TORONTO – “Toronto is at a turning point that must not be a breaking point. People tell me they are worried that the city they love is on the brink of serious decline. “I want to lead Toronto’s revival. I have a plan to do exactly that”: candidate Mitzie Hunter (in the pic above, from a video on her Instagram page), running for Mayor, introduced today her 71-page plan titled “Fix the Six” and based on a general six-per-cent property tax increase – $216 per year for an average home – that will be reduced to three per cent – a $108-per-year increase – for households with income under $80,000. Hunter’s plan also provides additional protections for moderate and lower income seniors, which will allow more than half of all seniors to pay no property tax at all.
“Those who can afford it will pay a little more. Moderate and lower income homeowners will pay less” Hunter said. Same philosophy for commercial real estate: small businesses won’t face a property tax hike, while large landlords will pay the full six percent rate. “It’s a different and better approach and it’s revolutionary” Hunter said, noting that moderate and low-income homeowners will pay 50 percent less under her “Fix the Six” plan, which provides a total of six points-key (Affordable Housing and Tenant Protection; Getting Toronto Moving; Safety, Homelessness and Mental Health; Improved City Services; A Green and Vibrant City; Transparency in Governance and Budget) and which, in the candidate’s view, will allow time itself to bring Toronto’s budget into balance, closing the huge current “gap” (the “Fix the Six” plan can be consulted in summary or downloaded in its entirety by clicking here).
Meanwhile, today the endorsement of public and private sector union leaders arrived for another candidate: Olivia Chow. In a joint statement, ETT, OPSEU/SEFPO, CUPE Ontario, ATU Canada and USW (representing hundreds of thousands of workers across the city of Toronto), announced their “endorsement of Olivia Chow for Mayor. We know – the unions wrote – the enormous challenges facing the next Mayor and we share the participation that Olivia Chow is the candidate with the vision of building a Toronto for all”.