29 Mayoral Candidates Duke It Out At Debate

Twenty-nine of the 38 candidates running for the city’s top seat took part in the event in front of a packed audience at the St. Lawrence Centre.

Chief rivals incumbent David Miller and councillor Jane Pitfield sat side-by-side on stage and each candidate was given a chance to outline their positions, but big issues like the TTC were tackled by the frontrunners.

“By using bus rapid transit and streetcars running in their own right-of-way, we can bring rapid transit to neighbourhoods that simply don’t have it today and people will have much more opportunities to choose the TTC than take their car,” Miller said.

Pitfield said more focus needs to be placed on the TTC budget.

“It’s a question of priorities. If we managed our budget properly … with the money saved from the Bombardier contract, we could have purchased buses,” she said. “We could have expanded our network.”

And the former president of the Liberal Party, Stephen LeDrew, who only officially entered the mayoral race last week, told the audience he thought the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way upgrades were a bad move.

“I think that the decision of the TTC and council to spend tens of millions of dollars on the streetcar on St. Clair Avenue was a terrible mistake,” he said.

Torontonians head to the polls to elect city councillors and the mayor on Nov. 13 and don’t forget to tune into Citytv or CP24 on Sunday, Oct. 22 between 8 and 9pm for a mayoral candidate debate moderated by Gord Martineau.

Meanwhile, Miller used his time on the campaign trail Monday to promote his safer communities program of improving opportunities for youth in troubled neighbourhoods.

If re-elected, he says he will invest $13 million in 13 of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods.