Written by Barry Dennison   

Municipal politics is amazing in the Toronto region for political junkies like me. It's 44 Wards/communities within in a city of 2 million, all concerned about the direction of the city going right or left given both the polarized mayoral and councillor's race. 

Ward 27 is the downtown core of Toronto that reaches from south on Queen Street north to Moore Park, West to University Ave. East border at Sherborne and DVP. It is one of the mostly densely populated wards (78,670 residents) in this mega-city.

The All-candidates meeting held Wednesday October 8th, 2014 at the Masonic Hall was your typical all-candidates meeting, until 4 out of the 6 candidates just claimed they were gay!

That was certainly a welcome new twist for this newbie to Toronto politics.

Of the 8 registered candidates, 6 candidates responded to the invite to speak by ABC Residents Association: In picture, left to right, Alain D'Amours, Benjamin Dichter, Megan McIver, Jordan Stone, Rob Wolvin and Kristyn Wong-Tam.

While candidates who were challenging looked a bit uneasy at the beginning, self-described “gay ally”, Ben Dichter told the estimated crowd of 200 people that his contribution to the LGBT community in Canada was having “the time of his life making up a float with friends for World Pride parade last June!”

After much laughter and applause, the conversation began to flow and everyone took turns sharing their vision for Toronto in a 2 hour debate, with audience members questions being asked by host, Mr. John Caliendo, Co-President, ABC Resident's Association.

After the formal part of the meeting, the host invited anyone else with a question or observation to come forward, enter in people forced to the fringe began shouting at Kristyn Wong-Tam, and organizers closed the debate with regrets.

The “Ick” factor just peaked for me. Ruined the conversation for everyone really. C'est la vie!

Measure of truth

Attending such events, one expects to hear controversies in the Ward, as well as candidates ideas thrown out there as possible solutions.

And what would an All-candidates meeting be without bashing at the incumbent, amid claims of being able to do a better job, and an ability to better speak for the Ward on issues, ranging from urban development, planning and improvements, affordable housing, the TTC problems to traffic flow?

Then the self-declared straight ally candidates Dichter and McIver verbally attacked Kristyn Wong-Tam on her handling of community controversies, hoping to woo voters their way.

Candidate Dichter carried on his opinions that were published in Xtra – Newspaper for Gays and Lesbians, a self-styled fringe publication headlined, “Candidate claims KWT holding back Ward 27” with accusations that she's 'divisive' in her dealing with the community.

Hey! All of a sudden, I was getting these messages that maybe stuff was going on that I didn't know about?

That maybe Kristyn Wong-Tam would be more suitable for the Communist Party of China? (Never mind that her family is from Hong Kong and would know what it would be like to speak up too loudly to critique the Chinese government's honour and autocracy).

So as the accusations became stronger from challenging candidates [during the debate] I turned my trusty phone recorder App on as candidates McIver and Dichter asked, “Why come up with a Casey House move after residents opposed it?” in response to someone from the floor who prompted the topic.

“It's up to the city councillor to ask those questions of what they [residents] want.” Megan McIver accused, a well spoken former Liberal Party/government bureaucrat.

Could Kristyn Wong-Tam be secretly a dominatrix that snaps her proverbial big whip to make people jump in the Ward, even AIDS patients, our most vulnerable?

In the debate, Mr. Dichter responded to an answer by the current councillor's answer, with, “If elected, never will you hear me give a political answer like that!”, appearing to mock and ridicule Kristyn Wong-Tam's(KW-T) manner of speech.

Candidate Jordan Stone raised his voice a tad, saying, “Businesses in the Church Wellesley area are angry with you.” with further accusations that KW-T is a “Condo Queen” who did not take revitalization very seriously.

As usual, it only takes seconds to hurl an accusation so the crowd collectively gasps, but a minute to explain the complexities in a town hall format is impossible to do. The incumbent Councillor couldn't possibly be given adequate time to explain all the misinformation either. All she could do was identify it being in the room.

Repeated questions kept coming to Kristyn Wong-Tam on her manner of speaking but obviously ignored by the hecklers, as she answered, “My dad's a naval officer. So for me, order is very important.

I think we can be creative and spirited in our debate, and not personalize the attacks to get a better government than we've seen in the last 4 years.” as the crowd responded with tremendous applause.

During the debate, all candidates claimed to have chosen John Tory for Mayor, while Kristyn Wong-Tam declined to endorse either Ms. Chow or Mr. Tory.

Well, I attended as an interested resident and half way through decided to put my proverbial journalist hat on to get some answers that would discover the truth.

