In the run-up to this month’s municipal election, the Star is profiling several key battleground races, offering intimate portraits of the candidates and the issues moving voters.
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Star → profile → voters
Nick Culverwell knows that the people living on the street near his home are suffering.
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people → know → home
But sometimes, he worries he’s becoming numb to their distress.
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he → worry → distress
A 25-year resident of Toronto’s Garden District, Culverwell said that people, like him, who choose to live in east downtown are no strangers to the rough side of urban life.
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who → say → life
But in recent years, his neighbourhood has changed, in part due to the rise of dangerous drugs such as fentanyl.
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neighbourhood → change → fentanyl
Ambulances attending to overdoses in Moss Park across the street from his home are a regular occurrence.
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Ambulances → attend → home
Residents complain about problems related to the high concentration of homeless and marginalized people in parts of the ward, including public drug use and dealing, harassment and violence.
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Residents → complain → use
“To be part of this community is also to care about the lives of those individuals,” said Culverwell, who is president of the Garden District Residents Association.
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who → care → Association
Neighbours do what they can to help, including calling 911 when someone needs medical help.
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someone → do → help
Still, empathy can be elusive when residents fear for their safety, and intoxicated people become a daily sight.
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people → fear → safety
“The thing that worries me most is you become accustomed to it,” he said.
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he → worry → it
“You become somewhat immune.”
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You → become → ?
Culverwell and others living in Toronto Centre say they’ve reached a breaking point over the social problems spilling into their parks and public spaces, and their demands for action have become the top issue as the ward gets set to elect a councillor this month.
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ward → live → councillor
It’s a microcosm of the wider debate about homelessness, drug use and public safety that is top of mind for voters across the city ahead of the Oct. 26 vote, and candidates in the ward are offering starkly different solutions, from police crackdowns to social supports and harm reduction.
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candidates → ’ → supports
Those tensions are playing out against the backdrop of heightened political drama, with the incumbent councillor facing off against an activist who he’s previously sparred with over an ethics complaint.
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he → play → complaint
To win re-election, he’ll also have to overcome the loss of a key ally who has endorsed a rival.
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who → win → rival
Councillor says he’s made progress
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he → say → progress
People walked their dogs along paths between the bright green grass, and the sun sparkled off the dome of the historic conservatory.
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sun → walk → conservatory
Chris Moise, a former health-care worker and police officer, said its transformation is proof of the good work he’s done to address homelessness since he was elected Toronto Centre councillor in 2022.
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he → say → 2022
In 2023, he supported a resource-intensive strategy that involved the city setting up a help centre in Allan Gardens, and offering people living there mental and physical health care, harm reduction programs, income supports, and referrals to housing and shelter.
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city → support → housing
Although some questioned the cost of the approach, the city reported that by May 2024, 97 people had been housed and 314 referred to shelters.
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314 → question → shelters
Moise said he has also increased cleaning in local parks, and backed a downtown outreach team that pairs public health nurses with police to distribute food, clothing and harm-reduction supplies, and connect homeless people to shelters.
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that → say → shelters
“We are using a compassionate, humanistic approach,” said Moise, who Mayor Olivia Chow tapped as health board chair this term.
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Chow → use → chair
Despite what Moise sees as progress, while door-knocking at a condo building near Allan Gardens last month, some residents still had complaints about the state of the ward’s green spaces.
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residents → see → spaces
One woman, a former TTC worker, said she planned to vote for him.
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she → say → him
But another accused him of providing “unsatisfactory” responses to messages she sent to his office, and practically slammed the door on his canvassers.
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she → accuse → canvassers
The councillor acknowledged that it can be difficult to get across the message that progress is being made when constituents still see problems on their street.
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constituents → acknowledge → street
He argued the city can only do so much, and provincial policies such as the closure of supervised consumption sites have caused drug users to consume in public, or overwhelm the remaining service providers in the ward, such as Street Health at Sherbourne and Dundas Streets.
Residents “only see what’s in front of them,” not “the work behind the scenes and some of the successes that we’ve had,” Moise said.
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Moise → argue → that
If it weren’t for the measures he’s put in place, “things would have been a lot worse.”
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things → put → place
Challenger filed ethics complaint against Moise
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Challenger → file → Moise
At 4 p.m. on a recent Wednesday afternoon, more than a dozen people sat in Barbara Hall Park off of Church Street.
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people → sit → Street
Some talked and laughed, others slumped motionless on a bench.
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others → talk → bench
One man smoked from a glass pipe.
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man → smoke → pipe
Daniel Tate, one of the 10 candidates hoping to oust Moise, pointed out the garbage strewn around a storefront next to the park, which he says the incumbent councillor has allowed to become a no-go zone for locals.
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councillor → hop → locals
Tate runs the divisive IntegrityTO online advocacy that has gained popularity by posting graphic — and critics say dehumanizing — videos of homeless people and drug users on Toronto’s streets.
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critics → run → streets
The account has also reposted a video of a comedian performing a racist caricature of Chow.
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account → reposte → Chow
Tate has clashed with Moise before, and was a vocal critic of the councillor’s support in 2023 for renaming Yonge-Dundas Square.
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Tate → clash → Square
Tate filed a complaint with the city integrity commissioner after a January 2025 exchange in which Moise accused him of harbouring “a white supremacy view.”
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Moise → file → view
The commissioner found Moise breached council’s code of conduct, but didn’t recommend any penalty.
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Moise → find → penalty
Tate denies holding racist beliefs.
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Tate → deny → beliefs
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
