TVO - Wednesday, May 22, 2024 - 11:00 p.m. (ET) - Segment #2

coming through policy ethic more young people would actually be excited and more likely to vote. >> Steve: let me follow up on that because that has been in the last few days something that emerge as a bit of a point of departure among the couple leading candidates. They set on the record she's not sure of these extra --at kind of torquing that for federal reasons. What you see? >> Sue: it's divisive from my perspective, we have to think of active transportation. We have to think about our cars and we've got to think about transit. As far as I'm concerned, blair lane is to lanes and a bike lane. You have to have that. You can't grow, we are having growing pains, we have to move forward and we have to build the city that has a workable livable transportation system. >> Steve: rahul is there a consensus on whether to or not to increase the number of bike lanes? >> Rahul: it's the frustration actually because we don't know. We are in a city that proudly is a virtual absence of media in our city proper or the slack that media isn't reporting so even reforms like this, I think that conversation hasn't really happened and in some ways it makes the debate come into the 4 good not about the timing but it's the larger question to me of are we going to be willing to finally accept the cost of the city ? A real city that's going to have infrastructure pains, growing pains, and I think candidates need to get past but --that's going to be the conversation starter you. >> Steve: noor I guess it gets back to the question of weather mississauga sees its health of toronto where the car reigns supreme or whether it sees itself as more of an intensified city as toronto now clearly does where you have to have bike lanes because you have to encourage active participation and transportation. >> Noor: and I think this election is a referendum on alike were the city wants to go in the next 50 years. Doesn't want to continue to be this commuters of mississauga of toronto who's coming to work and then drive up there or does it really kind of see itself and it's new vision as a city. And there are many views on this, people talk about this, we are not ready to let go but we also seek that reality facing us that we have grown out, we can only grow up now, we need better transportation, our children can't afford to live in mississauga, they can't find homes come they moved to a milton or burlington or move further out, and so I think this is a reality that people are seeing come they are facing it and they are seeing it and it's coming quickly. And I'm really surprised presently supplies that people are thinking about this, how do we want our city to look in 50 years. One person I spoke to has this great term saying we have this windshield neighbourhood, when shield neighbours forever like saying hello to our neighbour through the windshield and we see their children grow up through the windshield. And we never really have gone moved from that but a lot of people want to. They want to actually shake their hand and not be sex... --stuck in traffic. And people have said that to me across generations. I think mississauga has reached a point where they want to tepidly and shyly go into the coming of the city. But like rahul was saying it's painful, it's not easy. >> Steve: zachary, do you know whether mississauga wants to continue to feature that suburban lifestyle that it's been well-known for the for the past half-century or doesn't want to be an intensified urban distance? >> Zachary: most of the city's history there's been a remarkable consensus around policies and politics. There was a certain type of housing that we were building, a certain type of community we were pursuing. And that is changing because the city is now facing harder choices around things like taxes, financing, crimes and safety. I think that the city could be at a bit of an inflection point here thinking about what the next 50 years old and there are certain parts of the city that remains that suburbs, the people who have lived there for 30, 40 years who moved to mississauga because they wanted a certain lifestyle, they wanted a single detached family home, they wanted to drive and they wanted a certain type of lifestyle that wasn't exactly what you would find within toronto. They probably want more of that. But then there's a younger generation of folks who want to say I want to live hereto, I

deserve the option the previous generation had access to. >> Steve: we took our cameras to the street of mississauga to find out what some of the residents there how they answered these very questions and okay sheldon, we have that clip ready to go so let's relate --roll it. >> Speaker: I'm here in mississauga to ask residents whatever is the most pressing issue for them in the coming election. >> Speaker: we are moving back to toronto because the price in mississauga has become outrageous. >> Speaker: the rent is going up, up and up. >> Speaker: regulation on rent control. >> Speaker: I moved here two years back and it was $1800, tony 400. >> Speaker: my kids want to stay in mississauga but the area they went to school in mississauga maybe too expensive. >> Speaker: it's become something of a hot button issue. Reconstruction of bloor street. This would involve reducing the number of car lanes from 4 to three. >> Speaker: the transit that they have was good for the past years but because we become a bigger sitter than what we were, more people are leaning into mississauga to rent and not live, they don't have cars. >> Speaker: I'm going to vote. >> Speaker: this year I'm going to vote. >> Speaker: what you want to see the mayor? Do. >> Speaker: connectivity. >> Speaker: more than 50 percent of my paycheque goes to rent so I would really like whoever's going to be mayor in the upcoming election to at least look into the housing market and just control it. >> Steve: messy beaucoup some interesting answers from people who live in this saga. At before we get the polling numbers you just did the most massive exhale I ever heard halfway through that clip. What were you so proclaimed about? >> Rahul: I'm definitely glad in structured conversations are part of the dialogue but for those who know the history of bloor street it is showcasing in my view a weird part of the city is that the existing voters are not representative of the city, it's one of the lower voter turnouts at 20 percent. >> Steve: this is a by-election. >> Rahul: and so could we have a toronto moment were I'm not so sure because you see young people who can vote often not voting, not feeling the issues resonating with you therefore no contention and then you see a lot of people like in the clips there's newcomers and people who can't vote, they don't feel any agency in any place, they can't make it, they are working two jobs, they are either moving through our city many people whether they live here or not or they are living here and trying to just survive and I'm seeing a lot of these people, they're issues are not being met and I can't... This bloor street conversation is neglecting those who are attractive, or --the growth that we actually need because the reality is this, suburbia as it's known it's kind of a farce. We never had the money to pay for it. Our infrastructure deficit is 200 plus million. We've never actually accounted for the cost of our city whether we are 50 or 100. I'm really hoping that we can get something like bloor because that road is actually crumbling, we need to do something there. The question is when and how. >> Steve: interestingly enough sheldon can we get these numbers up these are liaising strategies and in your opinion what's the most important issue facing mississauga and they gave a list that people could pick from and here's what they had to say. I wonder how any people would know what number one is on the list. Take a guess. With number one that people identified as the biggest issue? >> Sue: crime. >> Steve: crime, 30 percent. You sought there. Affordable housing comes next at 25 percent, then traffic ask 616, inflation at 9, homelessness at 3 percent, do not have homelessness in mississauga ? Something else 5 percent. 3 percent said they weren't sure. Let's follow up on this. Nor, why would crime be something identified by one in three people in mississauga? >> Noor: it's something easy to understand. We are also seeing a news coverage of crime in their neighbourhood or in brampton or ontario at large especially around car theft is the big issue that when I was interviewing people on this it was car theft that is something they've seen on tv, they read about, heard about and neighbours experiencing car theft and jacking. So I think it's something that's so easy to understand, I think if you are to ask 10 people ate would tell you about crime. I think that's one of the reasons why and the people like rahul pointed out, a lot of people in mississauga have been there for a long time.

