As America slides into more authoritarianism and unlawfulness, many Americans and Venezuelans with temporary residency permits could come to Canada. Not as draft dodgers, but as Trump dodgers. And many will be headed to Toronto.

Toronto has been a safe haven for many different people since the Second World War: from southern Italy fleeing limited life chances, from Hungary, from the draft in the United States, from Vietnam and Southeast Asia, from Iran, from Syria and from Ukraine. The city has welcomed people fleeing from oppression, making the city such a great success. The challenge is whether we can do it again.

As in the past, many who come will have limited means. We saw this in the last two years, with refugees sleeping on the streets or in church halls. Building more new housing is not something that can be done quickly: housing will have to be found in what’s already there — homeowners agreeing to rent out rooms and small apartments.

But many homeowners look at the laws and regulations and decline to offer any space. They fear they will get a tenant who doesn’t pay or causes trouble and then find it is difficult to get the person out. The provincial Landlord and Tenant Board, which is there to resolve landlord/tenant disputes, is basically dysfunctional. It takes six months or more to have an application heard and then another month or two to get a decision enforced. Tenants can’t get fast action against neglectful landlords, and landlords can’t get rid of problem tenants. The board’s website apologizes for offering such crummy service.

The provincial government needs to provide the board with a lot more staff to provide speedy service — a cost of only a few million dollars. Without that, not many homeowners will be offering empty space to people who need it. 

A second problem that must be resolved to accommodate Trump dodgers is education funding in Ontario. Many newcomers will be young, still trying to improve their education. The decline in provincial funding for post-secondary education needs to be reversed. 

In 2019 the province mandated a cut in tuition fees for Canadian students by 10 per cent and then froze them. It also froze funding, although in 2024 it provided some new funding, providing half of what had been recommended. To meet costs, colleges and universities increased enrolment from foreign students who paid twice as much as residents. But now foreign student enrolment has been severely restricted and post-secondary schools are shuttering all sorts of programs and laying off staff. 

This must change. This will demonstrate to Ontario students they can get the best education right here in the province. We don’t need the province expanding strong mayor powers to almost all municipalities in Ontario, allowing one-third of council members to make decisions rather than the majority. We don’t need to spend money on more traffic lanes in the Toronto area. 

Fix the Landlord and Tenant Board to provide housing options, and restore the vibrancy of post-secondary education. These are issues city council should be pushing for in these difficult times.