What are the top issues for Toronto this federal election? Experts weigh in

A man enters an advance polling station in Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. Advance polls open today for the federal election THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Canadians will hit the polls to cast their ballots for the country’s next prime minister on April 28—but what issues are top of mind for Toronto this federal election?

Here are some of the major topics that electors are concerned about, according to experts.

Trump’s tariffs

The constant whiplash felt by Canadians amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposed trade war against its various trade partners pushes the topic of tariffs to the top of Torontonians’ minds this election season as they look to see how this volatility from their closest neighbour will impact the city’s economy and general standard of living.

Giles Gherson, President and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, says that while Toronto reflects 20 per cent of Canada’s economy, the city is struggling to keep up with the demands of its growing population. While that has been an issue for some time—seen through a variety of issues from rising unemployment, traffic congestion, and strain on a variety of infrastructure from health care to transit—Gherson says Trump’s tariffs are proving Toronto is “not as competitive as we need to be.”

“If there’s any kind of silver lining to the horrendous black cloud of the Trump tariffs, it’s that it’s putting the spotlight on the need for us (Canada) to get our act together on regulatory reform once and for all,” Gherson said.

“It’s putting a huge emphasis on the need to have a competitive tax system, to keep capital here and deploying our capital here at home, and to build a more resilient, competitive economy at home in the Toronto region. It’s critical.”

To compete with tariffs, the federal government needs to look at how to grow the local economy.

The trade board president says Toronto has been “bleeding investment, jobs, and business growth to the United States” as it is a fairly costly place to operate business, prompting companies to move to the U.S. over expanding within Canada.

“This has been true of the last, let’s say, decade-and-a-half,” Gherson said. “So keeping jobs here, growing jobs here, they’ve done it in the U.S., and it’s a big irony that President Trump says the U.S. is subsidizing Canada because in actual fact we’ve been subsidizing them. We’ve been financing their growth.”

So far, the PCs said they would allow Canadians to save an additional $5,000 in their Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) so long as that money is invested into local companies, while the Liberals said they would waive the week-long waiting period for employment insurance to kick in for anyone who loses their jobs to Trump’s tariffs. The New Democrats promise to introduce an “emergency price cap” on basic food items and give money collected from counter-tariffs to those hit hardest by the trade war.

Affordable housing

While the whole country is experiencing a critical housing crisis, Toronto has been hit particularly hard with the lack of affordable options in the city.

“We’ve obviously seen rents and home prices go up quite a lot in the past few years, even if there have been some dips in the market, they’re still well above what is affordable to most people living in the cities,” Stephanie Bertolo, a board member with More Neighbours Toronto, told CTV News Toronto in an interview.

Prior to election day, the federal government promised it will provide $2.55 billion in low-cost financing to deliver new rental homes to the city, bringing a total of 4,831 new rental units to the market (which includes a minimum of 1,075 affordable units).

As it stands, while rent continues to dwindle in price in the city, a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto costs an average of $2,313 to rent each month, according to Rentals.ca’s latest report, making it among the top 10 priciest markets for the country. Meanwhile, the average price for a home is hovering at $1,093,254 in March.

“I think what Toronto needs is, and all of Canada, is a coordinated effort on behalf of all governments to get more housing built. At a federal level, that means making it a national priority and that can look like a bunch of things,” Bertolo said.

The housing advocate said that could involve things like renewing the housing strategy, providing construction funding on the condition that municipalities and provinces deliver on those results or reducing the barriers to build, whether that’s through zoning or taxes.

So far on the campaign trail, the Conservatives are proposing a plan to reimburse cities for half of every dollar they cut in development charges in an effort to build more housing. The Liberals say they plan to build nearly 500,000 new homes each year, while the New Democrats pledge to prevent corporate landlords from buying existing affordable rental properties.

• READ MORE: Want the full rundown of what Canada’s major political parties are promising? Head here to see what they have to say about key election issues

How did Toronto vote in the last election?

In the previous federal election, held in September 2021, the majority of voters in downtown Toronto cast their ballots for the Liberals. According to data from Environics Analytics (EA), a consultancy firm that specializes in creating estimates about the Canadian population, a little more than 52 per cent of electors in the downtown core voted red in 2021—more than double the amount of those who voted Conservative at 23.6 per cent, or NDP at 18.4 per cent.

The gap between Liberal and Conservative voters was considerably smaller in the suburbs of the Greater Toronto Area, with 46.4 per cent opting to vote Liberal and 37.4 per cent voting for the Tories.

• READ MORE: Low voter turnout in these eight ridings made a difference in Canada’s last election

For voters dubbed “Young in the City,” which EA describes as young, well-educated Canadians starting their careers living in downtown Toronto, the Liberals earned most of their ballots with NDP coming in second. Meanwhile, the PCs and Liberals had a tight race among voters that were considered to be part of “affluent families” in downtown Toronto and the suburbs, the wealthiest subsect of voters who typically have teenaged or college-aged children.

Environics notes this particular group of voters could be a segment to watch this federal election, to see where their loyalties lie given the “changed landscape.”

Gherson says that ultimately, in this election, Torontonians want to see some real action being taken by whoever becomes the next prime minister, not just bits and pieces from their promises.

“That’s not going to solve the problem. It’s going to take some real leadership to solve the problem,” Gherson said.

With files from The Canadian Press