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Dear neighbour, This is a photo of Jonah, holding his two-year-old son Hendrix on a TTC train. Hendrix loves trains. Jonah died of an overdose on June 2, 2024. Hendrix lost his dad. Katherine McCloskey lost her son. Jonah’s mother, Katherine, spoke about her son at a press conference we hosted in Queen’s Park in September, where she said: “I could not protect my adult son Jonah from being killed by Toronto’s toxic drug supply, but the Conservative government can choose to protect some of this province’s most vulnerable sons and daughters.” The Conservatives are not listening to Katherine’s plea. The government has just introduced a law to close 10 consumption and treatment sites by March 2025, and ban new sites from opening anywhere in Ontario. The CTS site in Kensington on Augusta Ave is one of the 10 sites slated to close. CTS are rooms where individuals can inject their own drugs, under the watchful eye of a nurse or health care worker who can revive them if they overdose. These sites can help people get access to health care and care, from a doctor’s appointment to getting on a wait list for supportive housing. They offer a lifeline to people who are struggling to survive. Every day 21 people die of a drug overdose in Canada. Every day, 17 people are hospitalized, putting strain on our emergency departments and hospitals. When someone overdoses, oxygen to the brain is reduced, which can lead to permanent brain damage. Without a safe place to use drugs, more people will die, sons, fathers, daughters, people like Jonah. When consumption and treatment sites close, the problem of addiction will not go away. People will take drugs elsewhere, in washrooms, in front of businesses, in school yards. The entire neighborhood becomes a consumption site. The Conservatives say they’ll set up 10 abstinence treatment centers to help some people struggling with addiction. An abstinence-only approach is as dangerous as instructing a drowning person on how to swim, instead of throwing them a life jacket. Why are the Conservatives taking such a dangerous approach to addressing addiction? I think it’s because an election is coming up, and the Conservatives secure votes by targeting vulnerable people instead of showing leadership and addressing the crisis of addiction. The truth is the Ontario government can and must meet people where they’re at by keeping them alive and protecting them from dying from an overdose. The truth is Ontario can and must provide more treatment, health care, counseling, and housing to help people recover and rebuild their lives, and work to prevent people from becoming addicted in the first place. I will be speaking to the bill in the coming days. Please send me statements you’d like me to read. Sign up to speak or submit written comments here. Sincerely,
Jessica Bell |
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Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against WomenNovember 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the beginning of 16 Days of Activism to raise awareness about gender-based violence (GBV), including intimate partner violence (IPV). On average, every six days, a woman or child loses their life due to GBV in Ontario. Black, South Asian, and Southeast Asian women and girls continue to experience higher rates of violence. Last April, we made history by convincing the Ontario government to support a bill declaring IPV an epidemic. But since then, progress has stalled. On the first day of the Fall session this year, a simple motion to pass the bill was voted down. Every day of inaction puts lives at risk. Nearly 100 municipalities have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic, and provinces like Nova Scotia and British Columbia are leading the charge. Ontario needs to catch up. This November 25, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we’re calling on the Ford Conservatives to declare IPV an epidemic. Lives depend on it. I invite you to a vigil in support of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence on the lawn of Queen’s Park at 6 p.m. tonight. Watch my statement here: https://x.com/JessicaBellTO/status/1861095609098252608 |
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Reminder: Submissions for my member's statement writing competition due December 1I am inviting all local high school students to participate in the University—Rosedale Member’s Statement Writing Competition. Participants can submit a written statement on a topic they feel passionate about, modelled off of the statements MPPs present in the legislature at Queen’s Park. The winner and their family will be invited to Queen's Park to watch me read the winning submission in the legislature. Eligibility
Submission and Deadline Your statement must be 60 seconds when read aloud (approximately 140 words). Participants must email a PDF copy of their statement and a completed participation form to [email protected] with the subject line: Member’s Statement Writing Competition. DEADLINE: December 1 DOWNLOAD PARTICIPATION FORM HERE The winning submission will be read in the legislature on December 12, 2024. |
