Campaign to Reduce Poverty in Toronto Gets City-Wide Support Most Front-Runners, including Tory and Keesmaat, Sign Prosperity Pledge

Torontonians from all wards, walks of life, and political stripes are rallying together to support a community-led pledge to bring prosperity for all residents of the city. The Prosperity Pledge has been signed by most well-known candidates for Council and Mayor, including incumbent John Tory and leading challenger Jennifer Keesmaat.

Today, a community and faith coalition that has contacted all candidates for Toronto City Council (for whom Election Services had contact information) over the last few months released an interactive map showing the child poverty rates by ward and pockets of severe child poverty within each. The map also identifies the candidates in each ward who have signed the pledge to fund and implement Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy by building 7,200 new supportive housing units, 8,000 new affordable rental units, and 1,000 new shelter spaces;reducing TTC fares by 30% for another 157,000 lower-income adults;adding 1,500 new childcare spaces, including 5,000 subsidized spaces; and
opening 40,000 new recreation program spaces.
Also linked to the map are short video clips of community residents from selected wards commenting on what the Prosperity Platform means to them.

“The outgoing city council showed leadership by unanimously adopting TO Prosperity, Toronto’s first poverty reduction strategy,” said Adina Lebo, co-chair of the Commitment TO Community network. “The incoming council needs to take bold action to make the goals of that strategy a reality for Torontonians through adequately funding the initiatives and tracking and monitoring progress.”

“People across the city, within every single ward, are finding it difficult to pay the bills and access services,” said Rev. Cameron Watts, Co-Chair of Faith in the City. “It is a moral and civic obligation for the next municipal government to act to reduce poverty, and voters should know where their candidates stand on this issue.”

“Fighting poverty and income inequality is critical to building a city and a region where everyone belongs,” said Daniele Zanotti, United Way Greater Toronto President & CEO. “It makes our neighbourhoods more liveable, our communities healthy and vibrant, and our city a place that attracts business and economic opportunities for everyone.”

With less than a week to go before the municipal election, Commitment TO Community and Faith in the City challenge all candidates who have not signed the pledge to do so and urge all voters to vote for investment in childcare, housing, public transit, and recreation as specified in the Prosperity Platform.

To see which candidates have signed the Prosperity Pledge, check out https://prosperityplatform.ca

Commitment to Community is a coalition of residents, faith communities, non-profit groups and community organizations working to build a better, fairer and more inclusive Toronto through active engagement at City Hall.

Faith in the City is a network of faith leaders from across the religious spectrum in Toronto who are concerned about the wellbeing of our neighbourhoods and our city.