Mitzie Hunter is campaigning for mayor in the 2023 Toronto by-election. Hunter was previously the CEO of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance and CAO at Toronto Community Housing. Additionally, she held the position of Vice President at Goodwill Industries in Toronto.
In a 2013 provincial by-election, she earned an MPP seat as a Liberal candidate in Scarborough-Guildwood. During her time in provincial politics, Hunter served in numerous cabinet positions, including Minister of Education, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development, and Associate Minister of Finance. Most recently, she was the deputy leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in 2022-2023.
In a virtual Zoom interview on May 16, Mitzie Hunter shared her goals as a mayoral candidate for Toronto.
What are the biggest issues facing Torontonians in 2023?
Hunter: The universal issue that I hear about is housing affordability – people finding places to rent in our city and the cost of that is just too high. That is the number one issue and concern right across the board. Other issues are definitely being shared. Definitely the housing and its links to homelessness; that’s a concern in our city as well.
Mental health, substance abuse, and addictions is also something I hear about as well. And really, transit is pretty big. People want to have more reliable service on the TTC, reversing the service cuts to routes and reversing the hikes to fares. Those are some of the things that I hear about most often. Safety on the TTC and people wanting to feel safe anywhere they are in our city is of course, always top-of-the-mind.
Students deal with a variety of challenges, ranging from financial constraints, mental health issues, safety concerns, to commuting difficulties. What policies do you plan to implement that would help students live in the city?
Hunter: Really, all of the things that I’ve listed as major issues and concerns I’ve provided solutions for, and that’s what I bring as a candidate for mayor and wanting to lead Toronto’s revival as a city that works for everyone and everywhere in the city.
I do have a five-point plan for safety on the TTC so people can feel safe and actually be safe in the city. For example, pairing social workers with transit officers, getting people to help them with the support that they need. My centerpiece policy is on affordability in terms of housing, establishing the Toronto Affordable Housing Corporation, which will unlock public lands that the city already owns so that the city can build more units of affordable housing, as higher than any other candidate in the race in terms of the number of affordable units that I will be building. This is something that will make a real difference for people who are renting in the city and there’s even a component for home equity so people can buy affordably, at 50 per cent of the cost that it would be in the market. These are things that will make a real, meaningful difference for young people who grew up in the city and want to afford to live in the city. We need to give them more access to affordable housing.
That, of course, leads to being able to spend less on shelter and more on food and other things that they want to do. I do hear about rising food prices and these concerns. Wages are not going up at the rate that they need to for young people. Being able to have rental options that are deeply affordable is going to help young people to stay in our city, which we need because they’re the talent that we need to help our economy to grow. This is something that is very important in terms of the future of our city.
Mental health is another key aspect. I have put forward a mental health strategy. This is something that will address the concerns, making sure that there are resources in the community to help with mental health and well-being. I will appoint a Chief Mental Health Officer to work with the Medical Officer of Health and Public Health to bring resources into our community to boost the mental health and well-being of residents of Toronto.
Transit and commuting are things that are really important. My plan is to get ridership up on the TTC by reversing the service cuts and cancelling the fare hikes that were put in place; that’s also part of affordability as well. And building out more construction on transit projects. I’ve announced the North York-Scarborough subway extension. That’s something that would connect to Downsview and all the way across Sheppard to McCowan. Students at York will benefit from that because it will take them right to that hub station at Downsview. Also, for other lines as well: the Waterfront East LRT, as well as the Eglinton Crosstown extension to UTSC and to Malvern.
I’m a big transit champion and supporter of public transit. I’ve been very consistent about that because people need to be able to get where they need to go in our city. I do want to also say that in terms of housing affordability, I realize that student housing is really important. And I have put in place student zones around campuses so that we can build more affordable and accessible student housing near the campuses. I’ve built that into my affordable housing plan.
Toronto boasts numerous colleges and universities. The TTC plays a crucial role as many students rely on public transit. As a mayoral candidate, how do you intend to manage the TTC?
Hunter: I have committed to fully funding the TTC, that’s something that I’ve put forward. I want transit to be at the heart of our community. You can see how I’ve described my plan to build out more transit in the future.
For the existing service, making sure we’re boosting the ridership by lowering fares that have been hiked and reversing service cuts. We’ve also committed to making it free for seniors and for Wheel-Trans users. That’s also important to give them access to the transit system.
In Scarborough, Line 3 is being taken out of commission. I have committed to making sure that we have a dedicated busway that replaces it, so that it would save commute times for people in Scarborough, who are perhaps traveling to York, like I wanted to do when I was leaving high school to go to university. I ended up going somewhere else, but it was even more difficult to take public transit back then than it is today.
How does your background and experience prepare you for the responsibilities of being the mayor of Canada’s largest city?
Hunter: I bring a broader set of experiences than any other candidate in the race. I’ve been the CEO of CivicAction, which is a non-profit organization, looking at how we built a strong and thriving city region in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. I also served in cabinet with some of the largest portfolios that I had responsibility for, including Education and, as Associate Minister of Finance, managing a budget and serving on the Treasury Board, understanding how program spending works in our city and province. At the city level, being the Chief Administrative Officer of Toronto Community Housing, which is the largest housing provider in Canada and second largest in North America, and knowing how the city works and having to report into the city as part of that organization.
On day one, I will be proclaiming that there’s no more surplus land within the city. All land available within the City of Toronto’s control would be focused on how we can build more affordable housing. To move forward is my Toronto Affordable Housing Corporation’s plan for making the city more affordable for people, including young people who grew up here and want to be able to afford to live here. My focus will be on Fixing the Six. Fixing housing, fixing transit, and fixing services that people need and rely on in our city.
So, we can Fix the Six together.
Advance voting runs from June 8-13, with the election on June 26. Voters can find more information on the City of Toronto website.
