September 9, 2026 Newsletter

Hello Reader, 

We did it! Four by-elections happened last week, with four amazing NDP candidates: Fatima Shaban, Monique Taylor, and Bobby Nikmard running provincially, and our federal candidate Shannon Devine.

Fatima Shaban has been campaigning in Scarborough Southwest for most of the year as we waited for Doug Ford to finally call the by-election. He waited until the last minute, even as his polling continued to tank. Provincial election campaign periods last 28 days, but Fatima has been working under that intense pressure for more than 5 months. Her hard work paid off, and I am proud to call her my colleague in the Ontario NDP caucus. I know that the good people of Scarborough Southwest made the right choice when they elected Fatima Shaban as their new MPP!

Fatima has spent years fighting for the Scarborough community as a tenant organizer and advocate in the neighbourhood where she grew up. Fatima will join me, Marit Stiles and the Ontario NDP team at Queen's Park to fight for Scarborough. And I cannot wait to work with her. Congratulations, Fatima!

However, disappointingly, our candidates Monique Taylor, Bobby Nikmard, and Shannon Devine did not win their elections. Monique Taylor nearly stopped a Ford Conservative from winning in Hamilton –East Stoney Creek. Monique Taylor nearly doubled the Ontario NDP’s vote share in Hamilton East–Stoney Creek in the process as the leaderless Ontario Liberals vote share collapsed. Thank you to everyone who ran. I know that each candidate poured their heart into their campaigns. 

I also want to thank Bobby Nikmard for the great campaign he ran in York–Simcoe, and Shannon Devine for her run in Beaches—East York. I’m grateful to Bobby and Shannon, their families, and every volunteer who stood with them through these by-election campaigns. 

And this week, our students went back to school! This time of year is always so exciting for families —including my own. My son entered grade two with a backpack full of school supplies and joyful hope for the learning year ahead. And I hope everyone had a great start. I look forward to hearing about your school experiences in the months ahead, especially as our school boards experience huge changes. Send me your stories. This government needs to understand how their unilateral changes affect real students and families.

My son is not the only one with exciting events to go to! I will be back again at both the Cabbagetown and the St James Town Festivals. My team and I will be out all day Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13. 

We are bringing our popular tote bags, ice cream, fun games, petitions and other campaign tools to hold our provincial government accountable. Please come and check out our booths! We will be at the heart of the Cabbagetown Festival, at the corner of Parliament and Carlton streets and at the St James Town Festival in the tent area. 

These festivals offer amazing opportunities to meet your neighbours, connect with local vendors and businesses, enjoy kids' play areas, and experience amazing music and dance performances! It is a not-to-be-missed weekend that draws thousands of people from across the GTA into the heart of Toronto Centre. We are still looking for volunteers to help us staff a table and connect with the community. If you are free, please come volunteer with us! 

Cabbagetown Festival

Time & Date: Saturday, September 12, 11 AM - 8 PM & Sunday, September 13, 11 AM - 7 PM

Location: Parliament St. and Carlton St. 

St James Town Festival

Time & Date: Saturday, September 12, 1 PM - 7 PM

Location: St. James Avenue & Wellesley Street East

I can’t wait to see you there! 

Yours in community service,

Kristyn Wong-Tam

MPP, Toronto Centre

• Labour Day Parade 2026
• Ford’s Latest Attack on Bike Lanes 
• Overdose Awareness Day 
• Ethiopian Canadian Day at Christie Pits
• What’s Making Headlines
• Local Community Events

This week, I spent an exciting Labour Day marching for Ontario’s workers. My thoughts are especially with the Worth Fighting For Campaign's over 23,000 workers on strike for back pay during this historic, over 100-day strike. Ford can't say he cares about labour while he is actively forcing them to strike. 

Solidarity is not a slogan — it’s about the commitment to each other that workers deserve. Thank you to Toronto & York Region Labour Council for bringing us together this year and every year for the Labour Day Parade! I am proud to honour the labour movement and all those continuing the fight for justice.

Last week, after court battles in Ontario, Ford officially began the process of finding contractors to remove several bike lanes across busy streets in Toronto. This decision, unfortunately, has not come as a shock to me, and I am sure not for many of you either. We know that he has not forgiven Toronto for refusing to make him Mayor in 2014. The bike lanes that keep you safe as you get around our incredible City should remain intact, and Toronto should be allowed to expand its cycling network in line with its Vision Zero roadmap. 

