On Wednesday, August 19, nearly 200 people watched contenders for the Beaches-East York federal seat face off over Toronto’s top issues of housing and affordability at a candidates’ debate held at Calvary Baptist Church on Main.
The event was co-hosted by Daily Bread Food Bank and the church, which is home to Calvary Grace Food Bank. Centre 55 Executive Director Reza Khoshdel served as moderator.
Participating candidates were:
Jim Syrbos, Conservative Party of Canada, was invited but declined to come.
This debate brought issues of poverty and food insecurity front and centre at a time when food bank use is at historic highs.
“No one should have to turn to a food bank to meet their basic needs,” said Sahar Raza, VP of Research and Advocacy at Daily Bread Food Bank, during opening remarks. “So that is why today’s conversation is so important. Because frankly food insecurity is not about food. It’s about housing being unaffordable, it’s about incomes not keeping pace with the cost of living, and it’s about jobs not being stable and being quite precarious. Ultimately, every food bank visit is a policy failure.”
Candidates fielded questions on income security, affordable housing and more before diving into a rapid-fire segment when they quickly answered whether or not they agreed with a list of position statements. They then had the opportunity to pose questions to each other, respond to questions from the audience and give closing statements before ending the debate. View the full recap here:
Candidates from political parties that have at least one member in the legislature were invited to speak at the debate. Cameron Thomas of the Canadian Future Party and Michel Lachance, People’s Party of Canada, were in attendance and had their opening speeches read by the moderator before the debate kicked off.
We are so thankful to Calvary Baptist Church on Main, moderator Reza Khoshdel, candidates and attendees for such an engaged event. The by-election is on August 31 — make your voice heard and vote!
