After more than 11 years as a city councillor, Kristyn Wong-Tam is leaving municipal politics to run as the NDP candidate for Toronto Centre in the 2022 Ontario provincial election.
“I’ve chosen to join the NDP, and, in particular, I’ve chosen to join Andrea Horwath,” they said. “Over the past four years with Doug Ford at the helm of the province, I have seen the hardship of Ontarians right across, and in particular in Toronto Centre.”
Wong-Tam’s nomination comes as current Toronto Centre MPP Suze Morrison decided to not seek re-election. On April 4, Morrison said she would not run in 2022 due to health concerns.
Morrison was first elected as Toronto Centre’s MPP in the 2018 provincial election. During her time with the NDP, Morrison served as the official opposition’s critic for housing and women’s issues.
In a press conference headed by Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, Wong-Tam said it was their “greatest privilege to serve the residents of Toronto Centre.”
The official resignation of her city council seat will come into effect on May 4. Toronto’s municipal election is slated for October later this year.
Wong-Tam was first elected as a city councillor in 2010 for Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosdale, and re-elected in 2014 and 2018. In 2018, she was elected as the city councillor of the newly created Ward 13 Toronto Centre following Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s reduction of the city wards from 47 to 25.
They were contacted to comment on their decision to run in the June election as an NDP candidate. CJRU is awaiting a response.
One of their last major efforts in Toronto Centre was working with various anti-poverty and housing organizations to ask the city to place a bid on the land of 214-2030 Sherbourne St., exproporiate it and convert it into affordable housing units.
Their official nomination as the NDP’s candidate in the riding will be on April 23 through Zoom. The online event is open to the public.
Ontario’s provincial election will be held on June 2.
In December 2021, Wong-Tam spoke with CJRU about what was accomplished in their ward in 2021 amid COVID-19, as well as their hopes for 2022.
Listen to CJRU’s coverage of Kristyn Wong-Tam’s press conference here:
