Naomi Sayers

The Mayor and City Council

My priority as mayor is to strengthen accountability at City Hall, with attention to police oversight. Project South raises serious concerns about police corruption. As Mayor, I would use appointments, budgets and public leadership to demand independent benchmarks, transparent reporting and implementation of oversight recommendations. The Police Board should strengthen controls on police data and surveillance. I would also expand civilian responses to non-violent health and social crises while reserving police for genuine safety threat.

Housing

I would make tenant protections concrete: proactively notify tenants about AGI applications, provide free legal support, expand the Rent Bank and eviction prevention, strengthen renoviction enforcement, and publish AGI application, approval and enforcement data. A simple 311 pathway should connect tenants to help before an application becomes displacement. This matters beyond low-income renters: middle-class families can also be priced out. Affordability means protecting both current tenants and future residents.

Cost of Living

I would prioritize protecting tenants from unaffordable above-guideline rent increases (AGIs). AGIs are meant for specific qualifying costs, such as major capital expenditures, extraordinary municipal tax increases and certain security costs, not as a blank cheque for landlords to repeatedly raise rents beyond the annual guideline. Tenants should also know that an AGI application does not mean the increase is automatically approved or payable.

Safety in Public Spaces

Public-space policy should address homelessness and toxic-drug use as health and social issues, not crimes. Toronto needs faster access to shelter and affordable housing, eviction prevention, income supports, overdose prevention, treatment, mental-health care, outreach and public washrooms. Police should respond to specific, immediate safety threats, not substitute for social services. Homelessness and substance use are not interchangeable; responses should reflect individual needs and conduct while improving safety and access to public spaces.

Getting Around the City

I want to fix what we already own before asking taxpayers to pay for more. My priority is a citywide “fix, finish and future-proof” plan: repair aging transit, roads, parks, water and public buildings before small problems become costly failures. Coordinate construction to avoid repeated disruption, and publish costs, timelines and results. New projects should include lifecycle costs, prioritize ready-to-build investments, and secure multi-year provincial and federal partnerships.

Confronting Hateful and Hostile Behaviour

Toronto must be a city where everyone can walk, worship, work, use transit and raise a family without being targeted for who they are. Hate is a real safety issue: Toronto recorded 1,277 police-reported hate crimes in 2024 and 1,026 in 2025. I would strengthen prevention, measure what works, publish clear outcomes and direct resources to communities facing the greatest risk. Prevent violence, respond quickly and ensure every resident knows the City stands with them. Safety belongs to everyone. So does Toronto.