Building Ajax Togeher: A Conversation with MPP Rob Cerjanec on Leadership, Housing & Improving transportation in Ajax
In a compelling podcast episode hosted by Khurram Qureshi, owner of DigiPixInc.com, sat down with Rob Cerjanec, the Liberal MPP for Ajax, the goal wasn’t to score political points it was to have a real conversation about what matters to Ontarians today: housing, homelessness, health care, education and leadership that actually listens.
What followed across five episodes was more than a political chat; it was a deep, human look at how one local leader is trying to rebuild trust in public service by bringing honesty, humility and a practical mindset to Queen’s Park.
Rob Cerjanec is the Member of Provincial Parliament for Ajax and the Ontario Liberal critic for Economic Development & Innovation and Tourism, Sport and Culture. He brings years of experience in both business and public education and a deep commitment to solving the everyday challenges families in Ajax and Ontario face.
Before entering public office, Rob served on the senior leadership team at the Durham District School Board, where he helped parents navigate the education system and oversaw strategic initiatives. His background as a business consultant and his MBA from the Schulich School of Business gives him a strong foundation for driving economic growth and innovation, while always putting people first.
Rob’s priorities reflect the concerns he hears from his community: improving healthcare access, strengthening public education, tackling gridlock, enhancing GO Train access, building a fair and sustainable economy and protecting the environment for future generations. He believes in bringing people together to find practical solutions and in making government work better for everyone.
Rob is focused on building a future where families can thrive, businesses can grow and everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
A candid interview with Ontario’s MPP in a professional studio setting highlights collaborative dialogue on leadership, housing initiatives and building hope for the future of the province
Humble Beginnings and a Life of Public Service
Rob’s story begins in a one bedroom Toronto apartment, raised by a single mother who relied on strong public schools and caring teachers. That experience shaped his belief that the government's job is to build ladders, good education, reliable health care and a fair economy so people can climb.
Before Queen’s Park, he worked with the Deputy Mayor at Toronto City Hall and later joined the Durham District School Board. His first day at the board coincided with the pandemic shutdown, a trial by fire that taught him to communicate clearly, listen hard and keep calm when the stakes are high.
Those habits now define his approach in the legislature, where, as a Liberal in opposition, he focuses less on theatrics and more on practical fixes that actually make life easier for people.
Lessons from the Pandemic
A large part of the discussion explores how the pandemic exposed cracks in institutions and how quickly things improve when business, nonprofits and government talk to each other.
The host, Khurram, shares the view from the business community, recalling his time chairing the Downtown Ajax BIA as small shops flooded him with calls about grants, closures and survival. Rob recognizes the same picture from the other side of slow, tangled systems that can be simplified when people share information and act quickly.
That spirit of collaboration anchors the conversation about homelessness, which both men see not as a question of character but of circumstance. The pandemic revealed how fragile many lives are and how easily stability can disappear.
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From Shelters to Stability
Rob argues that shelters save lives, but they cannot rebuild them. The only durable answer is supportive housing real homes paired with wraparound services such as mental health care, addiction support and case management.
He favors mixed income approaches that weave supportive units into buildings that also include affordable and market rate homes, creating social balance and dignity rather than isolation. He points to Toronto’s St. Lawrence neighbourhood as a working model.
Khurram floats the idea of a single 250 unit tower blending transitional housing, affordable rentals and condos. Rob appreciates the ambition but notes that smaller, distributed projects often integrate better and avoid concentrating problems in one place. Both agree that design and dignity matter as much as unit counts.
Barriers That Slow Progress
Money, governance and market conditions sit at the heart of why progress is hard. Supportive housing rarely pays for itself, so private builders can’t shoulder it alone.
Ontario is also unique in downloading the responsibility for shelters and social housing to municipalities, which fund programs with property taxes that don’t grow with the economy. Rob says the province needs to reassert leadership with a coordinated plan.
At the same time, high interest rates and construction costs are stalling projects. Developers can’t make the math work, tradespeople lose jobs and the pipeline of homes shrinks. Rob suggests targeted financial relief reconsidering HST on new builds up to a threshold, examining land transfer taxes on first sales and cutting delays that add cost without adding quality.
He backs a private member’s bill calling for a ten year, measurable provincial strategy to end homelessness because the cost of doing nothing is already visible on city streets.
Why He Ran and Who Inspired Him
The lens then widens to why Rob ran, who influenced him and how he measures success. He credits leaders like Lester B. Pearson for achieving durable reforms in short spans and former Toronto Deputy Mayor Ana Bailão for a pragmatic, cross partisan style that prioritizes outcomes over credit.
That philosophy shapes his local priorities. Ajax residents want the express GO service back on Lakeshore East and a firm commitment to electrify the corridor so trains run frequently enough that people stop checking schedules.
They are straining under property taxes inflated by decades old downloads of provincial aresponsibilities onto municipal budgets. They want growth that doesn’t gridlock, which is why Rob supports investments like extending Hunt Street in downtown Ajax to unlock light industrial and commercial space, broaden the tax base and reduce the burden on homeowners.
Behind the scenes of an impactful interview with Ontario’s MPP, highlighting open dialogue on leadership, housing solutions and inspiring hope for the province’s future, all captured with expert media production
Health Care and Community Well-Being
Health care completes the triangle. Rob wants cleaner, safer hospitals, manageable wait times and respect for nurses and PSWs who kept the system afloat through the pandemic.
He argues that ensuring everyone has a family doctor within four years is common sense: when people get care outside the ER, emergency rooms can focus on emergencies. It is a goal that demands planning medical school seats, supporting nurse practitioners and making it attractive for professionals to serve communities like Ajax.
