TORONTO — Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford spent an hour at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus arguing over who has failed the east end, and how to pay for the fix.The debate, co-hosted by CityNews and the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization, was their second head-to-head of the week. Chris Alexander dropped out of the race Tuesday morning.Bradford opened on the tax bill. He said the past three years brought record money from the province, the highest property-tax increases in the city’s history, and 4.1 million food-bank visits. He said the property-tax bill is up nearly 20%, and that 77,000 people left Toronto last year. “The status quo in this city is not working.”His offer was a property-tax freeze and a line-by-line review he said has not been done since 2011. He said he would scrap the municipal land-transfer tax, which he put at $18,000 back in a buyer’s pocket, and cut the industrial property-tax class by 25%. He put youth unemployment at 17% and said he would deliver 15,000 jobs for young people..Chow said the Scarborough busway is open and saves riders an hour a week, that she froze TTC fares, and that a cap of 10 paid rides a week would save a daily rider almost $1,000. Asked how the city would pay for a universal school lunch after a breakfast program the moderator said cost $31 million last year, she did not name a cut. She said a lunch program would save a family about $2,000 a child, that she has cut the small-business tax by 20%, and that Hitachi and Toyota expansions are bringing jobs to Scarborough.Asked if she rides transit at least eight times a month, Chow said she used to, but cannot anymore. She said she does not have a car, and asked the audience "how do you think I get around?" Bradford cut in to remind her that she has a private driver.On safety, Bradford said Toronto has 165 front-line officers per 100,000 residents, against 220 in Montreal, and that he would hire 1,000 more. He asked why Chow does not sit on the police services board, a seat he said John Tory, David Miller and Mel Lastman all took. She did not give a direct answer. She said Bradford has an endorsement from Conservative MP Scott Aitchison, whom she said opposes a handgun ban, and that gun violence among young people is down 40%. Chow closed by saying the choice is to keep building or go back to cuts. Bradford said the city is not broken, but stuck. “If you want to change the city, you have to change the mayor.”
