Sheena Sharp

The Mayor and City Council

This summer we have seen the sky turn orange from wildfires, a heatwave above 35 degC, and a storm with 60% more rain than ever before. Toronto needs to prepare to electrify the city to stop the climate from getting worse, and to prepare for the effects of existing climate change. We can use climate action to drive better housing and transportation. For 18 years, I have designed energy efficient affordable housing, and volunteer for Toronto 2030, an advocate group promoting affordable electrification. I know we can make a difference

Housing

I have designed affordable housing for over 30 years, and have personal experience with the city's approval systems from the outside that can inform improvements. I will speed up housing approvals; favour non-profit housing as owners; push for between-tenant rent control; push for libraries, parks and schools to be built alongside housing; push for the city to develope a plan to end homelessness in 5 years.

Cost of Living

Housing, phone, internet, food and transportation are our main expenses, and the city partly controls only two of them. The problem is that a very few really large companies control these things and they can charge what they want. Canada has some of the highest construction costs in the world, making our housing and transit less affordable. The city can make some changes like streamlining approvals but the provincial and federal governments have created this and they must fix it. Put the pressure where it belongs!

Safety in Public Spaces

People are afraid because of the presence of homeless people in public spaces, but they have nowhere to go. I will prioritize ending homelessness in 5 years, taking inspiration from programs in Norway. It doesn’t matter that most homeless people are harmless. Some people will never believe that. But homeless people need homes, so lets solve that, and get a side benefit of other people feeling safer.

Getting Around the City

We cannot expect to reduce gridlock unless we reduce the number of trips made by car. That means making bikes and transit more attractive, building a network of protected cycle lanes. I travel by car, e-bike and transit. In the busiest times of the year my bike is fastest, but i don't ride in winter due to no plowed bike lanes. Let's not imagine that gridlock will magically disappear unless there are great alternatives for cars. This will take years to build but there is no time like now to start.

Confronting Hateful and Hostile Behaviour

It's important to understand hate crimes. If someone says something you disagree with, that's not a hate crime. A hate crime is attacking someone or damaging their property. STATSCAN says that in 2025, over half the police reported hate crimes were based on race or ethnicity. The next category, hate crimes based on religion, was 25% of reported incidents. The best way to address this is to reduce barriers for reporting, to charge the police with investigating these crimes, and to monitor their success.