Canada25 Mayoral Debate Highlights Next Generation's Vision for Toronto

TORONTO, October 2, 2003 - On Wednesday night all five leading mayoral candidates faced off at a debate organized by Canada25 with the support of the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management. Over 300 people filled the Rotman auditorium to hear Barbara Hall, John Tory, John Nunziata, David Miller, and Tom Jakobek discuss their plans to revitalize the city of Toronto if they become Mayor.

The underlying theme of the debate was how to create a great, global city, as described in Canada25’s report Building Up: Making Canada's Cities Magnets for Talent and Engines of Development. “We organized this debate because we wanted to hear the candidates’ ideas about building a city that reflects Canada25’s vision for a great Canadian city, a vision that includes density, diversity, and discovery,” said Sean Martin, a Canada25 member and Coordinator of the debate.

The candidates often disagreed on how to build such as city. Miller advocated removing the Gardiner expressway between Yonge and the Don River, while Nunziata argued that the city has more pressing problems to be addressed, such as homelessness.

The event also provided an opportunity for many young Torontonians to hear how the leading mayoral candidates would address the issues important to them. “The debate fit well with Canada25’s mission to bring the voices and ideas of Canadians, aged 20-35, to the public policy discourse,” said Andrew Medd, Executive Director of Canada25. “My hope is that the candidates come away from this event with an understanding of what is important to the members of Canada25 and other young Torontonians, and the contributions they can and want to make towards improving our city”.

Candidates clearly heard this message. Jakobek advocated “investing now for the future”, while Tory addressed the group by saying, "thank you for holding us to account".

Canada25 was founded in 2000 by six recent university graduates, and has grown to over 1,000 members across the country and around the world. Canada25 has created a vehicle for young Canadians to become involved in the national debate on the important public policy challenges facing the country, and provided an opportunity for young Canadians across the country to take action on issues of local and national significance.

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