News Release
2022 Etobicoke Centre (Ward-2) Municipal Election Town Hall Draws a Good Crowd
Last updated: Wednesday Oct 19th, 2022 9:50PM
On Wednesday evening (2022-10-19), the virtual town hall to hear the Etobicoke Centre candidates for councillor in the 2022 Municipal Election drew a good crowd. Over 50 attendees viewed part of the town hall, and over 42 were present for the entire 90 minute meeting.
The town hall was moderated by the Reverend Brian McIntosh. The candidates who were present were Maryam Hashimi, Stephen Holyday (the incumbent), and Thomas Yanuziello. We were unable to contact Catherine Habus. Sam Rufi sent his regrets that he would be unable to attend. Links to each of the candidates websites / Facebook page can be found at The Toronto Election Website.
Following the debate, the moderator, Brian McIntosh, stated “The sponsoring organizations of the Etobicoke Centre Town Hall uphold two key values in our approach to elections: that democracy is the best and fairest way to ensure that the people’s voice is represented in politics, and that voters have an opportunity to become informed about the key issues about which our leaders are asked to make decisions. Now all that’s left to say is to urge people to exercise your hard won franchise, and get out to vote!”
Thomas Yanuziello stated “Toronto is the most multicultural city in the world. We need to embrace our diversity, learn from the successes of our peers around the globe, weave their policy threads into the tapestry of our city, and build the “world-class” Toronto that we all know it can be. So vote for me, Thomas Yanuziello, and as your representative on council, I’ll vote “Yes” for progress.”
Maryam Harshimi stated “From recycling, to the conditions of the roads, to everything in between, our city councillor is the person who affects our day to day lives more than any other level of government. But most people who have those jobs now are just trying to keep their job and win the next election. That’s not the type of thinking that’s going to fix the housing affordability crisis, or climate change or any other pressing issues this city faces. It doesn’t make sense to expect new solutions under the same circumstances. If they could do it, they should’ve done it by now. The reality is, we need to change things up, we need to open the dialogue to include as many different viewpoints as possible so that we stand the best chance at actually improving the lives of people in this city. As an Afghan Canadian woman and the proud daughter of immigrants I have the lived experience of many of the issues this city faces. I’ve dedicated my whole life to advocacy and championing social justice issues. I might not look like the traditional candidate but I think we need to ask ourselves what the traditional candidates, who look so good on paper, do for us now. “
In due course, this news release will be updated to contain a quote from each of the candidates who participated, as they become available.
The video of the event is available below.
Thanks Very Much
ECA – Etobicoke Climate Action
ECULINKS – Ecumenical Links Etobicoke
CECHI – Central Etobicoke Community Hub Initiative