On Monday, June 26, 2023, we will be choosing our mayor.This promises to be a pivotal moment for our city: we are neck deep in the aftermath of COVID, insufficient housing, a decline in vital city services, a mental health crisis, funding shortages, and questionable municipal priorities. Toronto is at a political and economic crossroads, and our dynamic and complex neighbourhood will feel the impacts deeply.
With so much at stake we must be educated about the candidates and their platforms and visions.
Mayoral Debates: In a crowded race with over80 candidates, debates offer an efficient way to learn about the overarching visions of the front-runners.
Wednesday May 31 6:30PM to 8:30PM - “Our Future,Our Vote: A Toronto for All”: The Toronto Star, United Way Greater Toronto, and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) are jointly hosting a mayoral candidates debate at TMU's Ted Rogers School of Management. The debate will be live streamed, with leading candidates focusing on the critical social and economic challenges facing Toronto. The debate will be live streamed on the Toronto Star’s website with the program starting at 6:45 p.m.or tune into CP24 on your television at 7 p.m.
Thursday, June 1 at 7:00PM- Debate Focused onResidents’ Issues: organized by The Federation of North Toronto Residents Associations (FoNTRA) and the Federation of South Toronto Residents Associations (FoSTRA), an umbrella organization for 60 different residents’ groups. This debate will allow candidates to debate critical issues that affect residential communities. Access the debate for free: www.ocadu.ca/live or www.facebook.com/groups/fostrato
The Politics of Bike Lanes
Transformative change is coming to our community with the eventual opening of the Crosstown LRT, development intensification, and the impending implementation of eglintonTOday, which seeks to bring protected bike lanes to Eglinton. Numbers of kilometers of protected lanes were a priority for the Tory administration.
The introduction of bike lanes onto main streets like Bloor, Yonge and University, across the city has been polarizing and controversial. Strong cycling advocates, like CycleTO, are pushing for safe and extensive cycling networks, an important feature of a modern city. However, a new group of concerned citizens have come together recently to form Keep Toronto Moving https://keeptorontomoving.ca/, a non-profit advocating for sensible, data-driven decisions, impartial studies, results-oriented solutions, and streetscape designs rooted in a balance between economic, utilitarian and environmental impacts.
We can all agree that transportation, infrastructure and street re-programming projects must be driven by real data, measurable benchmarks, and rooted in common sense.
Mayoral candidate, Mark Saunders has stepped into the bike lane debate with a commitment to review the data gathering and consultation process the city employs for cycling infrastructure projects. In a recent statement, he promised to suspend all bike lane expansions pending a renewed approach to accountability and community consultation for residents, local businesses and business improvement areas. He is against bike lanes on major arterial roads, proclaiming:
“This isn’t about being anti-bike lane. I’m not against bike lanes, but what I won’t stand for is putting them on major arteries that are already paralyzed by congestion. Bike lane installations must make sense for the communities they’re in”.
With the new ‘strong mayor’ powers, the incoming mayor will have more say than ever before. Please stay informed about candidate platforms and tune-in to the debate on May 31st.
No items found.
