Kelly Aizicowitz: Torontonians can’t afford another four more years of Chow

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. Photo by Blair Gable/Postmedia/File

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We’re well into summer in the city of Toronto. With camps, cottages and patios being the priority, it’s no surprise that the work of our city representatives fades into the background. I get that. I also wanted a carefree summer for myself and my young daughter.

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But eleven days into July, gun violence erupted at Salsa on St. Clair, a street festival full of strollers and families. Two people died, and four others were injured. One attendee told a reporter that people trampled over each other trying to get out of the area.

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And what did we get from Mayor Olivia Chow’s administration? A news conference. Deputy Chief Frank Barredo of the Toronto Police assured reporters that Toronto remains “one of the safest cities in the world.” Thoughts, condolences and a quick pivot back to business as usual.

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I’m a mother, so let me to tell you what I actually see when I move through this city with my daughter.

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Let’s start with the places built for children and families. The parks and playgrounds where my daughter is supposed to spend her childhood are too often filthy with litter, broken glass and garbage bins overflowing for days. When a city can’t keep a playground clean, what exactly is it managing well? These are the simplest, most visible services a municipal government delivers, and it’s failing.

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Walk a little further and you’ll see people suffering from addiction and mental health issues left to survive alone on our streets. Every one of them is someone’s child. A mother somewhere lies awake at night wondering where her kid is sleeping. This city’s answer has been to let them deteriorate in public. Meanwhile, I try to explain why they’ve been left to languish in crisis to my daughter. That’s not compassion. We are failing those who are suffering.

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Then there are the young people who did everything right and still can’t build a life here. They study, they work and still, they cannot afford a home in Toronto. Every parent I know is quietly making the same grim calculation of how our children will be able to live this city. What kind of city builds itself a future by pricing out its young people?

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And what about safety on the transit system we rely on? A friend’s pre-teen daughter was harassed on a bus on her way home from school. The driver did nothing. She got off well before her stop, alone, because getting off the bus felt safer than staying on it. Sit with that: a young girl decided isolating herself was safer than a city vehicle with a city employee at the wheel. That’s one less kid on transit and one more family that’s stopped trusting the city around them.

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Here’s what worries me even more than any single failure: the silence after each one. Under Mayor Chow, this has become the pattern. Something happens and the city grieves or grumbles for a news cycle. City Hall offers sympathy, perhaps deflects to other levels of government and moves on. No plan. No urgency. No one held to account. The message to parents is unmistakable: your safety is not a priority.