they are not facing the housing issues, they are well established, they. >> Steve: have homes that's why they would not identify. >> Noor: exactly as the people who are newcomers to mississauga in which there is a lot and people who are young and facing and feeling that pinch on affordability. >> Steve: sack let's go to you because mississauga is strangely enough I'm from hamilton I can remember driving into toronto all the time and seeing the population of mississauga constantly go up and up and up and up on those signs as you drive in. But the actually was a little population decline in the last couple census. That's the only major city in canada where that's happening. Any reason why? >> Zachary: there was. It was .5 percent which is not significant but at the same time, growth has been expected for years and years and years and it's just taken for granted. And I think that is interesting. When you about young people voting I think what we could see partially is that a lot of young people are voting with there defeat. They are leaving, they are going to find places that are more affordable perhaps a bit more welcoming. But they are going to find places that work for them and align with what they can afford and want to see. So I think that the city is facing a couple of hard truths about the sort of community that it is in some people who can afford to live there. >> Steve: is this a good time to remind our viewers in mississauga you don't live there anymore because were pressed out? >> Zachary: I grew up there absolutely. --i city saw the city grow from where there were open field in some cases to condos and towers and stuff like that. There's definitely a large shift especially when you look at downtown core there, there were buildings that used to be a massive mall at city hall and giant library. Mississauga has certainly build but what we have seen now it's not keeping up with the pace of people who want to live and stay there. >> Steve: sue, they are building what's going to be a very expensive hasal mcallen lrt line. Are you for or against it? >> Sue: you're asking me that question. Boy oh boy. For me I've always not been a fan. I felt the money would have been better spent putting more east to west connections. >> Steve: this one's going north and south to brampton. >> Sue: I understand we have our intensification along that corridor but most people are travelling from east to west. >> Steve: it's a done deal though? >> Sue: it's happening, we have to accept that but at the same time, it's overbudget and it's way behind schedule. So that's a problem. >> Steve: I was about to say you know the eglinton... 100 metres north which is 6 years overdue and three times the budget. >> Sue: we might get their first though. >> Steve: that's true. You talked about turn out a second ago. This might be a good time to look in at that. I see in 2022, again a general election the percentage of turnout was 22 percent. In 2018, it was 20 percent, a little bit higher. We haven't got three and 10 people voting during the general election. How much of that could be because everyone thought it was a foregone conclusion therefore they didn't bother to vote, this is the most competitive rates and foreign and a half decades do you think that would encourage people to vote? >> Rahul: I really hope so steve because you hear from people that they really are anticipating an opportunity here, a potential for change. Really and re-think of how we grow our city, which the irony of hurontario is why did we have to have this court order, because the city two thirds is zoned for sink family homes and that hasn't changed even with what became contentious fourplex is. These have become dips into his city building rather than what we need which is a far reaching city building exercise and we start from the bottom I think it's a community it that doesn't feel agency and doesn't seen opportunity with candidates who are all incumbents and in some way or another, they won't show up because even though we do need a change, people just are starting to lose faith, I think in the election officials. It's really going to be a question of like do we have our cake and eat it question to we intensify city wall and face that pain or do we have more of these arguments over the individual corridors. >> Steve: noor I went to ask you about a political issue that has been really at the forefront of mississauga offer of the last 8 or longer and bonnie crombie championed this big time and that's the notion of mississauga wants to be its own kind of sovereign republic. She successfully prosecuted that case with the provincial government and then dug ford even promised hasal mcallen on her deathbed that he would do it and took it back. Are any candidates championing

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