Sabrina Maddeaux: Ontario Liberals would do well to avoid 'Queen NIMBY' becoming party leader

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie attends a news conference at the Ontario legislature in Toronto on May 18, 2023. Sabrina Maddeaux writes that Crombie is exacerbating Ontario’s housing crisis by opposing high-density residential developments.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has launched what certainly looks like a campaign website to become the next Ontario Liberal leader. Many establishment politicos consider her a front-runner in the race, even though she’s yet to officially enter it.

But, if Ontario Liberals know what’s good for them, they will actively work to discourage Crombie from running before she formally turns her “exploratory committee” into a campaign. While she certainly possesses the political skills and name recognition to win the big job, doing so would be an utter disaster for the Liberals and their future prospects.

The party desperately needs revitalization — Crombie would permanently stagnate it into electoral oblivion.

Not-so-fondly known as “Queen NIMBY” (Not In My Backyard) and the “Queen of No” on social media, Crombie’s extensive anti-housing record should render her candidacy a nonstarter in a province where housing affordability and, in particular, housing supply is the No. 1 issue.

Moreover, housing is by far the No. 1 issue for millennials and Gen Z, now the largest potential voting bloc and also the one Liberals need to win over if they’re ever going to make a comeback in the province. Former party leader Steven Del Duca didn’t exactly inspire this cohort, to put it lightly, but Crombie will outright antagonize them.

This is because the mayor doesn’t just lack credibility when it comes to the housing crisis; she continues to exacerbate it.

This was exemplified at a recent Mississauga planning and development committee meeting where there was discussion of a proposed 700-unit residential development comprising five buildings on a site that’s currently home to an outdated plaza. The buildings would range from six to 11 storeys in height.

At the meeting, a group opposed to the development presented a video with taped interviews that ranged from ironic to downright offensive parroting of discriminatory stereotypes. The most shocking segment featured a woman who implied the condo units were likely to attract sex traffickers.

“Ontario and the GTA is a huge area actually for the trafficking of women and children. So I see this as being a potential actual threat to children that may be using the park if there’s such a large, unknown population living in this building,” she said.

Other interviewees expressed concerns about the “strangeness of larger neighbourhoods,” “that (residents) will be peering down,” and that the traffic would “not be safe for the children,” even though the site currently houses a shopping plaza.

These are classic, baseless excuses to oppose increased density near one’s own home while still claiming to support more housing in a general, theoretical sense. Elected officials who promote such fallacies risk running afoul of the Ontario Human Rights Code.

“People should not have to ask permission from anyone, including prospective neighbours, before moving in just because of stereotypes relating to grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code (Code). Concerns about affordable housing projects should be legitimately anchored in planning issues rather than stereotypical assumptions about the people who will be housed,” writes the Ontario Human Rights Commission on its website.

Red flags listed by the commission include propagating myths about traffic increases, residents not fitting into a neighbourhood, housing not fitting the “character” of a neighbourhood, and increased crime.

It’s difficult to imagine a Liberal politician, certainly one self-described as “socially progressive,” spreading and applauding such discriminatory rhetoric — but Crombie does exactly that when it comes to condo residents.

“Listen, I just wanted to say how much I value your video,” she said directly after the presentation. Later in the meeting, she urged, “I highly recommend you take that wonderful video you did and make an appointment with the local area MPPs and show them the impact that this is having on you and the community … and next time you show them at the ballot box because this type of growth is wrong … I want them to see these videos.”

By way of comparison, Conservative shadow housing minister Scott Aitchison called the video’s insinuations about sex trafficking and children’s safety “disgusting” and “vile” on Twitter.

Crombie also made her own spontaneous claim that developments like this would “upturn, overturn the character of each neighbourhood.”

Notably, Ottawa-based housing advocacy group Make Housing Affordable released a Housing Action Plan for Ottawa this week. Among its key recommendations was to “eliminate ‘neighbourhood character’ as a planning concept” because it’s “a vague term with extremely negative connotations that has historically meant ‘we don’t want certain types of people living here.’ ”

Crombie, of course, claims she’s pro-housing despite all evidence to the contrary. Under her watch, Mississauga has consistently opposed increased density, including a proposed development of 1,139 units near a GO station. Among major municipalities, Mississauga is by far the furthest from reaching its provincial housing targets; it would currently need a whopping 663 per cent increase in homebuilding to reach them. It is also among the worst Ontario cities for housing starts and completions.

Crombie’s words and actions on housing simply can’t be reconciled. One can’t claim to be socially progressive while blocking housing at every turn during a housing crisis. In truth, Crombie is socially regressive.

The aforementioned prejudiced video ended with a simple tagline: “Prioritize People. Not Profits.” The irony being that if Canada and its various levels of government prioritized people instead of protecting homeowners’ astronomical profits at all costs, we wouldn’t be in this housing mess to begin with.

When it comes to housing, and the future of young Ontarians, Crombie isn’t just uninspiring, she’s dangerous. Liberals would be wise to turn away from her potential candidacy, and quickly, if they have any sense of self-preservation.

National Post

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