Darrell Brown

The Mayor and City Council

My priorities: Make this City affordable by addressing housing, transit, and youth unemployment using proven solutions. Toronto needs new revenue tools to accomplish this and to deal with its structural deficit of $1.1 billion. We need alternatives to property tax increases. My strengths: I bring 40+ years of experience solving crises across 15 countries. I saved the CNE during COVID, raising $15 million when it faced insolvency. I know how to get results inside complex institutions, not just talk about them. We need bold new voices.

Housing

We need an integrated Homes First policy, combined with expanded community outreach and mental health support. Use a name registry to track results and ensure accountability. Accelerate deeply affordable and supportive housing so people aren't one bad month from losing their home. Retain City ownership of public land and use it for public purposes. I also support gentle density growth not one size fits all. Growth must come with matched infrastructure, not downtown assumptions imposed on Scarborough, for example. Use proven solutions.

Cost of Living

I'd prioritize expanding deeply affordable and supportive housing and defending transit affordability programs, so rent and getting to work don't compete with groceries. We need long term transit commitments. I’d adopt a Homes First policy to address the homelessness crisis, require living-wage, decent-work standards on city contracts, and protect frontline food and social-service agencies from being the first budget cut. None of this works without new City revenue tools. Property tax alone can't meet Toronto's needs, and I'll make that case.

Safety in Public Spaces

This is not about increasing the number of police. Violent crime is on the decline. Increase youth programming, mental health and addiction outreach, and community-safety funding that's tracked to the neighbourhoods it's meant to serve. Use dedicated police programming in areas demonstrating proven effectiveness, not blanket police increases. Pair visible, well-resourced policing and transit safety investment (including securing GO and TTC parking, which residents flag repeatedly) with treatment of the root causes. Use proven solutions.

Getting Around the City

Safety, reliability, coverage, and affordability work as a chain. If one link is broken, riders leave. Fund the Eglinton East LRT, run GO's Stouffville and Lakeshore East corridors as real rapid transit now. Build arterial bus rapid transit on municipal roads controlled by the City. Long-term, negotiate a standing provincial/federal operating contribution to transit, not one that depends on fares and property tax alone. Determine routes based on actual travel patterns. Implement congestion pricing. Guard bike safety - bike lanes save lives.

Confronting Hateful and Hostile Behaviour

Toronto's strength is its diversity, and hateful or hostile behaviour aimed at newcomers or equity-deserving communities is an attack on that strength. Increase funding for community organizations doing frontline anti-hate and settlement work, strengthen coordination between police, schools, and community leaders, and ensure enforcement is consistent and visible. Support free speech but with protections so that places of worship, for example, are not left vulnerable. Designate areas for peaceful protest but prevent harassment.