Toronto mayor names pandemic support, transit investments as priorities for upcoming federal election
![John Tory Toronto Mayor John Tory speaks during a press conference in Toronto on February 29, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston](/content/dam/cp24/en/images/2020/12/22/john-tory-1-5242469-1627383135285.jpg)
Toronto Mayor John Tory has outlined the city's priorities going into the upcoming federal election and many of them are centred around the need for continued government support amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The priorities were listed in a letter sent to party leaders on Friday, inquiring about how the Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Green parties plan to address the issues ahead of the election on Sept. 20.
“We have a lot of needs that are quite acute,” Tory said Friday morning. "I simply set out for the leaders [that] we want to know their plans on housing, on mental health, on transit investment [and] on the safe restart money we need.”
Tory said he has no intention to get involved in the upcoming election because he is not partisan, but will not “hesitate to set out some views” as to which platforms address the city’s issues best.
Most of the priorities on the mayor’s list are pandemic related. He says the city wants the COVID-19 funding partnerships to continue and expand, as well as additional funding to support mental health needs amid the pandemic.
“With the pandemic continuing and transit ridership not coming back up to normal we've had very strong assistance from the [provincial and federal governments] to help us get through that. We need that to continue,” Tory said.
“That assistance, in addition to other support programs, was absolutely critical to our ability to respond in a timely manner to the pandemic. However, the pandemic is not yet over, and it is clear that the financial impacts on the city will continue into 2022.”
Here is a full list of the priorities:
- Continuing COVID-19 Operating Budget Relief Funding – a further $75 million for 2021 and between $702 million and $1.534 billion in 2022 to cover TTC ridership losses and pressures on the shelter system.
- Supporting the city's 24-month COVID-19 Housing and Homelessness Recovery Plan and the shift from emergency shelters towards permanent supportive housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness.
- Continuing to invest in Toronto's public transit system by committing to a funding partnership with the city and the province on Toronto's subway vehicle needs and future Eglinton East LRT and Waterfront East LRT transit lines.
- Contributing to the creation of a more robust mental health care system, which has become even more necessary in light of the pandemic, including the needed supports to address homelessness and substance use, including the tragic rise in opioid-related deaths.
- Following through with the Federal government's commitment to fund community violence prevention programs, and provide $26.2 million over five years for programming to support local communities and prevent crime in Toronto.
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