LILLEY: Saunders points to experience as a leader in mayoral bid

Mark Saunders is leaning on his decades of experience in public service when making his pitch for why he should be Toronto’s next mayor.

He’s pointing not just to his law-and-order bona fides, important at a time when public safety is an issue, but also his experience as an executive leading a large organization.

The Toronto Police Service, which Saunders led from 2015 to 2020, has a budget of more than $1 billion and more than 7,500 employees. It’s not as big as the city with a $16 billion operating budget and more than 40,000 employees, but it’s significant.

“I will challenge the competition, none of them have had that opportunity or that challenge,” Saunders said.

Saunders is sitting with me in a coffee shop on Bay St. That’s just a short walk from police headquarters. As he regularly dips into his well of experience from his 38 years as a uniformed officer, it’s to showcase how he feels that career prepared him for the job he’s about to ask voters to give him.

“Being in every single corner of this city, being in some real unique circumstances, being inside houses, dealing with families sometimes during critical situations,” Saunders said.

He also points to his experience of having to work with all levels of government at an executive level as a unique skill set his opponents lack. Of course, with crime being a major issue, especially on transit, the conversation does drift often to his views on law and order.

“That transit system, we have to make that safe,” Saunders said.

He reminisces about relying on the bus to take him from Jane and Finch to Scarborough to get to work when he started as a cop. He still takes transit today, including riding the subway downtown for meetings, and notes how it has changed and why people are concerned about the many random attacks over the last year.

“We can’t normalize what has been going on,” Saunders said.

His decades of experience as a police officer, though, also tells him that a cop isn’t always the answer to every problem. Saunders says time and again that people in need, in difficult situations, need supports in place from social workers to mental health interventions that don’t involve police.

Too often though, the police are the ones dealing with those in distress because no one else is available, something he’d like to change if he becomes mayor.

“I hope I have that opportunity of having all the tools in the toolbox,” Saunders said.

On housing and affordability, Saunders says he has three areas of concern – ensuring supportive housing for people in need, continuing to expand the purpose-built rental supply and attainable housing for working people. He says he wants to make sure that people who have “done everything they’ve been asked to do” like going to post-secondary and getting a good job, can still afford to live in Toronto and buy a home.

Saunders was one of the first people I called after John Tory resigned, and he said at the time he was receiving a lot of calls, lots of people asking him to run and that he was thinking about it. Asked straight up what the deciding factor was in jumping into the race, he credited his wife Stacey’s support.

“She’s heard me talk a lot, she’s heard me talk about my opinion, heard me talk with victims and she understands where my heart comes from and my solutions. She just said, ‘You have to do it,’” Saunders said.

He describes the city as being at a tipping point, especially when it comes to crime and disorder and feels he has the skills needed to stop Toronto from going over that tipping point.

“I would have a big regret if I didn’t take an active part in being part of the solution,” Saunders said.

In a crowded field of candidates, Saunders benefits from name recognition but his biggest selling point to voters, that one he tried to impress upon me over a cup of tea, was his experience.

On June 26, voters in Toronto will get to decide if Mark Saunders and his experience are what they are looking for to guide the city into the future.

blilley@postmedia.com

NOTES FROM THE REST OF THE RACE

A poll by Forum Research, conducted for the Toronto Star, put Saunders near the top of the pack with 22% voter support but surpassed by someone who has yet to declare she’s in the race.

Forum found 24% backed Olivia Chow to be Toronto’s next mayor followed by City Counillor Josh Matlow at 18%. From there, support drops significantly with Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter coming in at 12%; former deputy mayor Ana Bailão at 11%; Gil Penalosa who finished second in October’s election at 8%; and City Councillor Brad Bradford at 5%.

Matlow was in some trouble this week when the city’s Integrity Commissioner found he broke council’s code of conduct by insulting city employees online. It was recommended he lose 10 days’ pay for the infraction.

Bailão, who will be sitting down with the Sun this coming week for a profile, picked up some interesting endorsements this week. LiUNA 183, representing thousands of Toronto area construction workers, announced they would back her. And CUPE 416, which represents many city workers, also offered her endorsement.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be trying to sit down to speak with all of the leading contenders for mayor so send in your questions on the issues that matter to you.