Ausma Malik

The Mayor and City Council

Toronto’s waterfront is a destination for millions of visitors, a place to work and learn, and a home for more people every day. I’ll continue to make it an incredible place. I secured the next phase of waterfront revitalization, including a new Waterfront East transit line and thousands more units of affordable and rental housing. I opened Love Park and Bathurst Quay Common, while leading the fight to protect our waterfront from Doug Ford. I’ll build new community spaces, including Toronto’s first waterfront library and a new aquatic centre.

Housing

My priority is to support people at all points in their housing journey, by making sure people living outside have referrals to shelter and services to apply for affordable housing, and rent supports to keep people housed. I’ll continue my record of building affordable and supportive housing on City lands across our downtown communities. And the City can’t do it alone. We need to keep partnering with other levels of government to build and with non-profits and land trusts to preserve private affordable rental through the MURA program.

Cost of Living

I’ll cap TTC fares at 10 rides per week so the more you ride, the less you pay, building on the 3 years of fare freezes and current fare capping program. I’ll support lowering grocery costs through municipally-owned/operated grocery stores and banning surveillance pricing at big box stores, while saving people more money through the further expansion of the Student Nutrition Program in schools and in CampTO to provide 2 meals to kids in schools and City programs.

Safety in Public Spaces

I’ve worked closely with staff on encampment resolution in parks and addressing homelessness and public drug use on our streets. Having teams on-the-ground to clean areas up, de-escalate issues, and refer people to shelter and services helps make everyone feel safe. To do this work well, we need to invest more in employment, public health, and housing programs, and we need other governments to fund these services and housing. I’ll also continue to expand the Toronto Community Crisis Service and speed up 911 call times for fast response.

Getting Around the City

I’ve worked hard to make our streets safer for everyone by expanding sidewalks and our cycling network, advancing traffic calming, and implementing our congestion management plan. I will keep working to limit sidewalk and lane closures for construction zones and keep them well-maintained, reducing debris and spillover. I want the TTC to be the best way to get around Toronto, and I will keep investing in service and state-of-good repair, freezing and capping fares, and building the Waterfront East transit line which I secured funding for.

Confronting Hateful and Hostile Behaviour

Toronto is the most diverse city in the world and we must hold firm to each other’s humanity, well-being, and justice. With City Hall in my ward I’ve prioritized welcome for my communities, inviting school and newcomer groups to visit and making space there for community celebrations. We need to keep investing in programming and services for newcomers, Black and Indigenous people, 2SLGBTQIA+ residents and those with disabilities, through our strategies such as the Reconciliation Action Plan and Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism.