Leave it.
[9:48] Speaker 3: Let other people who may want it, they can sign
[9:51] Speaker 3: up and see how it goes. If it doesn't work,
[9:53] Speaker 3: it doesn't work. Pilot projects, I find in my own
[9:57] Speaker 3: experience and with my educator hat on, working in all
[10:00] Speaker 3: different sectors of education, pilot projects are a great way
[10:04] Speaker 3: to get data on what people are seeking and not seeking.
[10:08] Speaker 1: Are you concerned that that would open up a two-tier
[10:12] Speaker 1: system where those that can't afford get services from the
[10:15] Speaker 1: city and those that struggle to afford would not be
[10:20] Speaker 1: able to get the same service from the city?
[10:23] Speaker 3: We could always look at a subsidized program. And if
[10:26] Speaker 3: there is a big demand, then we might have to
[10:30] Speaker 3: come back to the table and look at how we
[10:32] Speaker 3: could fund this for the whole city only for those
[10:35] Speaker 3: few weeks. Or if there's no demand, if really people
[10:40] Speaker 3: are not interested or if only some people are interested,
[10:44] Speaker 3: you know, there's all different ways to look at it.
[10:47] Speaker 1: You mentioned that you're a landlord and just based on
[10:51] Speaker 1: the companies you have, I assume it has to do
[10:54] Speaker 1: with housing.
[10:55] Speaker 2: It's right in the words.
[10:56] Speaker 3: Yes, I've been in it my whole life.
[10:58] Speaker 2: Okay.
[10:58] Speaker 1: So you talk about affordable housing and smart development. So,
[11:02] Speaker 1: you know, a space that you've been in and you
[11:04] Speaker 1: say you want more housing choices while protecting, of course,
[11:07] Speaker 1: the character of Ward 5 neighborhoods.
[11:10] Speaker 2: Sometimes, and we see this in certainly other areas of the.
[11:13] Speaker 1: City, you know, affordable housing and keeping a character of
[11:18] Speaker 1: a neighborhood, those sometimes come, you know, at odds and
[11:22] Speaker 1: people feel they pull in different directions. What kinds of
[11:25] Speaker 1: development and density are you sort of prepared to support
[11:28] Speaker 1: for Ward 5 that you think that the neighborhood, you know, would.
[11:34] Speaker 2: Welcome?
[11:34] Speaker 1: And where do you think there might be challenges in
[11:37] Speaker 1: what the neighborhood might want to see there?
[11:41] Speaker 3: Because I've lived here, I grew up downtown, but my
[11:47] Speaker 3: parents moved in the 90s. And so I've been here
[11:50] Speaker 3: 30 years now. I don't want to date myself, of course.
[11:56] Speaker 3: But I know from just living here, of course, when
[11:59] Speaker 3: you have established neighborhoods, people don't like a lot of
[12:03] Speaker 3: change because that generates more traffic, both in cars and
[12:08] Speaker 3: in humans into the ward. That takes up parking spaces.
[12:12] Speaker 3: Of course, there can be more pollution, you know, in
[12:15] Speaker 3: the way of trash and all of those things. So
[12:18] Speaker 3: it can be difficult. And we do see that there
[12:21] Speaker 3: was some pushback with one area in the ward where
[12:25] Speaker 3: it was supposed to be a duplex development, but then
[12:28] Speaker 3: there was an ADU. And when I was campaigning in that,
[12:31] Speaker 3: an ADU added, excuse me. And when I was campaigning
[12:34] Speaker 3: in that area, many of the neighbors around where that
[12:38] Speaker 3: development came up They're very unhappy with that. So it
[12:42] Speaker 3: is important, as I said, to look at how the
[12:47] Speaker 3: city can also support that when you have a historic neighborhood,
[12:51] Speaker 3: that whoever the developers are, that they follow proper guidelines
[12:55] Speaker 3: set out. And that can be done, obviously, through bylaw,
[12:58] Speaker 3: heritage and planning and so forth for whatever it is
[13:02] Speaker 3: that they want to do. If they're doing an apartment building,
[13:04] Speaker 3: if they're doing a commercial space with extra units on top,
[13:08] Speaker 3: It depends what they want. I will support whatever people
[13:12] Speaker 3: and developers or small investors like myself would like to
[13:16] Speaker 3: do in the ward. Of course, it's always going to
[13:21] Speaker 3: be difficult because people are living in spaces that they
[13:25] Speaker 3: don't want disrupted. I know that. I'm a third generation investor.