Did I get an earful!

Church/Wellesley Village BIA

This journalistic probe begins with interviewing the general manager of the Church Wellesley Village BIA, Mr. Mychol Scully who thought the claim that KW-T was divisive was very “odd”.

Mr. Scully responded, “I can only speak from my experience as the new Manager in the BIA office, but I very much appreciated Kristyn Wong-Tam's willingness to sit down with me. She made a lot of time available to me as the new GM of the Church Wellesley Business Improvement Area … she told me what she perceived the challenges of the my position to be, and gave me an opportunity to share my vision for the role. She was very receptive and encouraged me in the direction [I was advocating].”

Adding, “The Councillor has been very supportive of the initiatives coming out of this BIA, especially her support to put together a community alliance between Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association (CWNA) and the BIA (supported by The 519 Community Center) to develop a “Master Plan”

The Councillor's office had reportedly encouraged and expressed her delight that the BIA and Neighbourhood Association had taken the lead, with help from The 519 Community Center's Communications Director, Matthew Cutler, who was credited as being a “great help” setting up the initial stages.

In response to candidate Stone's claim that businesses were angry with her, the Church/Wellesley BIA manager, responded, “No, that's not accurate. Annoyed, maybe? Angry, no.”

Adding, “On a number of things people wanted done, she's been an aggressive proponent of consensus. An important piece for her. The Councillor was pressing for consensus and all she got was conflict. So she stepped out of the way, saying, “This isn't going to work. You guys have to figure this out.”

Mr. Scully said he totally understood this, and at the same time understood those accusations that KTW's speech being too formal too.

Noting, “The formality with which she speaks sometimes to some people, it sounds like she's obfuscating the issue, talking over them, and framing sentences in a way that allows her to side step.

I understand those person's perception but I'm listening to her and hearing what she's saying. She's not side-stepping the issues.”

Mr. Scully also point to “Not only the Councillor's office, but every City department we worked with were eager to assist with the process and protocol.”

Church/Wellesley Village BIA Garden District Resident's Association (GDRA)

Since Jordan Stone and I used to be neighbours, I went directly to his local resident's association in the Gerrard/Jarvis/Dundas vicinity to hear about his “Condo Queen”.

[GDRA webpage with, “What's Kristyn up to … ?” an online tweet board ~ giving details of the Councillor's schedule and issues].

This resident's association's critique was proffered by Mr. Nicholas Culverwell who gives quite a harsh critique of Kristyn Wong-Tams's style but in the end, provides an honest written review of her job performance.

Mr. Culverwell explained, “We interact very frequently with the counsellor and her staff on almost a daily basis.

- she has a superb team in her office, so turnaround and action are relatively quick and effective

- -either the counsellor herself or one of her staff always attend our meetings, and we are often together at other local meetings on topics such as condo developments, heritage etc.

- Overall, we are pleased with our level of access and the action we get related to local concerns such as garbage pickup, parks initiatives, etc.”

But added, “In terms of policy, the counsellor has a strong tendency to stand back and insist others come to consensus rather than taking and advocating a position of her own.  While this allows her to stay on everyone’s good side and stand above the fray, her approach leaves a leadership vacuum which often results in little or no progress on issues related to our neighbourhood.  

In this regard, the GDRA has had an occasionally strained relationship with the counsellor.”

Yet, in the end, Mr. Culverwell, a management consultant (with specialization in contact centre solutions, customer service strategy, and contact centre outsourcing), concluded, “Overall, I would characterize our relationship with the counsellor as positive and productive.”

But I can't help but think, given his spelling of 'counsellor', “Wow! What a Freudian slip! Or does he want the Councillor to expand her services to include a type of “counsellor” for the association?

The Yonge/Dundas BIA

The BIA general manager, Mr. Mark Garner, was concerned that any comment he made at election time would be seen as an endorsement, but nonetheless responded to his writer's query, emailing, “Kristyn has been very supportive and accessible at all times.”

ABC Resident's Association

Host of the all-candidates meeting, John Caliendo, is co-President of ABC Resident's Association. A long time member, a retired investment banker/fund manager who wasted no time in comparing old and new councillors in Ward 27 over the years.

“In our view, compared to her predecessor, Kristyn Wong-Tam is far more judicious in what she telegraphs to developers. Far more judicious and genuine in seeking the opinion of our resident's association. Far more judicious in how she takes meeting the developers.”

Whereas her predecessor, the consultations with us were all Kabuki  Theatre!” (When a Councillor consults everyone and already knows the answer beforehand. Just “acting out” the role.)

