Caledon Votes 2026: Meet Your Council Candidates: Kate Hepworth, Ward 1

September 3, 2026 · 0 Comments

By KATHRYN FRASER

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Kate Hepworth has thrown her hat in the ring for the chance to become Councillor for Ward 1.

Hepworth ran for Councillor back in 2022 and is once again seeking to be a voice for Ward 1 residents.

Hepworth led a long-term career in Parry Sound where she was an EMS/Fire Dispatcher and, after 25 years, she decided to retire and move to Caledon.

While enjoying her retirement, Hepworth found herself becoming interested in what was happening in her area and decided to take a step in a new direction and get involved.

In 2017 Hepworth joined the Caledon Village Association (CVA) and worked behind the scenes helping to support groups and residents and make a difference in her community. Hepworth became President of the CVA in 2018 and has continued to serve her community in this role for the last 10 years.

Hepworth’s hard work and dedication was celebrated in 2022 when she was awarded the 2022 Volunteer Services Award in Community and Social Services.

Throughout her time at the CVA, Hepworth has had the opportunity to work with many groups in the community including the Caledon Agricultural Society, Caledon Lions, Optimists, Alton Village Association, North West Caledon Traffic Group and many more.

Getting to work closely with the community and wanting to make a difference, Hepworth entered this year’s campaign for Ward 1 as she still has the same concerns she had last time ran and wants another chance to make a difference.

“I’m really looking to…get on that side of the table and to be able to move ahead the issues of the area,” says Hepworth.

Given her experience with EMS, Hepworth knows the importance of getting in contact with people and having your voice heard.

“Nobody calls EMS because they’re having a good day, and many times, people are not going call their Councillor because they’re having a good day. They have an issue and they want your attention, and it’s a follow-through,” says Hepworth. “You couldn’t just leave a 911 call halfway through because you got busy with something else. It has to be the follow through, right to the end, providing the support, providing whatever resources these people needed. So, I believe I bring that to the table, which is needing to ask the questions, needing to get all the information to be able to provide, as a Councillor, the answers that people are looking for, whether they’re the answers they want or not – because you can’t always be that moment of, ‘I have your solution, and it’s a great one.’ It may not always end well”

One important issue that stands out to Hepworth that she hopes to be able to make change in is traffic and road safety, especially when it comes to Highway 10.

“I think the biggest issues that we have moving forward are aggregate and road safety. Now, the two of those really go hand-in-hand. We’ve got more heavy traffic on the roads, which leads to the safety concerns, which leads to how well the people drive on the roads with the heavy traffic, says Hepworth. “We do seem to have our fair share of drivers that are impatient, road rage is huge, but we also have a lot of truck drivers that are equally as bad on the roads. That’s not to criticize everybody. If [everyone] was a bad driver, we’d have even more issues. In order to be able to move forward, there needs to be stronger advocacy, conversation with those departments that can help us, and I’m working very close transportation departments. I know we have the opportunity, as a Councillor, to speak to the different departments. But as somebody mentioned to me not long ago, if those conversations are really working well, why are we still talking about them? That’s a valid point.”

Hepworth hopes to be able to continue to work with the MTO and be able to bring more solutions to the table.

“We have to find that solution; exactly what that is, I’m not sure, but pressure and strong advocacy have to happen. For Ward 1 with Highway 10, we must bring MTO in more. A great starting point for me, being on the Traffic Advisory Committee, was MTO started to turn up, and…it was good constructive conversation… We need to bring that Committee back so that we can keep those conversations going because that really only started the back end of last year, that they were coming out to the meeting. I believe that’s a good starting point.”

Part of her plan as well is to increase communication between members of the community and Council, giving residents the chance to have their voice heard.

“I want to give residents as many options as possible. In today’s technology, you’ve got text messages, you’ve got email, there’s the ability to be on the Town website and go directly through there with messages that get passed on to the Councillor,” says Hepworth. “I think there’s been too much of a history where emails get sent, and clearly you may not get a response right away because Councillors are busy with all kinds of things, but you do get a response, and people need to feel like they’re actually included.”

Looking forward, Hepworth is hopeful to be able to have the chance to make a difference and support her community in Ward 1.

“I’m hoping people will put their trust in me, because all the issues are still here. They are the same issues I was pushing for the last time. I’ m still here, I didn’t go away. I didn’t stop going to Council meetings. I didn’t stop advocating for things. I’m still here, and I hope that they give me their votes so that I can have a stronger voice to speak for them.”