Doug Ford told protesters to “go find a job”
Like what, being a landlord?
Since the province announced it had tabled a bill that would effectively end rent control, Bill 60 has been the subject of consternation, especially in Toronto, where 48 per cent of people rent and 75 per cent of renters believe they’ll never make the move to home ownership.
Earlier this month, Toronto city council voted to voice their opposition to Bill 60 to Premier Doug Ford. “We should ask other municipalities to join us and let us do everything we can to lessen the impact this bill would have on Toronto’s renters, because they deserve fairness,” Mayor Olivia Chow said at a city council meeting. “They deserve civility and security, just like everybody else does.”
Related: Two Toronto tenants were almost evicted for being one cent short of rent
Despite that opposition and plenty more from residents, the province passed the bill yesterday, though it previously walked back ending rent control and indefinite leases. Still, critics say the bill would significantly reduce renters’ rights.
Supporters argue that Bill 60 will incentivize building development at a time when the province urgently needs more housing. “We’re creating balance in the landlord-tenant system, and the bottom line is, we’re creating more affordable units for people to buy because we are creating more supply,” Housing Minister Rob Flack told the CBC.
Sympathetic as always to the basic needs of others, Premier Ford responded to protesters in the Queen’s Park public gallery by telling them to “go find a job.”
Is the ad agency that made Ford’s trade-negotiation-halting commercial hiring, by chance?
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
