Ben Bull, Columnist –
It is time for a rebirth in Toronto. I’m not talking about the hostas or the tulips, or the squinting newborn stares as we turn our faces up to the springtime sun – I’m talking about the federal election.
An election? Didn’t we just have one of those? Er, yeah, probably – there’s a lot going on.
I know it’s hard to get excited about another election. Watching the news is like dimming the lights and settling in for a dystopian double-bill: The Day After Tomorrow, followed by War of the Worlds.
What ever happened to Barbenheimer? That was so 2023…
One thing is clear about this election: it will be about one thing.
But it doesn’t have to be. After the knock-on effects of the Trump Tariffs and the inevitable American recession filter through to our pockets, we will still have to grapple with the big issues that plague our city.
Homelessness isn’t going away. I’m not exactly sure what the last prime minister promised to do about it, but it clearly hasn’t worked. We are becoming increasingly desensitized to the lumpy sleeping bags littering our sidewalks, the blank stares and weathered faces that blink at us as we trudge in to work.
How hard is it to build affordable, integrated housing?
We don’t need any more of these 500-bed hostels that take up a whole city block – that’s called a ghetto, and nobody likes those. Besides, homelessness isn’t a one-size-fits-all problem.
We need geared-to-income residences knitted into established neighbourhoods. We need fully funded mental health services. We need to provide a basic income that people can actually live on.
Ontario has more than twelve hundred food banks. One food bank in this city is one too many.
Middle-class issues persist. When was the last time you got a discount at the supermarket?
Oh, tomatoes went down in price again? Honestly, this spare change is burning a hole in my pocket.
And when was the last time you got a raise?
What’s that, Boss? Business is booming? But I’m only getting a twenty percent bonus this year? OK, I guess I’ll take it.
My daughter just bought a house in Toronto. She had to save four years for the down payment. It cost a shade under a million dollars.
She’s ecstatic. I’m perplexed. Her annual mortgage plus property taxes will cost almost fifty grand. Fifty grand!
The house is just up the street from our first home in Toronto, the one we bought thirty years go for one hundred and forty thousand dollars.
We were poor when we moved into the city. Our joint income was under fifty thousand dollars. And yet we could still afford a house. What would we do now?
What would we do eighteen years ago for that matter, when we put in an offer on our current home for a quarter of its current value?
Sorry kids, you’re a little short. Do you have another eight hundred and fifty thousand lying around?
It’s important to find a little optimism among all these explosions. Tom Cruise isn’t going to save us, but we might be able to save ourselves.
One thing we are learning, as we face down existential threats from our once friendly neighbour to the south, is that we know how to pull together. Sure, the billionaires are hiding in the bushes and the politicians are on the back foot waiting for us to take the lead. But the rest of us know that the best path forward is the one we tread together.
We can start by turning off our social media, parking our Teslas and logging off our Amazon accounts. After all, we can make a new beginning only if we all take a stand.
So how about it, Toronto? Are you ready to smell the roses?