Your safety alone should be a strong enough argument to convince Doug Ford to back off his attack on Toronto’s infrastructure. It is infuriating that your safety does not seem to be a priority for Doug Ford. 

As you know, removing bike lanes will cost more than $48 million, and the government's own internal documents, released during the court challenge, showed that Ford has no evidence that removing bike lanes would reduce congestion.

Furthermore, Mayor Chow has put a reasonable option on the table: restore a vehicle lane while keeping people on bikes physically protected. This has already been done on a stretch of Bloor in Etobicoke. There is no good reason to refuse it. I attended the Committee Hearings on Ford’s Bill that attacked Bike Lanes to delay its passing, voted against Ford’s Bill, and have spoken out countless times before about the need for the Premier of Ontario to accept that he is not the Mayor of Toronto. 

I will continue demanding that Ford pause his government’s reckless plans now. If he goes ahead with current plans, Ontarians will die, and it will be the direct result of the decisions that he made and the advice that he ignored.

You can help me oppose Ford’s move by sharing how this will affect you. You can reply to this email and describe the trips you make regularly on any of these lanes, and what you would do if it were gone. I would like to put constituents' words on the record at Queen's Park, or you can also sign my petition opposing Ford’s regressive Bill here.

Last week, I attended International Overdose Awareness Day. Each year, we remember the thousands of people who have lost their lives to opioid poisoning and the toxic drug crisis and stand with the families, friends and communities who continue to feel these devastating losses.

The toxic drug supply continues to overwhelm communities across Ontario and Canada. Behind every statistic is a person, someone with family, friends, hopes and a future that mattered.

Ontario must continue to break down the stigma surrounding substance use and ensure people who use substances can access the care, treatment, harm reduction, and mental health support they need, when they need them.

I know that supervised consumption sites save lives. Despite over 30 years of clear evidence that these services reduce overdoses, the Ford government made the reckless and ideological choice to cut their funding and push overdoses into public spaces. Their closure has also placed devastating pressure on front-line emergency responders, who are being called upon to respond to an increasing number of overdoses in the absence of these critical services.

The Ontario NDP and I also agree that supervised consumption services must be accompanied by meaningful wrap-around services. Closing services without ensuring people have immediate access to treatment, recovery supports, primary care, and supportive housing moves people into more dangerous situations both for themselves and the broader community. The services HART Hubs are beginning to provide should have always existed and been properly funded, attached to supervised consumption services. Those services should also have had the funding to work with their neighbours and keep surrounding areas as safe as possible, instead of having to tap into an inadequate budget that was already stretched too thin. It appears that Doug Ford created a crisis by ignoring experts and underfunding frontline services so that he could blame and defund those same services. We cannot let the government divide our neighbours and community. We must unite and keep demanding better together. 

I will continue to push on the Premier to step up to the plate with the funding that our communities need and deserve to get everyone housed. It will be an uphill battle, but I am committed to fighting for everyone in our communities. If you are interested in adding your voice to support mental health and addictions strategy, take action here. 

Over the weekend, I celebrated Ontario's first officially recognized Ethiopian Heritage Month! Thank you to the Ethiopian Association of the Greater Toronto Area for working with the Ontario NDP to pass the Ethiopian Heritage Month Act. I am incredibly proud of this legislation, and I'm excited to keep working with your incredible, united community to build a stronger Ontario. Check out the event by clicking here! 

If you are interested in celebrating Ethiopian culture, business & community all year round, read Kokeb Magazine at kokebmagazine.com.

• Electric bikes could be factor in 2 Toronto fires reported hours apart

• Ontario court puts province’s new cash bail rules on hold

• Live updates: Trump escalates trade war with product bans, new tariffs on Canada

• Ontario nurses take government to court to fight for right to strike

• Toronto rent prices fell again last month but multi-bedroom units could be getting more expensive: report

• Toronto police say death of 41-year-old man in downtown home was homicide

• Toronto's bike lanes took years and millions to install. What will removal, reconfiguration look like?

