Toronto mayoral candidate to file complaint after 2 councillors allegedly blocked him from LTC building

A Toronto mayoral candidate has said he intends to file a complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner and city clerk after he was allegedly blocked from entering a long-term care home by two councillors.

Rob Davis says that he tried to enter a Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation building in North York on Monday afternoon, but was denied entry.

“I was unlawfully denied entry to a building to canvass, obstructed from talking to tenants, and refused entry to a public meeting by two left-wing councillors who didn’t want me there,” Davis said in a statement. “This is blatant interference with democracy – it’s wrong and it’s against the law.”

Davis said that councillors Paula Fletcher and Lily Cheng stood in front of him and told him he could not enter.

In a further interview with Newstalk1010’s Moore in the Morning, Davis said that other candidates were also prevented from going inside the building.

“(Fletcher) tried to say it's a private meeting, you're not allowed,” Davis said. “It's not their place to act as a security guard, and it's not their place to breach the Municipal Elections Act.”

Video of the end of the interaction, shared by Davis' campaign team, shows Fletcher apologizing to the candidate, while Cheng tells Davis that he can stand in the hallway but can’t come in.

“Make sure it’s not intimidating for seniors to get past,” Cheng is heard on video saying.

Toronto’s Municipal Elections Act does state that candidates cannot be prevented from campaigning inside an apartment building, condominium or non-profit housing cooperative between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

However, councillor Cheng argues that Davis’ allegations are false.

“The meeting was a private meeting for residents of 175 Cummer Ave. ONLY,” she wrote in a statement to CTV News Toronto. “It was an important meeting to allow them to speak personally about some issues that the seniors are dealing with.”

“We wanted to protect the space to ensure seniors had their opportunity to speak – which was already complex because everything had to be translated into Chinese and Farsi. We did not want this meeting to become a political event, which would have prevented the seniors from voicing their concerns.”

Cheng added that the meeting was not promoted publicly and was shared only within the building.

“It was always a meeting specifically for the residents and not for the public.”

Both Fletcher and Cheng are members of the Toronto Community Housing Tenant Services Committee.

In Davis’ statement, he says that notices for the tenants’ meeting were posted in the elevators of the building inviting people to attend.