Anthony Furey: Downtown Toronto is so bad that voters are abandoning the progressive left

You’d think a municipal ward with the name “Toronto Centre” would be the last electoral district to turn its back on a left-wing incumbent. Downtown Toronto is perceived to be as left-leaning as you can get and with good reason.

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But every voter has their breaking point, and it looks like a lot of downtown residents have hit theirs. The council race now unfolding in this ward is in many ways a battle for the very heart of the city itself.

Recent polling shows that downtown councillor Chris Moise is at risk of losing his seat to common-sense candidate Daniel Tate. It would be an incredible reversal of political fortunes — and it’s one that’s on the cusp of happening.

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According to a Forum Research poll released Sept. 29, Moise has 29 per cent support to Tate’s 26 per cent. Curran Stikuts is in third at 13 per cent.

“The Toronto Centre city councillor race is close, with Chris Moise holding a narrow three-point lead over Daniel Tate,” said Lorne Bozinoff of Forum Research.

The urban decay and public disorder in Toronto are experienced most sharply downtown. The open drug use, public urination, violent and unhinged street antics, deteriorating public spaces — these are all the worst downtown. So it makes sense that downtown residents are the ones who are most crying out for change.

Tate’s campaign website gets right to the point, spelling out his priorities with these direct bullet points: merit-based hiring; enforce the law; respect taxpayer dollars; safe streets, parks and transit; end failed drug policies.

It’s refreshing to see a candidate with a clear vision who isn’t afraid of his own shadow. The websites and literature of many council candidates throughout the city are full of generic platitudes meant to mask where they really stand on key issues, if they even have a stance on them in the first place. But not Tate.

Moise is a pet store owner and former Toronto school trustee who was first elected to council in the last general election with the support of the NDP. On his website, his main pitch is that he’s delivered results on local priorities. But in get-out-the-vote emails he’s recently sent out to supporters, his focus is on attacking Tate. He admits it’s a two-horse race and attacks Tate as “an alt-right candidate.” This is rather silly because if you peruse Tate’s social media and campaign events, you’ll see that his message has attracted a diverse crew, and he’s committed to improving the quality of life for the Church Street gay district.

But Moise’s rhetoric is actually toned down from past remarks he made about Tate after those remarks were found to have violated the city’s code of conduct by the integrity commissioner. Yes, the two have a history that makes Moise’s potential loss all that more intriguing.

Tate has been a figure in Toronto’s music scene for many years as a devoted fan who documents and archives posters and flyers from live performances. For this reason, he’s quite passionate about large community gathering spaces.

When Moise led the charge to rename Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square, Tate organized a massive petition against it and became the de facto opposition leader to a decision that made Toronto City Hall a laughingstock in the eyes of so many.

Instead of maturely recognizing that people from all backgrounds took issue with the renaming, Moise chose to lash out personally at Tate in what the integrity commissioner called a “derogatory manner.”

But Moise also has re-election troubles from within his own political circles. Kristyn Wong-Tam was for many years the councillor in Toronto Centre before she became the NDP MPP for the area in 2022. Wong-Tam then endorsed Moise as her replacement. However, a few weeks ago, Wong-Tam endorsed another Moise challenger: Curran Stikuts.

“One of the things I’m seeing is a level of disappointment from constituents from many corners of the ward,” said Wong-Tam in comments to the media when asked about the reversal.

Whatever complaints one may have with left-wing politicians in Toronto, they deserve credit for being loyal teammates and sticking together. So when a rift like this happens, it’s a sign of real trouble.

The Toronto Centre council election is certainly the one to watch. Tate’s genuine desire to clean up the downtown core is refreshing. He will have his work cut out for him should he make it to City Hall, but Toronto will certainly be better off if he does.

National Post

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