Avoiding Propaganda in a Municipal Election
Toronto’s next municipal election is quickly approaching, and many Toronto residents are still unsure who to vote for. While I am not here to tell you who the best candidate is, I did see some propaganda posters speaking out against current mayor and 2026 mayoral candidate, Olivia Chow.
This poster was plastered outside my building, and on several telephone polls all over Scarborough. There are so many interesting points on this that I think would be good to debunk from the perspective of someone who educates people on the prison system.
First of all, I would like to talk about this posters point on building homeless shelters near daycares and schools. Why is this being marketed as a bad thing? Don’t we want homeless people out of school yards, playgrounds and public parks? Where do we think homeless people are going to go if not into a homeless shelter? Whoever made this poster shows a clear lack of critical thinking skills.
The second point on this poster is that many homeless people suffer from mental health issues. This is true. All the more reason we shouldn’t let them live in public parks, outside to endure the harsh Canadian winters that will undoubtedly worsen any and all health issues they may have.
It is also proven that several HOUSED people have mental health issues. In fact, an average of 1 in 5 people living in Ontario suffer from mental health issues. Many of those people are not homeless. Does that mean they’re dangerous? Not at all. Is the government going to start forcing those people to give up their leases and/or sell their houses near schools and daycares? No, because that would be insane. Implying that you need to be housed to deserve medical treatment is ableism at its finest.
The third talking point on this poster is that the average bed costs $80,000 a year in taxpayer dollars. Good. That is what our tax dollars are supposed to go to. Social services save lives. I want my tax dollars to go towards helping people and saving lives. On top of that, do you know what happens when we clean up our streets in ways that actually help people? The cost of taking care of them actually goes down. One more person in a safe homeless shelter is one more person taken care of. That’s one more person who now has a chance of getting mental health treatment, finding a job, and maybe even finding an apartment. The more social services our city, province and country invests in, the less likely people are to suffer. That includes people attending public school, daycare, people going to work, and homeless people.
I would like to reiterate that I am not telling you who to vote for, but I am telling you not to fall for blatant propaganda.
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