There’s bad blood between Torontonians and city councillor Jennifer McKelvie following her motion to change city signage during Taylor Swift’s tour stop in the city this fall.
The pop singer is bringing her Eras Tour to Toronto from Nov. 14 to 23 and according to the Ward 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park councillor, there’s no better way to honour her than to designate a route from the Rogers Centre to Nathan Phillips Square called “Taylor Swift Way,” McKelvie said in a post on X.
In the submitted motion that will be brought to next week’s council meeting, she detailed that the route will be implemented for the entire month of November and the Toronto sign will be lit red on the six nights of the Eras tour.
McKelvie said signage would later be donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank in Etobicoke for auction.
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The councillor followed up on her announcement with a witty message to Swift and to the city, incorporating some of the singer’s song titles in the post.
“Swifties will ‘shake it off’ at six concerts this November and it is an opportunity for Toronto to show off our great ‘reputation’ and our ‘place in this world,’” McKelvie wrote online.
She explained that the signage is Toronto’s “way to show Taylor she’s ‘the 1’ we’ve been waiting for, that she has brought us much ‘happiness’ and that we will love her ‘evermore.’”
The councillor’s motion has received backlash online, with many Torontonians feeling like the initiative is unnecessary and a waste of money, especially with the city undergoing other major crises such as housing affordability, traffic, food insecurity and even repairing damage after this week’s massive flooding.
“I like Taylor Swift, too, but seriously, this is not a practical way of spending taxpayers’ money when we have so many things to deal with,” an X user replied.
“Why? She is not Canadian,” one user questioned. “Pls take the stars out of your eyes and perhaps concern yourself with more important things such as rats, floods, homelessness.”
“2.5 million Torontonians used the food bank last year and this is how the city spends its time,” another user said.
Some are pointing out that only days prior, Toronto faced disastrous flooding throughout the city which has been estimated to cost up to $1 billion in damages. The Tuesday storm devastation further highlighted the lack of solid infrastructure in the city, some say, an issue that the councillor should be aware of as the chair of the Infrastructure and Environment Committee.
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“The city is falling to pieces and this is what you call important,” one user responded.
“City was under water 48 hours ago. Significant damage to properties. Violence is rampant. Your deputy mayor motioned that a non-Canadian have her own street name for a month,” another X user said. “Priorities are in the sewer in this city, I tell you.”
“Deputy mayor & chair of environment committee in the city council, not concerned about the disaster recent rain has brought on to the city, busy winning her swiftie credentials,” another user wrote.
