Making Toronto a world-class city

Mayoral candidate John Nunziata tackles crime and culture in his election campaign

The promotion of Toronto as a "city of festivals" is a significant element in John Nunziata's campaign to become the city's next mayor. In an interview with Tandem, Nunziata outlined his campaign platform and illustrated the principal points in his political program.
"Our city has numerous cultural and tourist attractions but are seldom known worldwide," he said.
Nunziata pledges to create an office strictly dedicated to promoting Toronto's many cultural and artistic celebrations. He said the committee would work in conjunction with the mayor's office and would be responsible for marketing the city as a prime multicultural destination.
The mayoral hopeful argued that at this moment the city is spending millions of dollars to market venues such as the CN Tower and Casa Loma. However, Nunziata said what needs to be marketed is Toronto's true essence, its multicultural heritage.
To this end, Nunziata said cultural events such as Caribana and A Taste of Danforth should be promoted in places like the Caribbean, the U.S. and Greece to perhaps encourage reunions between family members.
Speaking in more general terms about his campaign, Nunziata said he is extremely pleased with his campaign so far."We are further ahead then we were initially," he said. "The polls clearly indicate that I have gained a lot of momentum and that this is going to be a race between Barbara Hall and myself."
In recent polling, Nunziata has close to 21 percent of the public's support, a distant second to Barbara Hall's current 47 percent.
Besides promoting Toronto as the centre of multiculturalism, Nunziata is also promising to confront the problem of crime.
"When I announced my campaign in late January I indicated that I would go on a tour to listen to what citizens wanted," he said. "I have spoken to many constituents and law and order is one issue that people in this city are concerned about."
In this respect Nunziata has a model that he says is precise and secure, something along the lines of what ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani implemented during his term. "I subscribe, very strongly, to the Rudolph Giuliani 'broken window' theory of dealing with crime. You go after the graffiti writers, the aggressive panhandlers, the petty criminals," he said. "You send out a message of zero tolerance and you give the police the support they need to do the job they are mandated to do."
Moreover, Nunziata argued "I think the mayor of Toronto has a huge responsibility to speak out on issues that impact the quality of life of citizens-namely policing and how it's done," he said.
Nunziata expressed there is a need to offer police maximum help in order to conduct their duties while serving the public. Also, Nunziata added police should be allowed to use discretion in certain situations such as parking control.
He stated sometimes police officers are subjected to issuing parking tickets during community celebrations or gatherings.
Instead of being strict in these particular situations, Nunziata said police officers can be more flexible in this respect, hence eliminated what he calls "negative aspects of policing".
Toronto's financial difficulties are well known to city residents and Nunziata said a big part of his platform is to offer a sensible way to resolve the city's massive debt, which at this point is in the billions. To eliminate it, Nunziata argued it is necessary to have a good relationship with federal and provincial governments and strive to secure a new deal.
Nunziata is optimistic about this possibility, especially after hearing prospective Liberal leader Paul Martin's pledge to share a portion of the gas tax with municipalities.
He said, either securing a portion of the gas tax or establishing some other mechanism to draw money back to Toronto is necessary, primarily because city taxpayers send $7.9 billion more a year to Ottawa than they get back in services and programmes.
In addition, Nunziata said this situation must change and Toronto must work harder to get its own house in order.
To improve the rapport between Toronto and the other two levels of government, Nunziata proposes the formation of what he calls "the group of 89". More specifically, the group of 89 would consist of 22 federal MP's, 22 provincial MPP's and the Mayor of Toronto.
The purpose of this collective, Nunziata added, would be to formulate a strategy for the city in which all respective parties would execute a decided plan.
To ensure accountability, he would even go as far as to publish, via the Internet, each member's contribution or level of participation.
Nunziata stressed that a plan to revitalize Canadian cities is a significant responsibility, considering municipalities are economic units that compete globally. He recalls that former American president Bill Clinton recognized this very reality and made financial commitments to boost faltering cities around the country.
In essence, Nunziata said he is certain of one thing: to change things "there is a desperate need for true and proper leadership".

Publication Date: 2003-08-03
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3020