Mr. Caliendo added, “Kristyn Wong-Tam's tries to develop a genuine consensus. Sometimes that can be frustrating, but when you look at it, what she's really doing and the reason we work well together is her recognition that we're better equipped to provide the micro-leadership/management on the number of issues that affect our areas, as we live it day to day."

Caliendo described the protocol that they've developed with the Councillor in 2 words, “It works!” as ABC Resident's Association will take their own initiatives, letting the Councillor know of their plan, consult or ask for support when needed.

He explained, “We as a resident's association don't have a problem running with a lot of issues ourselves, whereas maybe in other wards or in the past we've looked to the Councillor to take the lead on it.”

One such initiative is this resident's association under-taking in 2013, with input from the local BIA, was to start their own “planning study” on how to create an Official plan (OP) Amendment governing development for this specific part of Ward 27, that dealt with how severely people were being crammed into one space, as well as the pressure on roads, transit services, parks, etc.

By funding and hiring their own planners, architects, urban designers who undertook a study, Mr. Caliendo said the Councillor was supportive but the Planning Department response was very luke warm.

Now reportedly that it's almost completed, the City Planning Department is very enthusiastic because a lot of ground work was done, at a huge expense, which will be then codified going forward in the new Official Plan.

Is KW-T pro condo?

Mr. Caliendo responded, “You know what? We're all pro condo! A lot of our members live in condos. What we need is law and order – basic ground rules to make sense of them all. Why? Because development has been like the wild west in downtown Toronto for some time now.”

“Frankly, most developers that I know, they want rules too because no one knows what anything is worth anymore. No one knows if they can build 20 stories or 100 stories and that skews land assembly values'” he said.

Noting, “The truth is, only in the last 2 years has the City been invigorated by a new a great new head of Urban Design, a good Chief Planner as well as the Deputy City Manager is giving them support.

They've been emasculated for years.” he said.

Casey House controversy

As for the challengers blaming Kristyn Wong-Tam for not doing enough to protect Casey House (a hospice for those living with HIV/AIDS).

In a telephone interview, Executive Officer of Casey House, Stephanie Karapita, explained, “We have an elongated property, with one of the original mansions on Jarvis St at the front. On the back of our property, it's a smaller building known as 'The Coach House'” which needed to be removed to allow a new facility to be built.

Ms. Karapita continued to explain, “What we want to do is build a multi-purpose healthcare building [attached to one of the original mansions on Jarvis Street] to provide HIV care for the increasing number of people with HIV/AIDS in Toronto.”

Casey House has had a number of discussions with people wanting to talk about the removal of this building, and after the community's input, the non-profit organization independently went through the formal process at City Hall, primarily with the Planning Department.

The councillor was reportedly aware of this all the way through the process and supported Casey House only when requested, with the local resident's association reportedly very supportive.

Ms. Karapita explained, “The new model of care builds on our the efficacy of our current patient and in-care programs, and adds a “day health program”, so we are able to care for more people, and contribute to the overall healthcare system by keeping patients out of emergency departments and out of in-patient care.”

Indeed, it seems some candidates were pandering to the opponents of Kristyn Wong-Tam, but their anger is a rouse and misdirected.

Instead, if they must be angry at someone, it's Casey House acting in good faith and doing what they saw fit with their own property.

If indeed the whiners need a place to whine, at least be accurate. Booo!

Conclusion:

While all candidates were worthy candidates to take to take part in Canadian democracy, I say “thank you” for the active interest you've shown in your community. Your name will be forever in Toronto electoral history for whatever ward you live in. You are a someone now! Yay!

Yet, after a thorough talk n' walk around town, there's no doubt in my mind that Ms. Wong-Tam is doing a job that far exceeds what anyone could've anticipated back in 2010, and has earned the right to serve as Councillor in Ward 27 for another term.

Please consider her candidacy. Do not be scared of her ethnicity.

After all, Asians aren't here to overthrow us. They are a people here just like us all, wanting to happily co-exist with families and to be part of Canadian society with opportunity, rights and responsibilities!

~


Candidate platforms in Ward 27 * http://www.positionprimer.ca/

===

Alain Damours:   www.alaindamours.ca

Benjamin Dichter: http://www.benjamindichter.com

Megan McIver: http://www.meganmciver.ca/meet_megan

Jordan Stone: http://www.jordanstone27.com/

Rob Wolvin: www.robwolvin.ca

Kristyn Wong-Tam: http://www.kristynwongtam.ca/


* Candidates not in attendance: David Byford, Susan Humfryes Kamal Ahmed