Newmarket’s Ward 4 candidates debated how to best help Newmarket Heights as the community grapples with evictions and high housing prices.
The Newmarket Heights Stronger Together Steering Group hosted incumbent Trevor Morrison, plus challengers Chris Dupee and Grant Waddell for an all-candidate debate online Oct. 17. Candidates fielded questions on the plights of the community, including housing, affordability and evictions.
Moderator Jennifer Lam said talking about the area's problems would extend well beyond the debate itself.
“The questions and the conversations are not going to end, what with COVID, with all of our residents having gone through difficulty over the last four years,” she said.
The steering group is made up of community members and organizations working to address community issues under the umbrella of the regional community safety and well-being plan. Newmarket Heights is one of the focus areas of the plan, with mental well-being and housing rights as key focus areas. The group has started providing information on tenants rights as many face the threat of eviction due in part to high housing prices.
Candidates were asked several questions about addressing the challenges facing Newmarket Heights.
“Walking during the campaign, I see people that are basically almost homeless. They’re basically coming down to food or rent,” Waddell said, adding that change is needed. “Whether it’s more affordable housing, giving landlords a break on their property taxes for rent, a lot of different things can happen … We have to stop the hopelessness.”
“We got to get creative here,” Dupee said, floating the idea of a grace period for tenants to find a place. “I have no idea what we can demand, what the powers of the town could be … I look forward to working with community advocates and implementing some of their ideas moving forward.”
Morrison referenced the community safety and well-being plan and the efforts underway through it to address problems.
“If this was a simple solution, it would have been fixed already," he said. "I’m in this for the long haul. Five, 10, 15 years, whatever it takes. The residents of Newmarket Heights want change.”
The debate did have a moment of critique. Lam asked a question specific to Trevor Morrison, from a resident who felt that Morrison had not delivered much from his first election campaign in 2018. They asked why this time would be different.
Morrison responded that he has been working on things in the background, including connecting with organizations for the community safety and well-being plan. He said events he wanted to hold like ward meetings were hurt by the pandemic.
“I feel, personally, a little shortchanged that I didn’t have the opportunity to host and have a lot of events that I would like to have done,” Morrison said. “I really do hate blaming things on COVID, but it did put a lot of constraints on us in terms of being able to get out."
“I don’t know if it’s me, I just heard excuses,” Dupee said at his next opportunity to speak. “People are getting evicted, COVID or not. Real-world problems are still happening.”
Dupee was cut off by Lam and asked to address a question regarding evictions.
The Affordable Housing Coalition of York Region, one of the groups that make up the steering committee, asked all candidates to commit to communicating and educating landlords and tenants, which all agreed to.
Morrison said he will be able to do more of the events he wanted to if re-elected. He also floated starting up a neighbourhood watch group.
“If re-elected, I’m more than willing to get these events going on,” Morrison said. “To have them move along really fast, and a lot of that really has to do (with) just being accessible. I’m basically here all the time."
Dupee said much of the community is disengaged and that he would work to address that.
“You can depend on me,” Dupee said. “I’ve got you, and I can depend on you ... I want to work with you for four years straight, not every four years.”
Waddell indicated he would work to keep property taxes down in the wake of a difficult budget to come. He further said the stigma of Newmarket Heights is wrong.
“Newmarket Heights is a special place for me … My only job is working for you. I will be there 24-7. I won’t wait for your call. I’ll already be there.”
You can view the full debate through a recording posted on the area Facebook group.
