By this time next week, let’s hope that Toronto city council has another voice of reason sitting around the table.
Voters in Don Valley West will head to the polls on Monday to elect a new councillor and the person they should be marking the ballot for is Anthony Furey.
Furey is a former colleague at the Toronto Sun, we’ve worked together several times over the years, and I consider him a friend.
That’s not the reason why voters should back Furey in this council byelection. They should vote for him because he is right on the issues that matter most to voters in that area.
“I’m running to bring common sense change to Toronto City Hall for the residents of Don Valley, West and all Torontonians. The city right now is going in the wrong direction on too many key quality of life indicators,” Furey said during a phone call on Thursday.
Furey said that it pains him to hear people say they are leaving the city because things are heading in the wrong direction.
Getting crime, in particular vehicle thefts, under control is a key issue for Furey and he says he wants to get traffic moving again and is promising to respect taxpayers’ money.
Council has taken a jump to the left since the election of Olivia Chow in the mayoral byelection of June 2023. Councillors who were part of Team Tory – flawed as it was – moved quickly to join Chow’s Progress Toronto movement, taking council in a new direction.
Furey, if elected, will bring balance.
Of course, if his main competitor, Rachel Chernos Lin, wins then we should all worry about the direction council will take. Chernos Lin is a long-standing trustee at the Toronto District School Board and has been board chair for the last two years.
Her campaign slogan is “experience matters” but voters would be best to ask what kind of experience she brings.
Under the “leadership” of Chernos Lin, TDSB has had trouble balancing the books despite increased funding from the province at a time of flat enrolment. As board chair it is up to Chernos Lin to provide leadership on matters such as this and she failed.
On top of that, she was part of the push to do away with admissions tests or auditions for the specialty schools within TDSB, a move that saw the education minister send a rebuke. Under the watch of Chernos Lin, the TDSB adopted ever more divisive policies while claiming to be progressive and inclusive.
That’s not the kind of leadership that is needed in Don Valley West.
One of the big issues that Furey says he hears about at the door time and again is crime, in particular vehicle thefts.
“People will stand out in their doorstep, and they’ll point to all the homes, and they’ll say those two had their car stolen. That one was a break in, that one was a smash and grab while the little kids were sitting in the room playing with their toys. We have a serious problem, and we need to get serious about tackling it,” Furey said.
The data published by the Toronto Police Service shows that on a year-to-date basis, auto thefts are down 21.1%. That’s only because last year was so high, 2024 is still the second highest year on record.
So far this year there have been 7,952 cars reported stolen in Toronto. A decade ago, there were 3,628 cars stolen in Toronto in the entirety of 2014. Asked what a city councillor can do to deal with issues like this, Furey points out that Toronto has 500 fewer police officers than we had a decade ago.
We are unlikely to see Chernos Lin support police the way they should be supported — Furey will.
“I want to be a strong advocate for accountability and fiscal responsibility,” he told me.
“I do not support spending all this money and time and staff resources to rename Yonge-Dundas Square. I don’t support these luxury bike lanes, and I’m concerned that projects like the Gardner Expressway repair are taking so long compared to other jurisdictions,” he said.
Anthony Furey is the new voice we need on city council.
If you live in Don Valley West, get out and vote for him. If you don’t live in Don Valley West, do what you can to ensure those you know there cast their ballots for Furey.