Hello. I'm Phillip Jolicoeur!

Husband. Father. Local business owner. Community builder. Mental health advocate. Longtime volunteer.

For those who do not know me, I am Phil Jolicoeur. Some people know me as PJ the Marketing Guy.

For more than 20 years, I have worked in marketing, events, public relations, and community building. I have helped small businesses find their footing, supported local charities and nonprofits, served on boards and committees, and brought people together around causes that matter.

I served for eight years on the Board of Directors for the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce, and I currently serve as a Director with the Kawartha Haliburton Children's Foundation. Working alongside community leaders, entrepreneurs, frontline organizations, families, and volunteers has given me a grounded understanding of both the opportunities and the challenges facing Peterborough.

Through Harmony for Healing, our community has raised nearly $50,000 for local suicide prevention work. I am proud of that, but the important word is "community." No meaningful thing I have ever been part of was accomplished by one person.

Some of the issues I care about are deeply personal. I lost my mother to suicide. Addiction has touched my family, and I lost a cousin to an overdose. In the summer of 2026, my family also lost my sister, Michelle, after her battle with cancer.

Public policy can sound distant and clinical until it reaches your kitchen table. For my family, it has.

The kindness people showed us during the hardest days reminded me that community is not a slogan. Community is what people do for one another when there is nothing in it for them. It is the phone call, the meal, the ride, the open door, and the person who quietly says, "You are not doing this alone."

That is the spirit I want to bring to public service.

I am not running because I believe one councillor can fix everything. I am running because I believe good representation begins with preparation, honesty, accessibility, and the willingness to keep working with people even when we disagree.

At a time when politics often rewards outrage, I believe calm is not weakness. Collaboration is not surrender. Listening is not indecision. At the municipal level, those are the tools that get the work done.

If I earn the privilege of serving Ward 5, I will be visible and accessible. I will keep knocking on doors, holding community conversations, visiting local businesses, and meeting residents where they are.

I will tell you what I know. I will tell you what I do not know. Then I will do the work to find out.