Tory main target in first debate
Keesmaat criticizes incumbent over arts funding, housing, transit
Arts funding was the focus of Toronto’s first 2018 mayoral debate but former chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat attacked front-runner John Tory on housing, transit and more.
From her opening salvo at the ArtsVote forum, Keesmaat accused the mayor with whom she used to work of “dithering and foot-dragging ” while throwing city money at his “mirage” SmartTrack plan that could be used to fund arts, lowincome housing and better transit expansion.
Keesmaat wants to cancel parts of Tory’s surface-rail transit plan — his main 2014 campaign pledge, since downsized to six extra stations on provincial rail expansion — while prioritizing the downtown relief subway line. She predicted Premier Doug Ford will “put a flower on (SmartTrack’s) grave.”
Tory shot back at Keesmaat: “You supported SmartTrack (as chief planner) until you were running for mayor,” before he steered the conversation back to support for Toronto’s arts and culture sector.
As for getting along with Ford, who thrust the city council race into turmoil with a midelection cut from 47 wards to 25, the mayor said: “You can’t be in a state of war with those people” and need partnerships with other governments, businesses and organizations to move Toronto forward.
He touted council under his leadership hitting the long-held goal of city arts funding equalling $25 per Torontonian. That sum appeared at risk during 2017 budget deliberations when he backed a 2.6-per-cent budget cut for city departments, but his budget chief backtracked on the demand. Tory is promising to “set a new target for per-capita arts funding” in early 2019 after consulting arts organizations on their needs and where new money should go, refusing to offer a figure now.
The debate also featured mayoral candidates Saron Gebresellassi, a lawyer and social activist, environmental ac- tivist Sarah Climenhaga and marketing professional Gautam Nath.
Keesmaat, Climenhaga and marketing professional Nath all told the forum that if elected mayor on Oct. 22, they would double arts funding to $50 per capita. Gebresellassi vowed to get to $75 per capita partly by reducing the police budget.
Keesmaat was asked by a reporter after the debate to quantify her pledge to double arts funding with a timeline, total cost and revenue source. “We can in our first year of council ... create a (arts funding) plan and a strategy and execute that strategy, that’s what’s been missing,” she said. Her arts pledges also include five new “culture hubs” outside the downtown core and a citywide assessment of gaps in arts funding and facilities. Tory’s platform includes doubling the culture build investment program, creating a “public art master plan” and establishing a building design award.
Housing was a hot topic at the debate, which was briefly interrupted by uninvited candidate Faith Goldy. Climenhaga said Toronto’s sky-high costs triggered an exodus of artists from the city.
“Toronto needs artists. Artists are leaving the city. What is going to be left?” she said. Gebresellassi argued Toronto should declare an affordable housing “state of emergency.” She blamed Tory and Keesmaat for the city’s failure to hit a councilset goal of helping to create 1,000 new affordable rental units each year.
As mayor, Gebresellassi said, she would get the city to purchase more land and build studio spaces in neighbourhood improvement areas. She also called for the city to fund Sistema Toronto, an after-school music program for children in vulnerable communities promised $500,000 by Ontario’s Liberals — funding cancelled by Ford’s Progressive Conservative government.
“I know coming from an immigrant background this is not just politics for us, this is how we live and this is how we will protect the next generation and young people coming up in a city that is now 51 per cent” racialized people, she said.