Global News is holding one-on-one interviews with the top seven polling candidates vying to become Toronto’s next mayor on June 26. Candidates were asked to choose an interview location to talk about their policies and campaign promises. Links to each of the interviews can be found below as they are published. Here is more from Josh Matlow in discussion with Global News Anchor Alan Carter.
“This what happens when we work together,” says Toronto mayoral candidate Josh Matlow during a tour of the Regent Theatre on Mount Pleasant.
The defunct movie house is currently in the midst of a major renovation and is slated to become a performing arts space. Matlow has chosen this location for the interview with Global News because he says it shows his collaborative approach.
Working together with others, however, is something Matlow’s detractors say he is incapable of. The maverick city councillor has found himself in heated arguments with many of his council colleagues over his dozen years at city hall.
Recently, Toronto’s integrity commissioner ruled Matlow had violated council’s code of conduct when he posted criticism of city staff on social media.
When asked by Global News about his reputation, Matlow responds that it “comes from my opponents that want you to believe that.”
“When I know something is illegal or wasteful I speak up, and that doesn’t make you friends in politics” he says.
One person that Matlow is not interested in making friends with is Ontario’s premier.
“The way Doug Ford operates is he is a bully,” says Matlow, who claims the “go-along to get-along” approach to dealing with the premier doesn’t work.
Asked how calling the premier a bully will help the city get a much needed financial deal from the province, Matlow doubles down on the insult, and says an election win will give him the mandate he needs.
“First of all it’s factual. Doug Ford needs to know I have 3 million Torontonians behind me.”
In terms of revenue to pay for his promises, Matlow says he would increase property taxes by 2 per cent – an amount, he says, is less than a monthly Netflix subscription.
Matlow would fight to keep the Ontario Science Centre where it is, opposing the provincial plan to relocate it to Ontario Place.
He would also allow drinking in public parks, a move he has championed for years. “I’m not much of a drinker,” he says. “The reality is people are already doing it.”
Like other candidates, Matlow sees a city that is slipping. “It’s less safe, less affordable, and less livable in many ways,” he says.
But Matlow adds, unlike other Toronto mayoral candidates, he’ll you the honest truth, like his take on Toronto’s finances. “Most people don’t know how dire the situation is.”
Asked by Global News what his central pitch is to Toronto voters, Matlow answers, “I will be trustworthy and I will deliver a plan that can be paid for.”
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