{"id":36135,"date":"2025-04-17T18:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T22:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36135"},"modified":"2025-04-24T13:54:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T17:54:36","slug":"mens-shelter-debate-enters-of-federal-campaign-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/mens-shelter-debate-enters-of-federal-campaign-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s shelter debate enters of Federal campaign conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Continued debate over a men\u2019s transitional and emergency housing proposal in Aurora\u2019s south end spilled over into the Federal election conversation last week after candidates in Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill sparred over a campaign communication sent to residents by Conservative Costas Menegakis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement sent to residents, Menegakis said the issue of the proposal, which has been the subject of intense debate among lawmakers at the municipal level, was \u201ca primary concern for you and the families in your community,\u201d but Liberal candidate Leah Taylor Roy says the contents of a letter was an example of \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Liberal candidate, Leah Taylor-Roy [sic], has taken a position in support of the proposed men\u2019s shelter in your neighbourhood working against principled decision of Mayor Tom Mrakas,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMs. Roy chose to ignore the voices of her constituents. I believe that a final decision on where to place such a facility requires community input. I commend Mayor Mrakas and his team for listening to your concerns and I fully support the decision to search for an alternate location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike many of you, I understand the need for a men\u2019s shelter in York Region. An appropriate location would include easy access to medical help, social services and transportation. The process to secure a site must include examining the impact and safety of both the local residents and those staying in the shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that if he is elected Member of Parliament on April 28, he \u201cassured\u201d recipients he will \u201calways stand with my constituents and work to find the most appropriate solution on any issues that may arise,\u201d before asking them for their vote on election day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Taylor Roy contends the comments contained in the letter are \u201ca clear example of the kind of misinformation we\u2019ve unfortunately come to expect,\u201d and said this election is \u201cnot about political stunts or personal attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, she said, \u201cit is about who has the experience, honesty and vision to represent our community and defend Canada\u2019s values at a time of global instability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt stake is our economy, our sovereignty, and our progress as a compassionate, inclusive society,\u201d she said. \u201cCanadians deserve leaders who show up, listen, and act with integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the comments related to the housing proposal specifically, she said her attendance at a recent Council meeting where the matter was discussed was as a private citizen who lives near the proposed site, not in her position as Member of Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did not speak, I did not vote, and I was not representing the government or our riding,\u201d she said. \u201cI was simply there, like many other concerned residents, engaged in a matter reflecting our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMr. Menegakis suggests in his letter that there should be consultations and public forums to discuss this proposal. I fully agree. In fact, what Mr. Mengakis doesn\u2019t seem to either know or want to acknowledge are the multiple consultations and public information sessions that have been held over the past two years. Prior to this, the Mayor of Aurora, Tom Mrakas, in his role on the Regional Council had been involved in the development of this proposed housing solution at this site and had supported it. My personal stand in favour of this initiative is entirely in line with the values I hold: that everyone deserves a safe place to call home\u2014whether permanent, temporary, or transitional. However, this issue is not a federal issue \u2013 it is a local town issue and has been dealt with appropriately by the Town Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Councillor Gallo saw the lack of progress in finding an alternative site for the proposed transitional housing development, he changed his initial position. He recognized the urgent need for this housing from the beginning but had voted against it initially to allow for the possibility of finding a better site. When he saw that none had been found, he asked for reconsideration of the original site on Yonge Street by the Region of York.  The Town Council voted in favour of this motion. As it was and is not a federal matter, I was not representing constituents when I attended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that Mr. Menegakis has chosen to focus on attacking my character and my service over a misrepresented personal act of citizenship rather than engaging in meaningful dialogue on the critical issues facing our riding and our country. Just this week, I participated in a community debate in my role as candidate to represent [residents] at the federal level, which Mr. Menegakis declined to show up for. Instead, he continues to communicate through statements rather than standing before constituents to discuss the real challenges facing us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menegakis countered that residents are \u201cupset\u201d that Taylor Roy \u201cinserted herself into a divisive regional and municipal issue\u201d by communicating with the Minister of Housing on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a concerned resident in this riding, I have followed this issue very closely,\u201d he said. \u201cI have read the reports, watched the Council meetings, spoken with municipal leadership, spoken with thousands of residents at their doors, and spoken with professionals in the social services sector. I understand and support the need to provide protective and safe facilities for the most vulnerable among us. We must be a compassionate society. While Leah thinks Ottawa knows best, I believe any elected person has a responsibility to listen to their constituents as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora-Oak-Ridges-Richmond Hill candidates spar over \u201cmisinformation\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9oP","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 08:47:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36136,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36135\/revisions\/36136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}