For Yasir Naqvi, politics is in his DNA.
It’s not because his father was arrested by the military junta in his native Pakistan for “inciting people to exercise their right to vote."
It’s not because his lawyer parents taught him the “value of giving and being engaged in the community as a civic duty.”
No, for Naqvi, it's his love affair with Ottawa that fuels his sheer political fervour and his commitment to civic duty.
“I came here for law school and I fell in love with the city. My DNA meshes with the quality of life in the city…. (It) was very easy to say, ‘This is home, this is where I want to live.’ I never looked back since.”
His longstanding relationship with the Ontario Liberal Party began in a Niagara Falls high school.
The 38-year-old says the party is “most aligned” with his views of being “fiscally responsible and socially progressive” and believing that “government has a role to play in helping the vulnerable.”
His immigration story is straight out of the citizenship guide, with the Naqvis moving to Niagara Falls in 1988 and buying a motel during the depths of a recession.
When it comes to Ottawa Centre, the incumbent says, “This is the community where I live, this is the community where I work, this is the community where I volunteer so this is where my heart is.”
The self-confessed workaholic says he has a good sense of what the community wants after knocking on 30,000 doors.
An active runner, Naqvi’s endurance is propelling him on three issues central to his constituents.
What the community of 109,000 wants is better public transit, including further investment into the city’s LRT project and easing the traffic congestion in the downtown core, according to the president of the provincial party.
Residents are also looking forward to getting their voice heard in the residential intensification projects, especially with the proliferation of infill development changing the face of Centretown, and more affordable housing, which includes the Hintonburg Hub project.
A “renaissance” is taking place in his riding, from Wellington Street West and Bank Street to Richmond Road, with business thriving with opportunities and rich communal exchange, says Naqvi.
“Ottawa Centre is bursting with growth – it’s where people want to live.”