Two Toronto mayoral candidates got into a heated Twitter dispute over defunding the police as the race for mayor heats up.
Toronto Councillor Brad Bradford, who represents Ward 19 Beaches-East York, posted a Twitter video on Tuesday, outlining his position about defunding the police.
In the video, captioned “Let’s set the record straight about crime in Toronto,” he says, “I want to make two things crystal clear for everybody. I’ve always stood with the men and women who keep us safe. I’ve been on council for five years and each year I voted to support the police chief’s budget.”
He goes on to say that Toronto police need more resources and that is why he created his SafeTTC Now Action Plan to add more officers, special constables and crisis outreach workers throughout the transit network to keep everybody safe.
READ MORE: Who will be the next mayor of Toronto? Here’s the candidates running so far
In response to Bradford’s video, former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders replied with a tweet denouncing his statement.
“Your actions speak louder than your words. You voted to defund the police. You voted to ban police from carrying defensive weapons. You voted against police investing in pedestrian safety,” Saunders said.
The fighting words triggered Bradford who replied with even further damaging evidence of Saunders outwardly admitting he supports defunding the police.
In the video Bradford attached from 2020, Saunders is asked by CityNews whether police funding should be re-allocated to which he immediately answers, “absolutely, if they take away a lot of our calls…40 per cent of our calls are non-emergency, 40 per cent are non-emergency. That’s where the red meat is but it has to be built first. It has to be functional first, it has to be measured.”
Saunders served as the city’s first Black police chief from 2015 to 2020.
In addition to the irrefutable footage, Bradford included further points about Saunders’ performance as chief, digging a deeper hole for the former police chief.
Though Saunders has yet to provide a rebuttal on Twitter, an article titled, “Just the Facts – Brad Bradford’s record on crime” was posted on his campaign website Tuesday afternoon.
Saunders’ campaign says his first priority as mayor would be to restore a sense of safety in Toronto.
Similarly, Bradford is advocating for safer streets, as well as making life more affordable.
The mayoral by-election will be held on June 26.