[13:30] Speaker 3: I completely understand that. It's very hard. When you put
[13:35] Speaker 3: a fourplex next to a residential family home, it's very difficult.
[13:41] Speaker 3: People don't like that. So oftentimes you have to have
[13:46] Speaker 3: a town hall. If they're like, of course, if it's
[13:48] Speaker 3: going to be a big development, it's good to have
[13:51] Speaker 3: a town hall. It's good to talk with the residents
[13:53] Speaker 3: of that area. I live in a cul-de-sac area. So
[13:56] Speaker 3: it's good to go as if you are the ward
[13:59] Speaker 3: councillor to go and talk to them about what large
[14:03] Speaker 3: development could come. But what I think would be really
[14:06] Speaker 3: great for our ward as well is to see more
[14:09] Speaker 3: small to medium sized homes pop up that are in
[14:12] Speaker 3: the affordability range for young families, because we do have
[14:17] Speaker 3: a lot of young families coming back into the ward
[14:20] Speaker 3: because homes in Ward 5 are relatively affordable, depending which
[14:25] Speaker 3: street that you're on. And so that would be excellent
[14:29] Speaker 3: to see. We do have larger developments that we see
[14:34] Speaker 3: on Drouillard Road right now. A friend of mine from
[14:38] Speaker 3: my high school, younger days, he's one of the developers
[14:43] Speaker 3: in there. And that's great also. But if they are
[14:47] Speaker 3: in a heritage area, then of course, you know, the
[14:50] Speaker 3: city has to step in at that point in order
[14:52] Speaker 3: to preserve the history of that area, just like we
[14:57] Speaker 3: would see in any city that you go to.
[15:02] Speaker 1: And I know we don't have a lot of time
[15:03] Speaker 1: for the interview and you have five pillars.
[15:05] Speaker 2: So I guess maybe.
[15:06] Speaker 1: What I'll ask before we get to the end is,
[15:10] Speaker 1: you know, if you had to pick, because, you know,
[15:13] Speaker 1: it's a big platform, if you had to pick something
[15:16] Speaker 1: that you would want to accomplish sort of first, which
[15:21] Speaker 1: one of those items that you have on your platform
[15:24] Speaker 1: would you say is your priority?
[15:26] Speaker 3: My priority is the community safety items. And speaking with
[15:31] Speaker 3: residents and starting up again, the meeting with the residents
[15:36] Speaker 3: of the ward at the different community centers, meeting with them,
[15:40] Speaker 3: their community safety neighborhood watch. And then from there, we
[15:44] Speaker 3: can move forward because I already have a tremendous list
[15:47] Speaker 3: of names of people who would like to be part of.
[15:51] Speaker 3: the Neighborhood Watch and who would like to be part
[15:54] Speaker 3: of a Ward 5 meetup group that meets with me
[15:58] Speaker 3: quarterly or every other month, whatever is available to talk
[16:03] Speaker 3: about different things in the ward that they would like
[16:05] Speaker 3: to see go forward. And I believe that from that standpoint,
[16:09] Speaker 3: we can move forward with every other piece.
[16:13] Speaker 2: And, you know, you mentioned talking to people.
[16:15] Speaker 1: It's a big part of what you've developed here.
[16:18] Speaker 2: What are you hearing at the doors that surprised you?
[16:21] Speaker 1: Anything where, you know what, I didn't realize that that
[16:24] Speaker 1: was as big of a Ward 5 issue as I'm
[16:27] Speaker 1: now hearing at the doors.
