Voters gave John Tory 4 more years. Here are 3 issues he'll be focused on
CBC
He's the new mayor, same as the old mayor.
Voted in largely on a promise to keep Toronto "on course" by building on what he and city council accomplished over the past eight years, John Tory will have no shortage of major issues to address in his third term.
"We've made so much progress on getting transit and housing built and growing our economy, and now we have a strong mandate to continue with that progress," Tory said in his victory speech Monday.
So what will the next four years look like?
Here are three issues that will be at the top of the city's agenda.
Addressing Toronto's housing shortage and affordability crisis will likely be Tory's main focus.
While council can do very little on its own to bring down home and rent prices in the short term, it can help boost the housing supply.
According to the city, council approved an average of 28,170 residential units per year between 2016 to 2021, but only 15,303 units per year were actually completed. Around 18,480 affordable and supportive rental homes have been approved since 2015, with only 2,940 completed.
The speed of both approvals and completions is going to have to increase if the city is going to meet the needs of a growing population.
Tory's five-point plan includes allowing "more types of housing in neighbourhoods" by reforming or eliminating restricting zoning rules that have prevented "missing middle" housing types from being built in many areas of the city.
Long called for by housing affordability advocates, this change will allow more duplexes, triplexes and low-rise apartment buildings to be built in neighbourhoods currently dominated by single-family homes, and more mid-rise apartment buildings and condos on major roads served by the TTC.
Other parts of Tory's plan include creating a "one-stop-shop" growth and development unit within the municipal government to handle applications; providing incentives for the construction of rental housing and allocating city-owned land to be developed by non-profits as co-op, supportive and affordable housing.
"We're going to get housing built, much more housing and much more affordable and supportive housing in many more places across our city," Tory said Monday.
The mayor will have an ally in the Ford government, which has made boosting housing supply and bringing down prices a major priority.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.