The Etobicoke Stake
Why Now
Decades of austerity didn't just strain services—they transferred ownership of Toronto from residents to investors answerable to shareholders, not neighbors. The people who clean, build, and fuel this city are being priced out of the very place they sustain.
We need a different model: one that treats residents not as customers but as co-owners of the city's future. That means redirecting public spending—not as charity, but as investment—to build community wealth from the ground up. It's a structural intervention that puts ownership—of land, of businesses, of decisions—back in the hands of residents invested in Toronto's long-term health and wealth.
The Etobicoke Stake is that vehicle. By channeling the City's $30B+ procurement power through Humber's existing training infrastructure, we can anchor worker ownership, workforce integration, and neighborhood revitalization in one simple, radical idea:
The people who live here should own a stake in what's built here.
How Does This Impact Me?
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My office can't mandate OSAP change, but we can improve your chances for employment—connecting local talent to real projects in North Etobicoke. This is a practical, low-cost way to get training, test new ideas, and deliver value to our community.
You get paid, resume-building work experience close to home. You can test business ideas through programs designed to help you launch cooperatives — not just startups that extract value. You have a pathway to ownership, not just employment.
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If you're a family: When we talk about community wealth, we're talking about your family's bottom line. Your teenagers aren't just hanging out after school — they're gaining real skills through paid placements. Your grocery bill drops because a public, non-profit grocery store prioritizes fair pricing and local sourcing.
If you're a worker: You have a path from survival job to owner-operator. Your workplace can become worker-owned when the owner retires. Your skills build equity, not just wages.
If you're a small business owner: You can team up with other workers to win contracts you couldn't tackle alone. You're not competing with chains — you're building cooperatively.
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If you’re a Mature Caregiver or Established Parents: Many adults in this age bracket find themselves simultaneously parenting and caregiving. Established parents whose children are leaving the nest often want to downsize but are hesitant to lose their connection to a neighborhood or enter a rigid, corporate condo environment. Cooperatives—particularly housing, childcare, and consumer co-ops—serve as a vital "sandwich generation" safety net.
If you’re an Empty Nester on a Budget: Cooperatives significantly lower the cost of living by operating on a non-profit, member-owned model. Because co-ops exist to serve their members rather than generate profit for outside corporate shareholders, they keep money directly in your pockets and promote economic democracy and stability in your neighbourhood. -
If you’re on a fixed income: Community wealth development means lower food prices at our local public grocery store. Beyond lower prices and better spaces, this policy creates local jobs, supports small-scale production, and gives seniors more stability, more dignity, and more opportunities to age in place without being priced out.
If you're a small business owner: You have a pathway to succession that keeps your business local—and it means turning empty commercial space into safe, welcoming hubs that keep value in our community.
If you’re looking for part-time work: We will create Returnships, a paid, structured internship program designed for experienced adults and seniors looking to re-enter the workforce or change careers after an extended career gap.
First 100 Days
Day 30: Work with the City’s youth employment programs to identify the first cohort of the “Commons Crew".
Day 45: Establish a Citizen Developer program at Humber College with Ontario Cooperatives Association to build skills in business and project management, democratic leadership, and conflict resolution.
Day 60: Initiate first steps for establishing a “Community Right to Buy" policy.
Day 90: Launch the first Citizen Developer cohort for the creation of the Humber Valley Commons.
Road MAP
(1-4 Year Projects)
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The Commons Crew is a 12‑month pilot that brings City maintenance services closer to home. Aligned with Council Motion MM40.30's Ward‑Based Maintenance Teams framework, the Crew transforms how Solid Waste, Parks, and Transportation work together—not by cross‑training staff, but by uniting them around a shared workflow that completes small repairs within 48 hours of a 311 call.
Staff are recruited by their proximity to Ward 1 or their project history here, creating a work‑from‑home effect that keeps talent local. For youth, the Crew serves as a launchpad—connecting them to Youth Climate Corps, OYAP, and Employment Ontario pathways, with guaranteed hours through training agreements with intermediaries like Building Up and TCBN.
As your Councillor, I will convene these partners to use social procurement as a workforce activation tool—creating a localized talent pipeline without displacing civil servants. Apprentices earn while they learn through the Red Seal Program, Canada Apprentice Loan, grants, and Team Canada Strong training initiatives.
