Statement of values

You Can’t Save the World from City Hall

Many candidates are running with a skewed idea of what City Hall can actually achieve. Unfortunately, Toronto’s street-level human tragedy can only be solved by governments higher than City Hall. In every case, the asymmetry between City Hall and Queens Park is absolute. When City Hall wins in court, the judge rules that the province isn’t following its own laws, not that the city has rights that could be violated. This dynamic is why I believe municipal elections are more vibe check than ideological battlefront.

I also see a lot of cheap prayers-for-priorities politics. P4P is the utmost performativity, and it goes like this: 

• Candidate X identifies poverty as a problem in Toronto. 

• Candidate X describes the tragedy of poverty. 

• Candidate X offers hopes and prayers for better, declares poverty a priority. 

• Candidate expects kudos for recognizing problem without proposing solution. 

I'm not doing that; my platform is full of plans. Say no to candidates running on P4P.

I'm an ethically-motivated liberal socialist. I'm not going to waste the space on my campaign materials telling you I think TTC rider fees should be phased out and citizens deserve a dignified universal basic income* when there's no chance I can actually deliver that.  

*Boldest possible support for the feds to pass the DUBI🌱😁

Very specifically: removing shelter encampments without giving their inhabitants a place to go is a flagrant human rights violation. I loudly discourage the group of mayors seeking provincial notwithstanding clause invocation to commit such atrocities.

I'm also not putting a performative land acknowledgement on my website. Reconciliation is more than a footnote. I have a long-studied concept of our complicated overlapping nations and their asymmetry. I support the indigenization of naming conventions, but I insist the spellings should always have a standardized Anglo-phonetic co-text rather than bracketed pronunciation guides. Toronto is a city of immeasurable diversity, and much of that diversity is in language and learning capacity. It's important to respect the history of the land and the inclusion of it's current residents. 

Winning at City Hall is building a raft out of Band-Aids. I want to solve every fixable, agreeable problem and scale up until we have something that floats. Unlike most candidates, I’m focused on legislative success and measurable outcomes. Many City Council members get mired in big ideas, big egos, and tribal mentality. I won’t, but this focus means I’m never going to be the councillor who’s at every event with a smile and handshake. 

You’ll see me, though. You’ll see me when you’re crossing the street on top of a beautiful mural. You’ll see me when you’re driving West on Danforth at 4pm ☀️🕶️