Q: Can you tell our readers a little about yourself?
I’ve always lived in Scarborough, and I went to an arts high school actually. I did a little bit of performing arts. I was always fascinated with politics and then decided to go to Ryerson for political science. I really enjoyed it there, I loved being at Ryerson and then after university I just found that the job market was so dry, why not try my hand at politics?
Especially this year, with the mayoral race being in such shambles, with Rob Ford and all the other candidates running I just thought it would be a good time to run for Mayor.
Q: So was the job market the main reason you wanted to run or are there other factors?
I mean defiantly the job market played a part in me running for mayor. The thing is I’ve always loved politics and I always thought I was good with words and having that politics background and loving the city I’m from I thought I could make a difference.
I just think I’m a fresh face to politics everyone else is all the same out there and why not try something different this year?
Q: What do you hope to achieve if you’re elected as mayor?
My main goal is to just create better infrastructure in the city of Toronto. In the 60s and 70s the TTC was a world leader in pubic transit, [but the system has] just pretty much stayed [the same].
We need to get more infrastructure, we need more lines, we need a line up to the airport for sure.
I’ve been to a lot of different cities around the world and if we want to call ourselves a world class city we need to be able to get patrons out to the airport.
The way I want to fund this is a toll for non-GTA cars coming into the city of Toronto. So during business hours we’ll toll cars that use our infrastructure.
Some people have a problem with this outside of the city, but I think we pay higher property tax here we pay more tax than them, why not just tax them a little bit.
The roads that they are driving on currently and the infrastructure we live in will be better.
Q: How did your time at Ryerson affect your political aspirations?
The one thing with Ryerson, I absolutely loved going there. Small class rooms, professors were excellent, always available to talk.
We really had a hands on approach to politics, I mean I never went to another university so I don’t know the way that they do it.
But every professor, if you had a question it wasn’t a stupid question. I think they really guided you in finding out politics for yourself.
If you were more conservative, or more a liberal there was always a different view point you could kind of go towards.
Just going to school in the city changes your whole perspective. It’s totally different than going to a university such as Laurier, Waterloo, Western, Ottawa they are all contained little ecosystems in a city whereas Ryerson is just everywhere.
Q: What are your thoughts on Rob Ford?
*laughs* I mean he does all the talking for himself right? He shoots himself in the foot every single moment he opens his mouth. Another reason why I want to run is because in the end the mayor for me is figure head, [the mayor] represents the city because you need so much funding from the federal and provincial government
He has totally made a mockery of the city of Toronto. To do all these publicity stunts he is very selfish.
Obviously my initiative, and all the other candidates [initiative], is to become mayor.
Of course that’s a little selfish because you think you can do it yourself, but the way he has presented the city is very slobbish and totally out of context for what Toronto has to offer.
The biggest thing I can’t stand is he won’t even go to Gay Pride, If your a fiscal mayor and care about the economics of the city, you need to realize that the Gay Pride parade brings in millions of dollars every single year. If you’re talking about trying to find more money for the city of Toronto or saving money that is a huge revenue boost you are totally ignoring.
When I think about the candidates running I think about John Tory, Olivia Chow, Karen Stintz, David Soknacki and me, I don’t even think about him.
*** This Interview has been condensed and edited for clarity ***
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