As Toronto’s candidates for mayor cris-cross the city announcing their plans to combat surging crime and make Toronto safer Olivia Chow has yet to announce an anti-crime platform.
Toronto’s crime problem has been front and centre for many Torontonians going into the June 26 election, especially with a spate of violent encounters on public transit.
Former NDP MP Olivia Chow announced her candidacy to become the mayor of Toronto in mid-April with a pledge to “build an affordable, safe, and caring city.” However, the Chow campaign has yet to release a platform detailing Chow’s crime prevention plans.
The Chow campaign did not respond to a request from True North inquiring how Chow would tackle the crime wave in Toronto.
Toronto’s former police chief, Mark Saunders, has centred his campaign’s message around making Toronto safer through programs to make the TTC safer and take action on the revolving door bail system.
Saunders released a plan to make the TTC safer that would place 200 more uniformed officers on TTC services, enforce loitering and other disturbances going unenforced, and install ‘assist buttons’ to identify emerging incidents.
Saunders says he’d urge the federal government to reform the bail process if elected mayor.
Mayoral candidate Anthony Furey, who is currently on leave as True North’s vice-president of editorial and content, said he plans to reverse the trend of declining front-line police officers by hiring more cops.
Furey says that he is the only candidate that “hasn’t at some point thrown the police force under the bus,” pointing to Mark Saunders’ 80% disapproval before his resignation as police chief.
Furey also says that he is the only candidate who plans to phase out drug injection sites, instead replacing them with treatment facilities.
Beaches-East York city councillor Brad Bradford has made multiple announcements about Toronto’s crime problem since announcing his candidacy.
Bradford proposed SafeTTC Now, a four-point plan that would see the city install platform edge doors at subway stations, increase safety patrols across the TTC, bring cell reception to subway stations, and create a mental health resources program.
Bradford also wants to establish a bail compliance unit that would consist of 68 new police officers to monitor offenders who have been released on bail by the courts.
Toronto-St.Paul’s city councillor Josh Matlow proposed a plan to address the “root causes of violence,” which he identifies as poverty, racism, and trauma.
Matlow plans to introduce a Community Health & Safety Fund that would expand mental health crisis teams to de-escalate incidents of violence on the TTC, expand mental health programs, and provide recreational resources for youth.
Matlow plans on funding the program by “stabilizing the annual police budget,” colloquially known as defunding the police.
“We cannot arrest our way out of violence. We can make our community safer by investing in community-level support, which will also improve the efficiency of our police force by letting them focus on what they do best,” says Matlow.
Ontario Liberal MPP and former education minister Mitzie Hunter released a five-point plan that would de-emphasize enforcement by transit officers and instead see a more progressive, hands-off approach to community safety.
Hunter’s plan involves hiring social workers, hiring community ambassadors, installing glass sliding doors on subway platforms, listening to TTC riders and data, and listening to TTC staff and employees.
Former deputy mayor Ana Bailão released her plan for safer subways and safer streets calling for increased staff and security camera coverage across TTC services, cell service in TTC subways, and increased mental health supports.
Bailão says she would also support the federal government reforming the bail system so that “repeat offenders are not constantly in a revolving door between courts and city streets.”
In a crowded field of candidates, recent polls have shown that former NDP MP Olivia Chow is currently leading the pack in voter favourability despite failing to release a crime prevention platform.
