Jesse Woodward
Council · Nelson
Nelson 30 yrs
About
Born and raised in the Kootenays, Jesse is a husband, father and holds a Master’s in Sustainable Environmental Management. He has over 15 years experience in frontline community development and management and has spent the last two terms on Council.
Policy commitments
Buildings
We all want healthy, affordable, and comfortable homes. These policies will help to lower energy bills, cut pollution, and improve indoor air quality.
✓
Incentivize renewable energy, battery storage, and smart-grid technologies in new and existing buildings to improve energy security.
Supportive
✓
Scale up energy retrofits for existing homes, businesses, and public buildings.
Supportive
✓
Implement a 'right to cool' bylaw to protect tenants during extreme heat events.
Supportive
Climate Justice
Our community is already experiencing the harmful impacts of climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution, and taxpayers are on the hook to upgrade and repair critical infrastructure.
✓
Pursue available legal options to recover a fair share of the climate costs facing our community from fossil fuel companies and other big polluters.
Supportive
✓
Collaborate with Indigenous peoples as partners in the stewardship of the land, air, and water, and work towards reconciliation.
Supportive
Ecosystems
The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat all rely on healthy ecosystems. Nature can also help protect our community from extreme weather by controlling floods, protecting shorelines, and cooling neighbourhoods. Access to nature improves the health and well-being of residents, and supports biodiversity.
✓
Expand and protect tree canopy, parks, and green infrastructure to cool neighbourhoods, clean air, and manage stormwater.
Supportive
Land Use
We envision vibrant, walkable communities that protect nature and improve food security.
✓
Upgrade critical infrastructure for heat, fire, flood, and storm resilience.
Supportive
✓
Increase food security by supporting local agriculture and community gardens.
Supportive
Transport
Connecting neighbourhoods through public transit and active transportation networks will cut pollution, improve public health, and make our communities more affordable (and fun!).
✓
Advocate to improve regional public transit between communities.
Supportive
✓
Build bike and roll networks that are safe for everyone.
Supportive
✓
Expand EV charging infrastructure.
Supportive
Watersheds
Climate change, increasing populations, and overconsumption threaten our water security. Healthy watersheds and forests are critical to support clean drinking water, stormwater management, climate resilience, and biodiversity for future generations.
✓
Protect and restore watersheds as vital municipal infrastructure.
Supportive
Zero Waste
Zero waste policies reduce pollution, keep waste out of landfills, build resilient local economies, and safeguard public health by shifting society away from a disposable culture toward a sustainable circular economy.
✓
Implement zero waste bylaws to divert organic waste and recyclables from disposal.
Supportive
✓
Support the development of a circular economy to eliminate waste and improve resilience.
Supportive
✓ Supportive
~ Neutral
× Opposed
– No response
Climate action
How have you contributed to climate action in your community through advocacy, past work, advisory committees, volunteer work, and/or reducing your personal carbon footprint?
Ran the Nelson Farmers Markets for 7 years from 2012 to 2018, Elected to Council in 2018 on a platform to move the the City towards more climate action and climate change future proofing City infrastructure, once elected helped to move the City towards an emergency management mindset in all operational decision making and secured the development and completion of the "Nelson Next" climate action plan for the City, was a City rep for the new Official Community Plan Committee (OCP), helped to integrate and fold in the Nelson Next climate document into the new City OCP document, continue to advocate and push for any and all climate future proofing of all aspects of Nelson's operational actions and future action planning processes.
Questions for Nelson
In 2020, Nelson Council adopted the Nelson Next Climate Action Plan. How will you set timelines for implementing the plan and ensure they move forward this term?
The Nelson Next document has well defined action timelines. Recently staff gave a report on where the City was at in terms of keeping to stated time lines in the Nelson Next document. There were many successes but also areas that needed more improvement and a speeding up of the implementation of stated climate goals. If reelected I will continue to push and advocate for further implementation of Nelson Next stated goals and timelines but also with the acknowledgement that some areas of Nelson Next are much more challenging to achieve then other and a cost benefit analysis, as with all City actions, must be recognized and timelines might need to be adjusted so that eventually Nelson achieves climate goals without causing degradation of other aspects of City operations and services.