[16:29] Speaker 3: Yeah, we just talked about it, is the influx of
[16:34] Speaker 3: traffic and people in our ward. And some neighbors feel
[16:40] Speaker 3: that it has disturbed their quality of life. They have
[16:43] Speaker 3: nowhere to park anymore. They don't have a driveway. They
[16:47] Speaker 3: don't have a place to park. There might be cars
[16:49] Speaker 3: in the alleyways. They oftentimes call bylaw. They're waiting for
[16:53] Speaker 3: bylaw to show up. So traffic has been a huge one,
[16:58] Speaker 3: as well as the Amazon plant is in our ward.
[17:02] Speaker 3: I'm not saying that anybody or any corporation is doing
[17:06] Speaker 3: anything wrong, but we have to admit there is just
[17:08] Speaker 3: more traffic. And so oftentimes they're going through residential streets,
[17:14] Speaker 3: and that is fine. can be dangerous at times depending
[17:19] Speaker 3: on speeds. So they'd like to see more in the
[17:22] Speaker 3: way of traffic control. And this is also part of
[17:26] Speaker 3: meeting with the residents of the ward and Safe Neighborhoods
[17:30] Speaker 3: and Neighborhood Watch in order to see. I recently did
[17:34] Speaker 3: a poll online about speed humps. And most people said, yes,
[17:38] Speaker 3: they would like them. But we know that those have
[17:41] Speaker 3: to be properly placed because we don't want to infringe
[17:44] Speaker 3: on our emergency services or any services that it could
[17:47] Speaker 3: slow down their time. So that is one thing that
[17:52] Speaker 3: I have heard at the door a lot, a lot,
[17:55] Speaker 3: a lot is about that. And then of course, community safety,
[17:59] Speaker 3: you know, petty crime is something that we see in
[18:02] Speaker 3: the ward. My Amazon package was stolen last week and it's, it's,
[18:07] Speaker 3: it's something that we live within in every day now.
[18:11] Speaker 3: And so people want to talk about that and they, they,
[18:13] Speaker 3: they want to have something that they can hang on
[18:16] Speaker 3: to and they want to have people that they can
[18:19] Speaker 3: have meaningful conversations with.
[18:23] Speaker 1: I know we've run sort of out of time, but
[18:26] Speaker 1: I do want to give you an opportunity, whether, you know,
[18:28] Speaker 1: take a minute and, and, um, If you had a moment,
[18:33] Speaker 1: I guess, to say to Ward 5 voters, why vote
[18:37] Speaker 1: for you?
[18:39] Speaker 3: Yes, of course. So I am a member of our ward.
[18:44] Speaker 3: I am a resident in our ward. I've been here
[18:47] Speaker 3: for 30 years, and I understand the challenges that we
[18:51] Speaker 3: have every single day. If they'd like to be in
[18:54] Speaker 3: touch with me, they can check my platform, fagali45. com. All
[18:58] Speaker 3: of my details are on there. I post videos all
[19:02] Speaker 3: the time about what the residents are talking to me
[19:05] Speaker 3: about and they're welcome to look at that as well
[19:07] Speaker 3: as answer any of my different polls that I have
[19:11] Speaker 3: because I'm tracking that data to continue to see what
[19:15] Speaker 3: it is that the residents want me to talk about.
[19:18] Speaker 3: My pillars were based on the residents and what they
[19:22] Speaker 3: are talking to me about because I brought my pillars
[19:26] Speaker 3: much after I put my name through. because I'm also
[19:30] Speaker 3: a resident. So I am with them in what they
[19:33] Speaker 3: are going through and how they feel about certain things that,
[19:38] Speaker 3: you know, infringe on their quality of life in our ward.
[19:42] Speaker 1: That's Natasha Fogali, candidate for Ward 5.
[19:46] Speaker 2: I've been here for a moment. I've done a few
[19:50] Speaker 2: on six. That's okay.
[19:52] Speaker 1: Municipal election. This has been a Rose City Politics bonus episode.
[19:58] Speaker 1: Thank you, Natasha, for joining us. And good luck on
[20:01] Speaker 1: the campaign trail. I'm Pat Papadeus, and you've been listening
[20:04] Speaker 1: to Rose City Politics. We'll see you next time.
[20:23] Speaker 2: Thank you.

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