Ford’s anti-bike lane bill went to committee. Here’s what happened.Last week, the Conservative government’s anti-bike lane bill 212 went to committee. During the full day of hearings, the Conservatives failed to produce a shred of evidence to justify its argument that bike lanes cause traffic congestion. Instead we heard a very different story. Bike lanes save lives. Bike lanes help ease congestion by giving people more transportation options. They help support main street economies, and they help us reach our climate goals. At the eleventh hour, the Conservatives introduced an eleven-page amendment to shield themselves from lawsuits around the removal of bike lanes, and gave themselves powers to retroactively remove bike lanes that have already been built. Today, bill 212 passed third reading without further debate. Our fight is not over. Please continue to check this newsletter for actions you can take to join us. I want to thank Cycle Toronto, Friends and Families for Safe Streets, the Bloor Annex Business Improvement Association, Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition, the Association for Municipalities of Ontario, and the City of Toronto for coming to Queen’s Park to speak. I also want to thank the many thousands of you who have called and emailed our office voicing opposition to this bill. |
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NDP joins housing advocates urging Ford Conservatives to invest in affordable and supportive housingOn November 21, ahead of National Housing Day, the Ontario NDP joined more than 100 housing advocates and providers to send a clear message to the Conservative government: invest in affordable and supportive housing now. One of those advocates was Lin Sallay, Executive Director of Street Health. Every day, Street Health supports 100 to 150 people who are homeless, living in poverty and struggling with addiction. Due to the eight-10 year long waitlist for affordable housing and the higher needs of Street Health clients, most never find permanent housing. Everyone deserves a safe, affordable home, and that includes supportive housing. During Question Period, I called on the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to properly invest in supportive homes so no one is stuck waiting years for a home that might never come. |
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New reports show the Conservatives are failing on housingA new November report from the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) revealed that housing starts in Ontario have dropped by 16.9% from last year, with the province now averaging just two-thirds of its homebuilding target. To meet the goal of 1.5 million homes by 2031, Ontario would need to increase its housing starts by 74%. The Alliance for a Liveable Ontario (ALO) also gave the Conservatives a failing grade in their report released on November 18. The Conservatives’ abysmal housing record makes it clear that housing is no longer a priority for the Ford government. To change course the ALO is calling on the Ontario government to:
The Ontario NDP agrees and as your next provincial government we will do exactly that. |
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Big Canadian landlords are using price fixing software to charge sky high rentsOn November 1, I wrote a letter calling on the Competition Bureau to investigate the use of rent-fixing software by corporate landlords in Canada. A recent CBC investigation found that so-called rent-fixing software first seen in the U.S., such as YieldStar, has likely been used by corporate landlords in Canada to collude on setting rent levels and artificially inflate rent prices. Earlier this year the FBI investigated U.S. landlord’s use of YieldStar for price-fixing, and the U.S. Department of Justice has since launched a lawsuit to end the software’s use. People are being forced to leave their communities because decent, affordable homes are increasingly out of reach. In my public letter to Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell, I called for the following measures:
To effectively fight rent gouging, Ontario needs stricter rent control laws like vacancy control. Download, print and add your name to our petition to bring back vacancy control in Ontario and stop landlords from hiking rents between tenants. |
NDP introduces bill to tackle court delays and help people access justiceOn November 19, NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam (Toronto Centre) introduced the Fixing the Tribunals Ontario Backlogs Act, 2024 to tackle critical delays in Ontario’s court system. According to data from Tribunal Watch, the Landlord and Tenant Board has over 53,000 cases outstanding, and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has over 9527 cases outstanding. These backlogs deny people the access to timely justice they deserve. If passed, our bill will take political interference out of Tribunal appointments, and invest in expanded legal aid, in-person hearings, and duty counsel to deliver accelerated access to justice. This bill gives the government a focused, non-partisan roadmap to clear the tribunals' backlog and improve the justice system. To support this bill, you can sign MPP Wong-Tam’s petition here: https://www.kristynwongtam.ca/access-to-justice. Have you been waiting too long for a Tribunal hearing? Email our office at [email protected] or call 416-535-7206. |
Ontario’s pre-budget consultations are in full swingThe Ontario budget is the most important piece of legislation passed all year. There are multiple ways to participate, including attending a meeting in-person or by Zoom and/or submitting written material. There will be an in person hearing in Toronto on January 29, 2025. The deadline to appear is January 17 at 5 pm. You may request to appear in any meeting and are not limited to the city in which you reside. Meetings will be taking place in the following locations on the following dates:
You can request to participate in the pre-budget consultation by signing up for committee here: https://www.ola.org/en/apply-committees. The deadline to request to submit written material February 5, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. (EST). |