• NDP: Ford fails to support Ontarians hit by disastrous flooding, calls for expanded DRAO support

The Downtown Yonge BIA is behind a whole series of food and drink walking tours this fall, working with local restaurants, cafés and businesses across the neighbourhood. The walks are led by Tour Guys guides, but it's the BIA pulling the program together and bringing its member businesses into it.

Fall Flavours — Thursdays from Sept. 17, one hour, built to fit a lunch break. Departures at 11:30 AM and 1 PM, starting at Fusettes, 407 Yonge St. $20 plus HST and fees. Seasonal bites, a few places you've walked past a hundred times, and a chance to meet some of the people feeding the neighbourhood.

Sip & Stroll — Sundays from Sept. 13, 1:30 to 3 PM, starting at Daon Café, 475 Yonge St. $15 plus HST and fees. A tasting walk through the neighbourhood's drinks — where each one came from, how it travelled, and how it ended up on Yonge Street.

These are just two of the offerings. Full listings, dates and tickets are at tourguys.ca/taste-of-downtown-yonge!

SickKids' Garry Hurvitz Centre for Community Mental Health is offering a free online workshop for caregivers of children from birth to age 6, part of its Families First Prevention & Early Intervention Program.

The session looks at why resilience matters in the early years and how supportive relationships help children cope with challenges and build self-esteem. Facilitators will share practical strategies that strengthen resilience through connection, play, and emotion regulation.

When: Tuesday, September 29, 6 to 7:30 PM

Where: Online, via videoconference

Cost: Free

Facilitators: Sarah Sanclimenti, RECE, BCD, and Hélène Munk, MSW, RSW

Register by: September 21, at sickkidscmh.ca/FamiliesFirst

Date/Time: Saturday, Sept. 12 - 11 AM until 8 PM, and Sunday, September 13 - 11 AM until 7 PM

Cost: Free

Location: Parliament Street (from Gerrard St. to Wellesley St.) and Carlton Street (from Parliament St. to Sherbourne St.)

Cabbagetown Annual Parade: Meet at Parliament & Gerrard @ 6pm on Sunday, September 13

Interested in volunteering? Sign up here!

The Cabbagetown Festival could not happen without our volunteers! It is a fun time, a great way to meet new friends, and an opportunity to build volunteer hours!

The Corktown Residents & Business Association is hosting a casual community coffee chat at Roozamoon Cafe.

Come meet your neighbours and local business owners, learn more about the CRBA and what we’re working on, and share your ideas for the neighbourhood.

Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 10 AM at Roozamoon Cafe, located at 398 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON, M5A 1T3!

This event is free to attend. Everyone is welcome. No RSVP required.

This year's Cabbagetown Festival includes a free installation at the historic Toronto Necropolis Chapel, presented by Mount Pleasant Group as part of its 200th anniversary.

The Toronto Necropolis has been part of Cabbagetown since 1850 and is known for its monuments, mature trees, and Victorian Gothic architecture. It is the final resting place of William Lyon Mackenzie, George Brown, Anderson Ruffin Abbott, George A. Romero, Rita Letendre, and Jack Layton.

The installation, by Toronto artists Space for Grief, invites visitors to reflect on memory, connection, and the stories of their communities — and highlights the role cemeteries play as places of education, discovery, and public memory. Hundreds of related stories can also be explored online through the 200 Stories Project.

Where: Toronto Necropolis Chapel, 200 Winchester St.

When: 8 AM – 8 PM Saturday and Sunday, September 12 and 13

Cost: Free, open to all festival visitors

Apply before September 15, 2026, at 12:00 PM! More Information can be found here: Identify ‘N Impact Grant Program – City of Toronto.

The City of Toronto’s Black-Mandated Funding Framework (BMFF) is accepting applications from eligible Black-led, Black-serving and Black-focused (B3) grassroots groups and established organizations in Toronto. Grassroots groups do not need to be incorporated or have audited financial statements; successful grassroots applicants will be supported through a trustee.

Funding: Up to $40,000 per year for two years
Application Deadline: September 22, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. (noon)
Who can apply: Eligible Toronto-based B3 grassroots groups and established organizations
Application: Through the City of Toronto's TGRIP portal

Apply here!