” How are you? “
Cherry was almost in tears. He hasn’t been asked that in a long time. His pain is pouring on us, an overflow, a deluge. The words collided, as if it had been staring at his chest for a long time.
My daughter is in the emergency every month. We really need help. She has congenital heart disease and cyclic vomiting syndrome.
The difficulty. Her medicines are expensive. We don’t have affordable after school care. I can only work part-time. We have no family here.
Cherry is a fixer at a long-term care center and her husband André is a janitor in the building where they live. The family receives assistance from the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, but does not qualify for fully subsidized housing.
They said our wages were too high, but we had almost no income! We couldn’t go to the dentist because it was too expensive.
Liberal candidate for the Toronto Center David Morris nodded slowly.
We promise we will create a dental and drug insurance plan for workers who do not offer the employer. We also want to expand the offer of care for children like you.
Cherry didn’t seem very reassured, but politely thanked him and accepted the brochure he had given her.
Stories like that, you will hear a lot at the doorsentrusted to me the candidate as we headed to the other floor. Housing is the number one issue.
Toronto Center has the densest riding population in Ontario. It also has the highest level of poverty among children. Gay and financial districts are at its end. Regent Park, where we are, and other low -income enclaves are the complete picture.
David Morris lived there for 10 years. Former head of 519, an organization defending the interests of Torontonian LGBTQ, he is trying to be elected a second time.
I fundamentally believe the Liberal Party is in the best position to defeat Doug Ford across the province, and I believe the idea is gaining ground with voters.
The NDP offer similar solutions, especially regarding insurance plans, he admitted, but the figures of NDP is not consistent. They want to allow densification to deal with the housing crisis, but don’t say how they will do it.
Liberal measures for tackling poverty, such as $ 1 public transportation, are concrete and economical, he says. The monthly pass CTT worth $ 156. We want to lower that to $ 40. It can make a big difference in people’s lives.
One floor downstairs, Mélanie and I opened the door to the screams of her dog. We hesitantly looked at her old mother over her son’s shoulder.
A social worker, Mélanie had to quit her job to take care of her ailing father. Since her death, she has not successfully applied and is worried about losing housing assistance. These are difficult times. There is not much work in our community.
They promised to vote liberal.
St. James Town, united
Further north, we met former councilwoman Kristyn Wong-Tam, who was about to go door-to-door at the infamous 650 Parliament Street in the neighborhood. Town of St.James.
In 2018, more than 1,500 residents were thrown into the streets after a huge fire destroyed all 22 floors of the building. The owner neglected the electrical system. Tenants only returned home two years later, before the pandemic.
The story of 650 Parliament Street, and the people in the neighborhood Town of St.James, it is a story of stability. They stick together and help each other. They often hold two or three jobs at the same time in precarious conditions. They were Uber couriers, construction workers without a contract, janitorshe says.
I fully support NDP, launched a maid who opened the door for us. Climate change and Aboriginal issues bothered him, but so did the poverty that surrounded him. This is noticeable in our neighborhood. I just put my head in the water.
The NDP Ms Wong-Tam hopes to keep the seat of Suze Morisson, who is no longer standing, vacant. The race promises to be strictly in the former liberal castle.
The platform of NDP is more and more attractive for people here, because we propose to fix the social safety net, argues the candidate. We don’t make slogans like Liberal and Progressive Conservatives. When we proposed doubling social assistance and disability assistance, people stopped me on the street to tell me it would change their lives.
The Liberals, he said, are offering public transportation for $ 1, but only until 2024. It’s a luxurious promise that attracts people who need help right away. But that won’t help in the long run. Our promises will not expire after 15 months.
Roumeila Makhloufi opened the door for us with her son Adam. Rent, fuel, living are so dear to us! We live in a very small apartmentgrievance of the early childhood educator.
We propose to increase the salary of instructors to $ 25 per hour, tit’s response to Ms. Wong-Tam. Roumeila’s eyes widened. wow. Five more dollars an hour can make all the difference.
The curator ran away from us
We were unable to speak to Progressive Conservative candidate Jess Goddard. We’d like to ask him, for example, about Doug Ford’s decision to end the rent freeze, the effects of which are as huge on neighborhoods as the ones we visited.
Si Ms. Goddard did not appear for debate by local candidates and did not respond to our interview request. Not surprisingly, the party imposes this code of silence on its candidates across the province, with a few exceptions.
We still tried to stop Ms. Goddard as he goes door-to-door near the financial district, but his campaign manager asked us to leave the scene, without explaining why he didn’t consent.
shame.
Source: Radio-Canada
