Josh Matlow

The Mayor and City Council

My top priority is making sure the city delivers core services well. That means reliable transit, safe communities, proper snow clearing and garbage collection, and well-maintained parks, and addressing congestion.

Housing

I will continue to prioritize fighting for tenants, protecting existing affordable housing stock, and building new affordable housing supply. I will advocate for stronger enforcement against bad landlords through RentSafeTO, including the use of remedial action, to ensure buildings are properly maintained. I would push to build more affordable and supportive housing on public land, with rents geared to income. I will continue to support new housing projects in Toronto St. Paul’s delivering hundreds of units of new affordable housing.

Cost of Living

The cost of groceries is far too high. I believe that the city should focus on supporting small, independent produce grocers, who already provide much needed and affordable fresh produce for communities across the city. I have protected these businesses in Midtown, helping them relocate when they’ve been affected by redevelopment. I believe the city should explore expanding supports and tax incentives for these independent produce grocers across the city to ensure they remain viable and successful.

Safety in Public Spaces

Making public spaces safer starts with getting the basics right, like proper lighting, clean parks and TTC stations, which make people feel safer. The TTC should have more visible staff across the system, and must employ a rapid and coordinated response when incidents happen. People should also get the right help when they need it. That means expanding mental health supports through the Toronto Community Crisis Service, 911 calls answered without long hold times, and police officers who are properly equipped to respond to incidents.

Getting Around the City

I will continue to prioritize making transit faster and more reliable. That means advocating for better subway, streetcar and bus service, with expanded transit signal priority. I am pushing the TTC to fix the persistent slow zones that affect millions of transit riders. I will also continue to advocate for freeing up traffic lanes from construction hoarding, better coordination of traffic signals, safe cycling infrastructure, more effective sidewalk snow clearing, ensuring that you can get to where you need to go.

Confronting Hateful and Hostile Behaviour

Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own city. That means standing with a community if they’re being targeted, supporting measures to keep their places of worship, schools and institutions secure, supporting the effective enforcement of existing laws, and providing youth opportunities to succeed.