The Commons Crew doesn't reinvent the wheel. It steers the wheel closer to where it's needed most.
Major activities:
Recruitment & Training: Partner with trades-based social enterprises like Toronto Community Benefits Network, Chandos Construction, and Building Up to recruit equity-deserving apprentices, providing paid on-the-job training toward Red Seal certifications with wraparound supports to ensure retention and success.
Resource Access & Workspace: Secure tools, makerspace access, and training facilities through partnerships with Woodbine Mall, Humber College, Home Hardware, Tool Library, and Repair Café, creating a shared infrastructure for hands-on skill development.
Social Procurement & Wealth Reinvestment: Leverage Toronto's Social Procurement program to prioritize living-wage employers over low-bid contractors for city contracts, to promote reinvesting surplus into worker dividends, new tools, and bursaries for future apprentices.
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This initiative pairs two complementary tools — Community Right to Buy (CRtB) and Community Land Trusts (CLTs) — to permanently remove land from the speculative market and enable affordable residential and commercial rents for the long term.
This initiative advances a simple but transformative idea: when vacant land or underused buildings come up for sale, residents and community organizations get first claim — before speculators, before developers, before outside investors.
This isn't hypothetical. Cities across North America and Europe use Community Right to Buy legislation to give neighborhoods a seat at the table. We can do the same in Toronto.
What This Looks Like:
City identifies underused properties and properties with tax arrears in Ward 1
Community organizations, land trusts, or cooperatives get right of first refusal
Financing tools (land banks, community bonds, social procurement) enable acquisition
Land trust permanently removes land from the speculative market
Residents govern the trust and decide what gets built and who benefits
Result: permanently affordable residential and commercial rents
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The Citizen Developer program would turn Humber College into a training hub where local workers and small businesses team up to take on city projects they couldn't handle alone.
The idea is simple: use the City of Toronto's Social Procurement program to steer funding toward small businesses and worker-owned co-ops that hire locally and complete public works projects in North Etobicoke.
The program would teach residents how to share resources and risk on projects, and help workers move from dead-end jobs into owner-operator roles. It would be open to residents of all ages, and would build partnerships between students, faculty, communities, and industry.
As a City Councillor candidate, I can't force anyone to start a co-op. But I can push Humber College to host this program, help design it, and connect students and workers to real projects. In return, the college gets hands-on learning opportunities and ties to Canada's co-op network.
Major Activities:
Find the gaps: Work with civic groups like CivicAction, School of Cities, and Civic Tech Toronto to recruit early- and mid-career professionals and match them with local groups to spot city services that co-ops could deliver.
Train and launch co-ops: Partner with Humber College and the Ontario Co-operative Association to teach co-op governance, money management, and business planning — plus legal help and meeting space when possible.
Get contracts and support: Use Social Procurement to land the first city contracts for businesses that offer worker ownership or living wages. Then provide hands-on support for 12–18 months, track results, and grow the model across Toronto.
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Ward 1's food network is powerful but fragmented. Nearly one in four Toronto households face food insecurity, with North Etobicoke hit hardest by high costs, low incomes, and limited fresh food access.
City Council has already adopted a motion to pilot four municipally operated grocery stores, with a staff report due Q2 2027.
I will convene Ward 1's organizations—Albion Food Space, Mabelle Food Program, Kingsview Eats, Rexdale Community Grocery Market, Urban Harvest Toronto, Summerlea Park Garden, Rexdale Hub Garden, Zawadi Farm, Humber College's Food Learning Garden, and TRCA's Rexdale SNAP—to operate our city-owned storefront as a cooperative.
This hybrid model—city-owned storefronts, community-operated co-ops—transforms isolated efforts into a cooperative value chain that builds on the proven Rexdale Community Grocery Market pilot by the Rexdale Community Hub. The goal of the cooperative would be to replicate New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's a 30% discount on staples—saving families $90 monthly.
Major Activities:
Open a shared food hub with centralized buying, cold storage, and delivery—cutting waste and lowering costs.
Advance worker ownership with fair wage ladders, apprenticeships, and a real voice for community members.
Integrate medical nutrition programs Food Rx: Food as Medicine and the Healthy Food Prescription Trial (MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions) will be approached as partners to help patients with chronic and acute dietary issues.
Secure city contracts to supply shelters, nursing homes, and the $32 million school food program.
