Toronto still 'good' but more needs to be done, Mayor Tory says

Torontosun.com
Dec. 22, 2022
Antonella Artuso

The City of Toronto’s 2023 budget will look at providing increased policing and homelessness resources in response to “unbelievable” episodes of violence on city streets, on transit and in schools, Mayor John Tory says.

As the swarming and stabbing murder of a man near Union Station allegedly by eight teenage girls made headlines around the world, Tory said he understands the anxiety that residents feel right now.

“I think the answer rests in doing the same things but more and more effectively than we have been doing,” Tory said in a year-end interview Thursday with the Toronto Sun.

The 2023 budget, which he will propose to city council, will include an increase in spending on police but also protect programs that support families and children, he said.

“It’s getting at these things way further upstream so you don’t create a circumstance in which a 13-year-old or 14-year-old person would ever think of carrying a gun, let alone using it, because we’ve seen unbelievable incidents …,” Tory said. “Why is a 13-year-old carrying a gun, why is a gun available to them, why would anybody think of carrying a gun at age 13 or any other age for that matter? I’m generally of the view that people in cities don’t need guns of any kind.”

The randomness of recent crimes has shocked a city nicknamed Toronto the Good.

Eight girls aged 13- to 16-years-old who met through social media were charged with second-degree murder in the swarming death Sunday of a 59-year-old man outside Union Station.

There have been several violent incidents on public transit as well, including the killing of 31-year-old Vanessa Kurpiewska, who was stabbed along with a 37-year-old woman at High Park Station by a stranger on Dec. 8.

And although it happened in Vaughan and not the City of Toronto, the mass shooting murder of five condo board directors and the wounding of a sixth by an alleged fellow resident Sunday has also shaken citizens.

There are also stories of heroism and generosity in the city, Tory said.

“It is Toronto the Good in every single respect; it is still a safe city relative to any other big city like it in the world,” Tory said. “There are stresses and strains on that we have to fix … Good in every respect, not perfect, but good.”

The union representing TTC workers has said that many riders are avoiding public transit in Toronto due to people who are underhoused and mentally ill ranting or annexing seats.

While the city runs the transit system, it is not in charge of the health care system, Tory said.

Tory said he believes there needs to be a national conversation with all levels of government and experts in mental health care to come up with some solutions.

In the short-term, themayor said he will support more security and outreach workers on public transit.

“There will be specific initiatives forthcoming, I can promise you, in that regard,” Tory said.

There are many individuals still living in tents in parks and on street corners, but Tory said the number of homeless encampments have been decreasing as Streets to Homes outreach staff work to house these individuals.

With no disrespect to Vancouver which is struggling with ‘tent cities’ on sidewalks, Tory said he will not allow whole Toronto streets to become encampments for homeless individuals.

“We are not going to move the way of Vancouver,” the Mayor said. “We are going to do exactly what we’ve been doing and try to work even harder to convince people to accept indoor housing and to have more forms of indoor housing available for the most vulnerable including a lot more supportive housing.”