Report on May 18th All Candidates Meeting – Toronto Centre 2022

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In Regent Park, a community that is in the process of a massive transformation, from Canada's largest social housing complex to a mixed income/mixed use neighbourhood, the outcome of elections, be they Municipal, Provincial, or Federal is of profound interest to area residents.

The Community Civic Engagement Collaborative (CCEC) is a grassroots collective of agencies and residents in Regent Park, Moss Park, St. James Town and Corktown neighbourhoods, working to increase civic engagement in elections and beyond, through non-partisan community organizing.

On Wednesday May 18, 2022, the CCEC organized and hosted an all-candidates meeting (held at the Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas St E, Toronto) and invited candidates to share their respective party's platforms regarding the key issues facing the Toronto Centre riding, which includes Moss Park, Regent Park, Cabbage Town, Church Wellesley Village, and St. Jamestown.


 The meeting was moderated by Ina Labuschgne and Walied Khogali. The three parties were represented by Nicki Ward (Green Party), David Morris (Liberal Party) and Kristyn Wong-Tam (NDP). The Conservative Party candidate did not attend.

Candidates were asked to respond four major themes, Employment, Housing, Environment, and Income Security.

On the issue of Employment, the central concerns are better working conditions, as in the 10 permanent days of employer paid sick days, the $20.00 per hour minimum wage, changing laws to ensure worker rights are protected in areas such as misclassification, firing, wage parity between contracts, part-time and full-time or other areas.

In the riding of Toronto Centre where many residents identify as low income, housing is a vital concern. Candidates were asked what they would do to provide safe, affordable, and stable housing for people who live at various income levels, including the lowest income? Additionally, and more specifically, area residents are interested in rent geared to income (RGI), portable housing benefits, and rent-to-own models?

On the subject of the environment, candidates responded more on what their parties planned to do in a general sense and less at what the parties planned to do locally.

The final question to the candidates was, “what will you and your party do to ensure all Ontarians have income security, such as the $500.00 weekly minimum benefit for all, including the recipients of the Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), Universal Basic Income, better support for seniors and other programs that indirectly improve Ontarians income security?”

See what each candidate has to say to these questions by viewing the RPTV coverage of the event https://youtu.be/-PHx9JHNNuo .

For more information about the CCEC visit their website at www.downtowneastvotes.ca.


Written by
Dimitrije Martinovic

Journalist
FOCUS Media Arts Centre


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