Toronto · September 8, 2026
POLICY 2
Food, Nutrition & Public Markets
TORONTO, September 13, 2026 – In recent years, Toronto has been through an acute food crisis, which tested food banks, community support networks and our city. We are still in that severe emergency, alongside a deeply-entrenched, long-term food affordability challenge, which reduces individual and family access to nutritious food. On top of this, trade disruptions are placing our food network under additional stress.
Toronto already has one of Canada’s leading agri-food ecosystems, which brings together producers from across Ontario and far beyond. Our goal should be excellence in meeting the food and nutritional needs of students, low-income families, the unhoused and neighbourhoods on a permanent basis, while empowering local and other Canadian producers, entrepreneurs and public markets.
This is a nine-point plan. Every point builds on successes to date. The last five are more ambitious. All are linked to policy proposals on housing, the unsheltered and city planning that our campaign will release separately.
“Toronto has always been a major food hub with a strong agricultural hinterland. The St. Lawrence Market, Kensington Market and the Ontario Food Terminal remain symbols of our city and its farming roots. Yet in recent years, Toronto has faced an acute food crisis,” Chris said. “Too many people can no longer afford to eat properly or feed their families reliably. The solution is to be more ambitious – to lean in & empower Toronto’s strong not-for-profit and entrepreneurial sectors. Toronto should have food banks, school meal programmes and public markets that are second to none. We need to put nutrition, local produce and neighbourhood options in reach for all.”
“Toronto already has a strong network of public markets,” Chris said. “From the Evergreen Brick Works, Dufferin Grove Organic and Cabbagetown Farmers’ Markets to Thorncliffe Community Market or Scarborough’s Merchants’ Flea Market, public markets anchor neighbourhoods by giving full expression to the diversity of Toronto makers and producers and driving social connection, especially for newcomers. Public markets strengthen food security, nutrition, choice, diversity and social connection. They also make Toronto a more liveable city and destination for visitors. With the right policy moves, we can double the size and reach of this network in a few years.”
1. Ensure basic food security
As mayor, Chris would strengthen cooperation with the Daily Bread Food Bank, Second Harvest, FoodReach and other grassroots, not-for-profit initiatives, as well as Toronto’s shelter network and other institutions that care for unhoused Torontonians, to extend their reach, improve quality and ensure Toronto meets this moment.
2. Lift beneficiaries out of poverty
As mayor, Chris would press the case to the federal and provincial governments for raising current levels of the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB), Old Age Security (OAS), the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), Ontario Works (OW), the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and other programmes to lift beneficiaries out of poverty and ensure they are able to access nutritious food options.
3. Healthy meals for students
As mayor, Chris would work with the federal and provincial governments to make the existing Toronto Student Nutrition Programme universally accessible and sustainable, and to cover hot lunches by next year.
4. Local producers
As mayor, Chris would increase the share of local produce and other Canadian food products supplying shelters, schools and other city supply chains.statements.
5. Toronto Public Markets
As mayor, Chris would commit to finalize a Public Markets Action Plan to double the city’s existing network of 160 public markets by 2030. Chris would propose a Toronto Public Markets Corporation (TPMC) to streamline cumbersome approvals. This would be a one-stop shop for vendors, suppliers, BIAs and other partners. TPMC would be mandated to be self-financing by partnering with existing retailers. It would be both an operator and partner for public markets across Toronto. The strategic goal would be to give Toronto a permanent public market network covering every part of our city and make it North America’s best – and a leader on these issues worldwide.
6. St Patrick’s Market
As a first priority, TSMC would be mandated to re-open St Patrick’s Market on Queen Street West as a public market, open to all, in accordance with the legally binding conditions of D’Arcy Boulton Jr’s 1836 bequest, which is almost as old as the city itself.
7. Tech stack and Canadian digital sovereignty
The Toronto Public Markets Corporation would seek to establish an all-Canadian tech stack and back office. For example, Shopify could be used for payments; Ritual or Flipdish for mobile consumer ordering; and MarketSpread or MarketWurks for vendor onboarding and space management. All Canadian firms would be invited to pitch their solutions. The objective would be to provide seamless, one-stop permitting and other services; achieve scale; and drive Toronto-centric innovation and entrepreneurship.
8. Zoning for food security
As mayor, Chris would champion any required changes to zoning or other by-laws to enable the ‘missing middle’ to emerge in our food supply. His objective would be to ensure every neighbourhood had improved access to local produce and producers and a reinforced connection to the farms and other agri-food sectors that are the bedrock of our food supply. The aim is to reduce costs, enhance choice, improve nutrition and value-for-money for all Torontonians by harnessing the energy of public markers and the vendors, producers, suppliers, communities and not-for-profits that support them.
9. Neighbourhood Retail & Services
Over three decades up to 2019, Toronto lost about one-third of its local neighbourhood commercial establishments. (The decline was from 2,137 in 1989 to 1,406 in 2019 – a loss of 731 stores and other local businesses.) As mayor, Chris would work to broaden and expand the city’s existing neighbourhood retail and services initiatives, which were introduced in 2025 but have yet to deliver substantive results.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Purpose-driven retail, open to everyone, is a powerful stimulant to locally-owned and -operated businesses. They enhance access to fresh, nutritious, culturally-diverse, locally-sourced produce, food, drink and other goods. They give newcomers an opportunity to connect to their communities and become entrepreneurs. They promote economic opportunities and create employment. They support local supply chains. They also foster social connections and trigger the creation of new services across neighbourhoods and communities.
QUICK FACTS
The City has been working on a public market strategy since 2023, but the intended Public Markets Action Plan has not been completed or released.
• London, Barcelona, Montreal and many other cities have adopted innovative approaches to public markets. Barcelona has a public ownership approach; London has chosen an umbrella structure. Montreal and Quebec City have also taken innovative approaches.
• Tackling hunger in our city requires more robust approaches to social and co-operative housing, building the missing middle, scaling up effective programmes for the unhoused and restoring our city’s economic leadership and dynamism.
Media contact: (437) 907-1376 | press@chrisalexander.ca | chrisalexander.ca