Austin Vieira

Yes. We must encourage gentle density, such as duplexes, triplexes, and garden suites, to add missing-middle housing across neighbourhoods. However, this infill must be balanced with community input to respect local character and ensure public services and infrastructure can support growth.

Yes, with compassion. If an offered space meets all safety, accessibility, and household needs, moving indoors is best. The focus must stay on dignity, social supports, and permanent housing—not criminalization.

No. User fees and tolls place an unfair financial burden on working families and low-income commuters. Essential transit and road upgrades must be funded progressively by ensuring major developers pay their fair share, rather than charging residents more to move around the city.

Toronto should not defer maintenance. Infrastructure must be repaired by raising revenue locally—specifically by ensuring developers pay their fair share and utilizing modest adjustments to protect essential community services.

Publishing project-level budgets, timelines, and updates ensures municipal accountability. Residents deserve transparency when billions are spent on transit and housing. Clear reporting curbs costly delays and guarantees tax dollars directly strengthen neighborhoods.

Investing in mental-health response, addiction treatment, and youth intervention addresses root causes of distress with care rather than criminalization. Expanding crisis teams saves lives, connects vulnerable residents to care, and keeps communities safe without unnecessary police enforcement.

Keeping the police budget stable after inflation maintains essential services while preventing unnecessary cost escalations. This balanced approach protects core policing capabilities while allowing the city to focus new on community crisis teams, youth outreach, and vital public infrastructure.

Permitting surveillance tools only under strict citywide limits balances public safety with civil liberties. Enforcing clear rules on data retention, access, mandatory auditing, and sharing prevents overreach, protects resident privacy, and ensures technology serves the public interest responsibly.

Prioritizing frequent, reliable service on existing routes directly supports daily commuters and essential workers. Investing in dependable transit cuts emissions, eases crowding, and immediately improves neighborhood livability rather than making riders wait years for expansion lines.

Prioritizing transit, walking, and cycling maximizes passenger capacity and cuts emissions, making streets safer and greener. However, emergency vehicles and essential access must remain non-negotiable priorities alongside sustainable transit to ensure community safety is never compromised.

Publicly building and financing deeply affordable and supportive housing tackles Toronto's crisis at its root. Direct public investment ensures homes remain permanently accessible for low-income earners, seniors, and vulnerable residents rather than relying solely on market-rate development.

Toronto must partner and finance by leveraging underutilized city-owned land, funding, and incentives for non-profits, while also building publicly. Direct investment and smart land use ensure deeply affordable and supportive housing remains permanently accessible.

Concentrating density along major corridors and transit hubs optimizes existing infrastructure, cuts emissions, and connects residents directly to transit. This approach unlocks underutilized land for affordable housing while protecting local green spaces and neighborhood integrity

Expanding as-of-right zoning and pre-approved plans speeds up missing-middle construction without giving tax breaks to developers. Streamlining routine permits cuts costly bureaucracy while ensuring developers still pay their fair share to fund local parks, transit, and infrastructure.

Strengthening project management, procurement, and contracting enforces strict accountability on private vendors. Holding contractors to high delivery standards prevents costly overruns and delays, ensuring public funds build reliable transit, housing, and infrastructure on time.

Expanding permanent city staff and direct delivery protects public accountability and service quality. Investing directly in municipal workers ensures dedicated, reliable delivery of transit, childcare, and park maintenance focused on community well-being rather than private profit margins.

Aligning tax revenues with inflation and population growth protects vital services like transit, childcare, and parks without placing an unfair burden on families facing high living costs. Major new growth must be funded equitably by ensuring private developers pay their fair share.

Relying on growth and transaction revenue ensures private developers and real-estate investors pay their fair share to fund municipal growth. This shields working families from regressive user fees or heavy tax hikes while directly funding parks, transit, and affordable housing.

Establishing a dedicated revenue source ensures roads, transit, and community facilities are properly repaired without cutting essential services or selling off public assets. Targeting funds directly to maintenance protects local infrastructure while keeping growth sustainable and equitable.

Public advocacy for a new fiscal deal and greater municipal authority ensures Toronto secures the funding it deserves. Pushing for fair provincial investment and revenue tools protects local decision-making and delivers the funding needed for transit, shelter, and vital infrastructure.

Strong mayor powers fundamentally undermine local democracy and bypass the collective voice of elected representatives. Key municipal choices—from housing to city budgets—must be forged through democratic council debate and consensus, ensuring every neighborhood has a meaningful say in city hall.

Prioritizing core services protects the daily essentials residents rely on—reliable TTC transit, safe roads, vibrant parks, and clean neighborhoods. Focusing on robust local infrastructure ensures our ward remains livable, connected, and supportive of working families as our city grows.

Success means delivering deeply affordable, supportive, and missing-middle homes so families and seniors can stay. Voters should assess my performance by our progress in leveraging public land, non-profit partnerships, and building homes that serve real community needs.

Expanding protected bike lanes directly cuts emissions, protects cyclists, and builds a safer, greener Toronto. Reallocating road space where viable connects our cycling network and encourages active transit, while smart, practical design ensures local businesses and transit routes thrive.

Protecting peaceful assembly must be balanced with clear, evidence-based limits that maintain access to hospitals and transit. Defensible rules on locations and routes safeguard fundamental Charter rights while ensuring vital community services and emergency access remain uninterrupted.

Investing in internal operations gives our municipal workforce the modern tools needed to deliver reliable public services. Upgrading procurement and staffing systems strengthens direct public delivery, eliminates administrative bottlenecks, and stops private contractor waste.

Closing budget gaps requires raising revenue equitable, making private developers and wealthy speculators pay their fair share. Generating sustainable public revenue protects frontline union jobs, safeguards essential community services, and stops austerity from hurting working families.

A thriving economy requires strong public fundamentals. Investing in affordable housing, reliable transit, and safe streets ensures workers can live and commute affordably, creating the stable, vibrant environment local businesses need to succeed.

Major employers and investment come to cities that work. Investing in affordable housing, dependable transit, safe streets, and strong public services creates the high quality of life and reliable workforce needed to attract lasting economic opportunities to Toronto.

Expanding apprenticeships, union training, and credential recognition builds the skilled workforce Toronto needs. Investing directly in working people creates well-paying careers, fills critical labour shortages, and ensures local infrastructure is built safely to the highest standards.

Getting the basics right means investing directly in frontline municipal workers to keep streets clean, roads repaired, sidewalks clear, and park washrooms open. Prioritizing routine maintenance ensures safe, reliable public spaces in every neighbourhood across our city.

Protecting grassroots music venues, galleries, and rehearsal spaces from speculative condo redevelopment preserves the heart of Toronto’s culture. Using municipal planning tools to stop artist displacement ensures vibrant, working-class creative communities aren't priced out.

If autonomous taxis operate in Toronto, they must meet strict service obligations. Mandating wheelchair accessibility, equitable suburban coverage, and minimum service standards stops private operators from cherry-picking routes and ensures mobility remains accessible to all residents.