Five Toronto mayoral candidates squared off in the first major debate at the Daily Bread Food Bank last night, with candidate Olivia Chow facing a lot of heat from her opponents.
The debate was moderated by TV and radio host Maggie John and focused on how the candidates would address the city’s affordability crisis.
Among the participants were city councillors Brad Bradford and Josh Matlow, former city councillors Olivia Chow, Ana Bailão, and former Scarborough Member of Provincial Parliament Mitzie Hunter.
A sixth candidate, Mark Saunders, was invited but did not attend.
More than 100 candidates are running in the election but the selected candidates who were invited to the debate were based on those who were leading in recent polling data.
The event started out smooth with three questions posed by John to the participants.
However, approximately halfway through the debate, while Hunter was answering a question from the audience, a man stormed the stage and interrupted the event.
The man was identified as mayoral candidate Kevin Clarke, who was not invited to participate in the debate.
Security and police eventually rushed to the stage to escort Clarke away. During the scuffle, the stage partially collapsed.
In an email statement, Clarke said he was “trying to shine light on the issues of poverty, hunger and election fixing.”
FOOD INSECURITY CRISIS
The first question posed by John to the candidates was about the growing food insecurity crisis in Toronto and how the candidates would address it.
Chow said she would implement community gardens and kitchens, while Bailão said she would do the same plus a city-wide food drive.
Meanwhile, Bradford said the city is dealing with “legislative poverty.”
“We need a strong champion and as your mayor I will be that strong champion to push the provincial government to close the poverty gap,” he said.
Matlow says money for affordable housing should be coming from developers’ pockets.
“There’s no reason why private developers should be pocketing the profits. We should be putting money toward building affordable housing, RGI (Rent-Geared-to-Income) and other on city properties now,” he said.
AFFORDABLE RENTAL UNITS
For the next question, John asked the candidates how they would produce more affordable housing units for Torontonians.
Bailão said she would work to reduce rent evictions and build affordable units as quickly as possible.
“I will make sure that 57,000 units, at least 20 per cent, of the 285,000 units that we will build in Toronto are purpose-built rentals,” she said.
Bradford addressed the issue of housing by opening up with a story about his best friend Paul who currently lives in his basement.
“He makes a good middle class income, he pays $1,000 a month rent. He can’t afford to live anywhere else, he can’t afford to move,” he said.
“My plan for housing as mayor is to increase the supply of housing of all types, not just downtown, not just on transit, but across the entire city. Unblock more housing opportunities for more people. Leverage our public land to deliver more housing than ever before,” he added.
Shortly after saying those remarks, Braford posted a video clip of the moment on his Twitter which was met with some criticism.
“Not the flex you think it is, Bradford. You’re taking $12,000 a year off him, profiting from his problem,” one Twitter user said.
“If you cannot help your best friend get a better job and a better apartment, that’s not very promising for the city, is it?” another user said.
Meanwhile, Matlow said the city needs rent control for all the new units being built in the province, which was met with huge applause.
Hunter says affordable housing is the backbone of her mayoral platform and says her plan provides more publicly available housing than any of the other candidates.
“You cannot solve this problem with the same basis from the same places with the same leaders, it is not working. We have to change that in this city because the people of this city deserve someone who has fresh eyes and new solutions to the challenges that we face,” she said.
TTC SAFETY
For the third and last question, the candidates were asked about their plans to make the TTC more affordable and safer using municipal revenue tools.
“So we have a huge challenge from a revenue perspective, because ridership is down. We need to be honest and address the number one concern which is safety,” Bradford said.
“Number one. We will find and install platform mentors. Now we’re not going to do all 70 stations all at once. We’re going to start from the busiest stations. City Hall has been talking about this for over a decade, we can stand that up. Number two, we will increase the security presence at these stations,” he said.
READ MORE: TTC fares rising in April for adults and youths
Bradford added that he would implement cell service for all carriers using the transit system.
Meanwhile, to address affordability Chow says she would reverse the recent 10-cent fare hike that the TTC implemented.
“Reversing the cuts and investing in the TTC means more people will ride it, meaning that there will be more money coming into the TTC,” she said.
CANDIDATE FACE-OFF
The floor then opened up to the candidates to ask each other questions. Matlow was given the mic first and asked Chow to clarify her proposal on raising the vacant home tax.
Currently, the levy sits at one per cent, but Chow has pledged to raise it to three per cent. In addition, Chow said she would collect more property taxes to high-end homebuyers in an effort to reduce the city’s debt and pay for services.
“Those people that can afford to buy a home that is worth five to $10 million, surely they can pay their land transfer tax a bit more money…,” she said, as the audience cheered.
Hunter then asked Chow about her plan to build 10,000 more rental units and said it’s “too low” and won’t fix the housing crisis.
“I totally agree with you that 10,000 units is a drop in the bucket but it’s better than none whatsoever,” Chow clapped back.
Bailão asked Chow about her proposal to raise taxes amid an affordability crisis.
“I am not a person that would behind closed doors negotiate some deal because it doesn’t work. We’ve seen it not work. That’s why we’re in a budget hole,” she said.
When it came to Chow’s turn to ask a question, she pointed it to Bradford and asked about why he voted in favour of increasing TTC fares.
“Being in government is about making tough decisions,” Bradford said, as the audience booed him.
“The idea to tear down the Gardiner and find fictitious savings that aren’t actually there, you’re going to have to talk to Torontonians about how you’re going to pay for your plan,” he added.
The mayoral debate is set for June 26.
