So you want to be mayor of Toronto? Here are the top 10 most pressing issues facing the city

From public safety to housing to the Gardiner Expressway, Toronto mayoral candidates will have no shortage of items to debate before June 26.

Thestar.com
April 3, 2023
David Rider

A surprise return to the ballot box for Toronto -- thanks to John Tory’s abrupt departure -- has reignited debate about the biggest issues facing the city.

The byelection to pick the city’s next mayor officially starts Monday, the first day for candidate registration at city hall, and there is no shortage of mayoral hopefuls eager to offer solutions to the most pressing problems.

From the crushing cost of housing and everyday living to terrifying violence on the TTC and beyond, to the city’s pandemic-ravaged finances, this leaderless metropolis looks and feels tired and ragged. Nobody who hopes to get elected is expected to declare, “Toronto is doing fine, so let’s hit cruise control.”

But how much this campaign will engage the public is still an open question. “Whether this gets more attention than last year’s election, as kind of a heated moment for a reset, or if people just kind of tune it out, we don’t know,” said Matti Siemiatycki, a professor at University of Toronto’s School of Cities.

Though no one can predict with certainty what issues will seize public attention over the coming weeks, the Star talked to candidates and experts, and reviewed recent polling data, to identify 10 issues that could -- and should -- be debated between now and voting day on June 26.

Here are 10 key issues facing the city:

Public safety
The slaying of 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes in Keele subway station has terrified parents and put the issue of random violence on the TTC and other public spaces on front pages and at the top of voters’ minds. Mayoral hopefuls have issued statements and made videos about the police budget, cellphone access on subways, mental health supports, bail reform and more. Potential Tory successors could spend much of this campaign jockeying to see who can make Torontonians feel safest.

Affordable housing and homelessness
Tory was easily re-elected last October vowing to use new “strong-mayor” powers to force housing density into single-family-home neighbourhoods. Many Torontonians, when they’re not fearing for their children’s safety, worry those kids will grow up only to be priced out of their city where an average home costs more than $1 million and monthly rents for a basic apartment are more than $2,500. During the pandemic Toronto saw what one Star contributor called “a catastrophic increase in visible homelessness.” A city official warned council on Thursday that without more provincial funding, Toronto could be forced to look at closing shelter beds even as demand soars and the opioid epidemic rages.

General affordability
Torontonians recently told pollsters Forum Research and Mainstreet Research that, ahead of this 12-week byelection campaign, they were thinking most about inflation and the cost of getting by. While a mayor can’t lower grocery prices, the city should find ways to decrease the burden on its lowest-income residents, said Jin Huh of Social Planning Toronto. “We’ve got a fair (transit) pass program that was part of the poverty reduction strategy, that is taking forever to implement ... and council raised transit fares,” she said. “There are food security programs and other ways to offset these challenges; it just takes the will.”

Mobility
City council recently hiked TTC fares while reducing service, even as ridership refuses to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels. With many people still working from home, coupled with safety fears that compound the problem, the TTC is at risk of a “death spiral” -- service reductions that reduce revenues that then trigger more cuts. Drivers, meanwhile, face longer commutes on construction-clogged roads that are going to get more rutted and potholed thanks to the city’s cash crunch.

Gardiner Expressway
Years-old debate over what to do with the elevated eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway continues, with the massive cost of rebuilding it looming ever larger as the city’s capital budget for other projects gets smaller and smaller. Potential mayoral candidates are already sparring on the Gardiner, with some saying it’s too late to switch plans to a cheaper at-grade boulevard option and others arguing we must halt a mistake by the lake.

City finances
The absolute disaster that is Toronto’s finances is fuelling many of the city’s woes -- from disrepair of parks and community centres to TTC service cuts to a shortage of beds for homeless people. A city kept afloat with stopgap measures through years of below-inflation tax hikes hit the pandemic like an iceberg -- and the ship is now sinking. Toronto is choosing a new mayor while it appears neither the federal nor provincial governments are prepared to fill the $933-million gap between city revenues and expenses. The city can raid reserves to fill the hole in 2023, but it will reappear next year, bigger and deeper.

Climate crisis
The biggest threat to the quality of life for Toronto’s children is likely increased flooding and other impacts of extreme weather caused by global warming. Yet the issue was largely non-existent in last fall’s civic election and might again be crowded out by pocketbook and personal security issues. Toronto has a plan to become carbon-neutral by 2040, but much of it -- billions of dollars -- remains unfunded.

Dealing with Doug Ford
Ontario’s premier has more control over city hall than he ever did as city councillor and prime adviser to his mayor brother. From slashing the size of council to outlawing ranked ballots to cutting charges developers pay to the city, Ford seems obsessed with imposing his will on the electorate that wouldn’t make him mayor in 2014. Tory’s approach -- personal connection, private discussions -- yielded, at best, uneven results. The redevelopment of Ontario Place will be an immediate test for the city’s new leader.

Deteriorating services and infrastructure
Tory didn’t spend much of last year’s civic election camp on the defensive, except when he was challenged on the decline of parks, roads and other services highlighted in the Star’s “Can’t We Do Better” series. Potential candidates, including those who voted in virtual lockstep with Tory over the years, are vowing to reverse the decline. How they will do that when the city has less than no money remains to be seen.

Renaming Dundas Street

City council voted in 2021 to rename Dundas Street over its Scottish namesake’s disputed role in the slave trade. It could emerge as a wedge issue. Some potential candidates have said that, given the challenges Toronto is facing, the plan should be scrapped or put on the back burner.