ArtsVote Toronto Hosts First Mayoral Debate

Housing crisis and funding take centre stage at mayoral debate

On September 24, ArtsVote Toronto—an advocacy group for arts and culture within the city—held a debate in the TIFF Bell Lightbox for candidates in the current municipal election. The debate contained two predetermined sections: the first was five questions asked by the moderator and the second was selected questions submitted on Twitter.  

The debate began with Faith Goldy, the controversial and uninvited mayoral candidate, mounting the stage to demand her inclusion in the event. She paced the stage as the candidates remained seated, showing a petition signed, she claimed, by 5000 people. Some in the crowd supported Goldy; however, she was escorted off the stage by police. The moderator reiterated any disturbances would be dealt with in a similar way. Global News reported that any candidates who wanted inclusion in the debate had to have a defined arts policy and would not be considered otherwise. Goldy had no policy. 

While the debate covered a range of arts and labour related issues, the thrust of the candidates’ answers circled around three main topics: promotion of the arts, funding, and affordability. How would each candidate promote artists and the arts locally, nationally, and internationally? 

Sarah Climenhaga responded that “great artists exist [in Toronto], all we need to do is tell people about it” and highlighted the need for an “artistic base” that can afford housing in the city.  

Saron Gebresellassi, a Toronto lawyer and social activist, noted cuts by the provincial government to funding for community arts efforts. Calling it a continual “funding crisis” she suggested that the city could increase its own funding by appropriating a portion of the police budget. 

Jennifer Keesmaat, former chief city planner, took the opportunity to criticize Mayor John Tory for the housing crisis and his SmartTrack plan. She explained she would build 100,000 affordable units by “unlocking city owned land.”  

Gautam Nath stated: “we’ve done very little globally. We have a TIFF, we have Hot Docs but that’s it really,” saying we need to do more to reach “international markets.” Later in the debate he suggested sending individual artists abroad would increase such interest.  

Mayor John Tory claimed he had done a good job of promoting the arts but that more investment was needed to aid artists and to increase local awareness of the arts. 

The topic returned to by the candidates most often was the city’s housing crisis. Keesmaat suggested Tory was to blame for not acting on the rising expenses of housing. He retorted that his government has already provided the city, and would continue to provide, affordable housing such as “work lived spaces” built in Weston.  

Saron Gebresellassi also took Tory to task, saying that affordable housing tied to market value rent was still unaffordable, and that city council would have to take steps to create housing that is “truly affordable” for the underprivileged, the working class, and artists.  

Nath found affordable housing to be of concern but decided instead to focus on transit. 

In terms of funding, Tory stated that the he had either enacted or “provided a leadership role” in the development of several programs related to the arts. Part of this was the funding of Arts in the Park, an initiative by the city which provides arts related events to public parks.  

Climenhaga said that the city has failed to match the investments of its rivals, namely Montreal. The city currently invests 25 dollars per capita to artists; Climenhaga said this was not enough and that it was not a stretch to double the funding to 50 dollars.  

Most other candidates agreed with Climenhaga. Tory defended himself, arguing that it was under his leadership that the 25 dollars per capita figure had been reached. He said that further investment was necessary but could not be prioritized immediately. The only candidate to directly disagree with the doubled investment figure was Saron Gebresellassi who stated it should be tripled.  

When the question of providing arts spaces to communities outside the downtown core was put forward, candidates generally agreed that new spaces were needed. However, the candidates were divided on the method of creating these spaces. Tory suggested unused civic centres across the city could be repurposed for the arts and that he would strive to increase the funding for such projects and the arts in general from all levels of government (that is, federal and provincial).  

Keesmaat said the city had the funding available and the resources but lacked the political will under Tory. She said that she would, as mayor, seek to build new arts facilities away from the downtown core.  

Gebresellassi focussed specifically on “neighbourhoods in progress” in which she claimed the city should be buying land and buildings to provide such spaces.  

Finally, Nath and Climenhaga both emphasised the necessity of corporate involvement in such projects.