After a decade of drift and decline, the city that was safe and once worked for everyone is slipping further into disorder. Streets feel less safe. Parks are no longer a place where kids can play freely or citizens can enjoy a peaceful day under a tree. Needles, break-ins, random violence, car theft, illegal protests and petty crime have now become part of Toronto’s daily reality.
In 2024, Toronto recorded 86 homicides, up from 73 the year before, and 461 shooting incidents, a staggering 33% increase. The TTC has seen violent attacks on riders, shelters spilling into parks, and 911 response times grow longer each month.
Toronto’s decade of decline lays bare a broken city that focuses on studies more than action, with no results.
Toronto must once again become the safest large city in Canada.
In the next election, ABC Toronto will support candidates for council and mayor who promise to restore safety and confidence on our streets by investing in law enforcement and putting Visible Police Where They Matter Most:
- Dedicated TTC patrol units during rush hours and during major events at major transfer hubs including, Union, Bloor–Yonge, Finch, Eglinton, Kennedy, Kipling, and St. George as well as rotating patrols in known problem areas and routes.
- Increased foot patrols in high-traffic public areas such as around Union Stations, Yonge–Dundas, Queen & Spadina, Harbourfront, the Danforth, Parkdale.
- Smarter traffic officer deployment at major congestion points. A new major investment needs to be made into traffic wardens and that they be deployed in a smarter and more timely way during rush hour and major events to get the City moving.
- Expanded park patrol units to keep community spaces safe. Parks are the backyards for those who don’t have them. Torontonians deserve safe and clean parks that have expanded patrols to lessen petty crime, reduce encampments, and to protect monuments, facilities and nature.
- Massive expansion of new police hires to staff these targeted patrols and to bolster the ranks of the main force to reduce response times. As a percentage of the population, Toronto police-to-citizen ratio is the lowest of any other major city in Canada. Toronto needs to lead the way and embark upon an aggressive recruiting campaign to build the ranks of the police and restore safety to the City of Toronto.
Visible policing deters crime, reassures residents, and restores order to our public spaces. A city that feels safe is a city that works.
Toronto can be safe again. It can be clean again. But it can’t happen with the same old leadership and the same old excuses.