How will you advocate for better public transit (frequency, coverage, fares), both locally and intercity, including working with other levels of government?
In the last two terms on City Council I always voted in favor of any and all improvements to our local and regional transit systems. It is a absolutely critical part of making our City and region functional and equitable for all citizens. One huge improvement was the City taking over the North Shore bus route and running that portion of the local transit system through the City transit infrastructure and operations. Also, over many years, voted in favor of the development and construction of the new Victoria St. modernized transit hub which was a big improvement and far more efficient use of space then when it was crammed into the much to small of a space at Baker St. and Ward St. If reelected I will continue to advocate and vote in favor of better more efficient transit operations and the continued electrification of our local transit bus fleet.
What policies will you implement to reduce the health risks of dangerous outdoor and indoor summer heat and poor air quality, particularly for renters, low-income households, and children attending outdoor summer day camps?
Best practices would dictate that efficient use of public buildings such as the library, youth center and community center be modified and equipped with proper HVAC and cooling infrastructure and be open to the public when outdoor conditions reach dangerous levels of smoke or heat so that people can get out of the extreme conditions. Some of this work has already been done on many City buildings or is being worked as the City is well aware that these dangerous outdoor conditions will continue to be more frequent as the climate crisis grows more acute and intense over time. I will always advocate for future proofing public buildings to be better able to handle weather extremes that have become so common over the last 10 to 15 years.
Some municipality-owned utilities in Canada, like Summerside in PEI, are investing in solar, wind and batteries. As electricity demand increases, how would you support Nelson Hydro diversifying its generation to include other renewable sources?
I will always support more diversification of Nelson Hydro's generation capacity but only if it is truly the right and most efficient use of limited resources and the cost benefit analysis of the action shows that it is the correct use of these limited resources. Through many studies on this subject matter, it seems, Nelson Hydro best way forward, at this time, would be to increase generation capacity at Nelson Hydro's generating station and to eventually invest in large scale battery storage. Individual small scale diversified solar electricity production with the option to sell back to the grid is also a very interesting pathway. There are studies with hard numbers on what kind of yearly wind and solar generating capacity that we actually have in this part of the world and it is this kind of data that I would always advocate we follow so that we are investing limited resources into the correct electricity generating infrastructure for future use.
Natural spaces improve human health, biodiversity, and mitigating extreme weather like heat and flooding. What can you do to ensure the City prioritizes preserving natural areas, green space, and the lakeshore?
Nelson has many beautiful green spaces and parks within the City limits such as Lakeside park, Cottonwood Park, Art Gibbon Park and the recently refurbished dog walking area alongside the airport area to name a few. I will always be for investment and refurbishing of Nelson's green spaces as they are critical components of our City's landscape and so important for the health and well being of our community. Preservation and continued investment of Nelson's natural spaces, vegetation, shade trees and parks are an important component of both the Nelson Next and the new Official Community Plan guiding documents which means that these spaces will remain important and vital components of our shared community landscape.
If you wish to clarify or add information you may use this space.
The climate crisis is a multi-fold, nonlinear and accelerating global event that challenges municipal governments across the world on how to respond, plan and invest. I have personally witnessed, over two terms on Nelson City Council, the extreme effects of climate change on our community and region whether its wildfire, flooding or drought. The climate crisis is right on our door step now and we must confront it head on. Thankfully we have the Nelson Next document and the new Official Community Plan document which both have the climate change crisis at their cores. These documents will help in guiding Nelson through what will be, without a doubt, a very uncertain future with very unpredictable climate change effects that will grow with each passing year. We have a strong and well informed community around this issue and City Hall and the RDCK are fully engaged in the challenges that this crisis will bring about so I have good confidence that we will, as a city and region, be informed and as ready as we can be for what lies ahead.
Compiled & presented by
Vote4Tomorrow is an independent voter guide to evaluate where local candidates stand on climate and environmental policies that will affect our future.
© 2026 Vote4Tomorrow