Quiet Work That Delivers Real Results
Throughout, Rob returns to a theme of modesty and service. The most effective work often happens off camera phone calls, hallway conversations and quiet problem solving across party lines.
He recalls warning a minister that delayed funding would force layoffs at a community agency; by the next day, the province released money across the sector. There was no press conference, just a fix, which he considers the point.
He is frank about trade offs, too. Making the provincially owned stretch of Highway 407 east of Brock Road toll free made sense because it was under public control and underused. But buying back the privately held 407 would cost tens of billions that could otherwise electrify GO, build hospitals and fund autism services. He wants choices guided by numbers and outcomes, not slogans.
The Tone of Politics and the Need for Respect
The talk also addresses the tone of politics. Rob worries about imported bad habits shouting, cheap shots and culture war theatre crowding out the real work.
He calls for ministers to own mistakes, agencies to communicate clearly and all members to keep sexist and sneering comments out of the chamber. He won’t pretend any party is flawless; every government inherits problems and creates some of its own.
What matters is learning, adjusting and telling the truth about trade offs.The Greenbelt controversy, he says, shows how secrecy erodes trust and slows real progress.
Autism Services and Supporting Families
One of the most personal segments focuses on autism services. The host shares his family’s experience and the urgency of early intervention. Rob agrees that late funding squanders the most effective window for therapy and burdens families for years.
He pushed for more money and welcomed the increase in the last budget but insists that delivery must be fixed and wait lists driven near zero. Helping children early is both the right thing and the smart thing, reducing costs later in health care, housing and social support.
He recalls heartbreaking conversations with parents of adults with developmental disabilities who ask, “What happens when I die?” For Rob, those words are a call to action, a reminder that policy is about people, not paperwork.
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Staying Connected Between Elections
Rob is equally clear about how he stays connected between elections: coffee chats, community events, door knocking when there’s no campaign and an open invitation to email or call his office.
He uses social media to explain complex issues in plain language and send regular updates, acknowledging that while there is no official portal tracking every promise, residents deserve a transparent view of what’s moving and what isn’t.
He’s even open to grading progress publicly, not as a stunt but as a way to cut through noise and show outcomes.
The Human Side of Public Life
The human side shows up in smaller moments. He admits the job can swallow your life if you let it, so he guards time for family and tries to stay active, even if campaign season added a few pounds.
He follows the Browns and Bills, sings one reliable karaoke song and finds perspective in the sight of school groups touring the legislature. It is, he says, their building as much as his a reminder that representation is borrowed, not owned.
These glimpses make politics relatable again, showing that leaders can still be ordinary people trying to do extraordinary things.
A Local Campaign That Stayed Grounded
Asked why he won in a close race against an incumbent in a conservative moment, Rob points to a relentlessly local campaign, a forward looking message and cracks the public could see especially around the Greenbelt and a style of governing that felt closed.
The margin of 331 votes keeps him humble and focused on the simple answer to whom he works for. The party provides tools and a team; the job belongs to Ajax.
He hopes young people watching see that civic life isn’t limited to politics. Volunteering, planting community gardens, cleaning ravines, or pitching ideas to council all count as engagement. The way to learn leadership, he says, is to start small and treat each effort seriously.
A meaningful handshake between community leaders during a candid conversation highlights partnerships and the collaborative spirit driving positive change for housing and hope across Ontario
Leaving Things Better Than He Found Them
The conversation closes where it began: with service. Rob says he’ll measure success by whether he leaves things better than he found them faster trains, cleaner hospitals, mixed income housing and a fairer balance between what municipalities are asked to fund and what they can afford.
He knows not every battle will be won and not every plan will finish on his watch. But he believes steady, honest work listening, convening and choosing value over vanity can still move a province forward.
The podcast’s title becomes its thesis. Building hope together is not about applause lines; it’s about doing the quiet, cumulative work that lets a city like Ajax hear its own voice at Queen’s Park and see that voice turn into results.
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Watch Full Podcast of Rob Cerjanec here:
Conclusion: The Quiet Power of Service
In an age where politics often feels loud and divisive, Rob Cerjanec reminds us that progress doesn’t always come with a headline. It comes from listening, collaborating and staying human in the face of bureaucracy and pressure.
His story from a modest apartment to the provincial legislature isn’t just about ambition; it’s about persistence and belief in community. Through his leadership, Ajax’s concerns echo louder at Queen’s Park, proving that public service, when done right, still holds the power to make people’s lives better.
If Ontario needs a reminder of what genuine, grounded leadership looks like, this conversation delivers it: not promises shouted from a podium, but consistent effort built on empathy, clarity and hope.
Contact Rob Cerjanec here
Constituency office
Suite 502
230 Westney Rd. S
Ajax, ON L1S 7J5
Tel.: 905-427-2060
Toll free: 866-924-0312
Legislative office
Room 410
Main Legislative Building, Queen's Park
Toronto, ON M7A 1A5
Tel.: 416-325-3008
Email: rcerjanec.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Credits of the Podcast
Host: Khurram Qureshi
Guest: Rob Cerjanec
Camera: Mukarram
Editing: Mubeen
Finalize Editing: Shazil
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Written By: Khurram Qureshi
Founder & consultant of DigiPix Inc.
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About The Author
In 2006, Khurram Qureshi started DigiPix Inc. which started off as a design agency offering video editing to professional photography, video production & post production, website designs and 3D Animations and has now expanded towards online marketing and business consultancy. Khurram Qureshi also is a motivational figure and participates in local and international platforms. He also play a role in the local community development, helping local young minds get ready to enter the job market.