As the year draws to a close and the holidays approach us, I'd like to thank you for your continued support.
When I reflect on the last year, I'm reminded of how resilient our community is and all that we've achieved together. In 2019 we were able to reduce massive rent hikes, hold local polluters accountable and protect child care funding.
Victories like these make me so proud to be from York South-Weston, and together we can change much more in 2020!
Wishing you and your family a warm holiday season and happy new year,
Chiara Padovani
http://www.chiarapadovani.ca/
WHAT WE WON IN 2019
1. We reduced massive rent hikes
Tenants of 22 John Street recently received notices of rent increases as high as 25% in a building whose landlord received millions in public funds. This comes only months after our own Councillor - who accepted several campaign donations from the landlord of 22 John - voted against rent control in publicly funded developments.
After organizing a tenant association in 22 John Street, we successfully reduced the rent increase from 25% to 6.5%, and pushed the majority of City Council to support rent control! This was an important local victory for tenants in our community, but there's still much to do to protect tenant rights. This is why I was proud to announce a bill to bring back Rent Control with MPP Suze Morrison at Queens Park. Tell Premier Ford he should pass it by signing the petition!
2. We held local polluters accountable
Back in the Spring, I wanted to ensure that companies who were polluting in our community were actually following the "ChemTRAC" bylaw and reporting their emissions to the City. Recently, Bank Bros. - who donated the maximum to our local Councillor's electoral campaign - was audited by the City of Toronto and found to be polluting above the ChemTRAC threshold. Stay tuned for more information about what the results of this audit and inspections by the Ministry of the Environment mean for York South-Weston.
3. We protected child care funding
With your help we successfully pressured Premier Ford to scale down his plans to cut $15 million in child care funding in Toronto to $5 million in cuts.
PROGRAMS
Fair Pass Transit Discount
The City of Toronto has recently extended the Fair Pass Discount Program to parents receiving child care subsidies in addition to people receiving OW and ODSP. Click here for more information on how to apply for the discount.
TAKE ACTION
Petition: Bring Back Rent Control
We need to keep up the pressure on both Premier Ford and Councillor Nunziata to bring back rent control.
The debate will continue at City Council in January and earlier this week I joined MPP Suze Morrison at Queen's Park to support her Bill to immediately bring back rent control to Ontario.
Let's keep up the momentum, Chiara!