BARBARA HALL
The current front-runner of the race, Barbara Hall was mayor of the old, pre-amalgamated Toronto from 1994 until 1997. She lost to Mel Lastman in the 1997 election. Before being elected as mayor, Hall was a city councillor for nine years. Prior to her life in public politics, she ran a general law practice. A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, Hall has become a recognized expert on urban issues. She served as chair of the National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention from 1997-2002, where she led a nation-wide campaign to reduce crime and make communities safer and healthier. Hall lives in Cabbagetown with her husband Max.
Hall’s policy includes an “Arts Alive Campaign” to revitalize arts and culture in Toronto and a promise to plant one million new trees before the end of her term as mayor. She plans to improve transit and freeze transit fares, implement an energy action plan to protect consumers and the environment in making Toronto a cleaner and healthier city, and establish a public task force that will report to City Council. Her plans also include increasing the supply of permanent and affordable housing in the city to help deal with homelessness, instituting the toughest ethical standards in North America, making Toronto the safest big city in North America, and implementing “Clean-Sweep Toronto: Getting Tough on Litter and Graffiti.”
TOM JAKOBEK
Formerly Toronto’s budget chief, Tom Jakobek is the underdog of the current race, trailing at the polls. Previously a city councillor and a TTC commissioner, Jakobek took a break from politics in 2000 to pursue his interest in health-care. During this time he served as vice-president of Business and Facility Development at the Toronto East General Hospital and graduated from U of T with a Masters in Health Sciences (the only candidate without a law degree). Jakobek lives in The Beaches with his wife, Deborah, and four children.
Jakobek’s policy centers around a new financial plan to restructure the city’s finances and bring a zero tax increase. He also plans to improve Toronto’s air quality, create a specialized “Services for Elderly Persons Office” at City Hall to aid the baby boomer’s ascent into old age, implement an educational tax rebate for seniors, hire more summer students, improve the TTC by focusing on the people using the existing transit system, ensure that homeless people are getting the medical and social support they need, restructure the ownership of Toronto’s waterfront to a single ownership structure, and increase park and green space. He hopes to find more funding for maintenance and restoration of historical buildings and monuments, increase arts funding with a plan that will require almost $100 million, support for small businesses, and make the safety of women and children a priority.
DAVID MILLER
The other left-leaning candidate in the race to challenge Hall, David Miller is currently a west-end city councillor. Miller is known for exposing the MFP computer leasing scandal. He stands out among the candidates because of his strong opposition to the expansion of the city’s island airport. A graduate of U of T’s Faculty of Law, Miller was a partner at the prominent Toronto law firm Aird & Berlis before entering politics. Miller lives in High Park with his wife and two young children.
Miller’s policy includes protecting the city’s neighbourhoods and fostering an open, honest, and accountable government through the creation of an Annual Mayor’s Report. He plans to bring a greater share of provincial and federal taxes to the city, restore the TTC, promote equity and support Toronto’s diversity, strengthen the city’s investment in the arts and make it more film-friendly, increase funding for the arts by way of a hotel levy, establish a mayor’s council on arts and culture, create a “cultural metropass,” and implement a “Clean City” plan.
JOHN NUNZIATA
Former Member of Parliament John Nunziata is on the right side of centre.
A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, Nunziata has served on the finance, industry, and justice standing committees of the House of Commons. He’s known for standing up to Prime Minister Chrétien in 1996 over the Liberals’ failure to keep their promise to eliminate GST and subsequently leaving the Liberal Caucus to serve as an independent. After leaving federal politics in 2000, he joined Mandrake, a leading Toronto-based consulting firm. Nunziata lives in Toronto with his wife, Caroline, and three children.
Nunziata’s policy centers around a “Getting Toronto Moving Again” plan, which includes a commitment to freeze taxes, reducing the size of the City Hall bureaucracy, conducting a top-to-bottom review of all city spending using a zero-based budgeting approach and bringing tourists back to Toronto. He also wants to further the growth of the film and television industries, add 400 new police officers, expand the subway lines to York University and Pearson International Airport and clean up communities and parks. Nunziata also suggests transforming Ontario Place into Toronto’s new focal point, promoting Toronto as the “city of festivals,” and helping homeless people.
JOHN TORY
A long time Conservative, John Tory was President and CEO of Rogers Cable until he launched his mayoral bid earlier this year. Yet another graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, Tory has also worked as a reporter, interviewer, and newscaster for two local radio stations. Tory has a plethora of community volunteer involvement to his credit, including work with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, acting as Vice-Chair of the Canadian Film Centre, and his position as Chairman of the Board of the Canadian Football League. Tory lives on Bloor Street East with his wife, Barbara, and has four children.
Tory’s policy includes a commitment to the values of tolerance and caring and more action and less talk to fight for a safer Toronto. He plans to clean up the city’s finances and achieve a freeze on property taxes, continue waste reduction and improve recycling, confront the homelessness issue, create a regional body to oversee transit and traffic planning, achieve an open and accountable City Hall, improve affordability and accessibility of public spaces, and better equip city police. He hopes to use city festivals Pride Week and Caribana to help the city recover from SARS with support from all three levels of government, reallocate existing tax dollars and give the city its fair share, and improve the condition of public schools.
