Don't vote for candidates who want to defund police, Ford tells Toronto voters

Votersin Toronto's upcoming mayoral byelection should not support anyonewhowantstocutpolicebudgets, Ontario Premier DougFordsaid Tuesday in the wake of an apparently unprovoked fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old at a city subway station.

Fordhas previously said he is staying out of the racetoreplace former mayor John Tory, but addressed it Tuesday when asked about violence in Toronto's transit system.

He said there needstobe a three-pronged approachtoaddress the issue: mental health supports, morepolice, and federal bail reform. On the first two points,Forddid not indicate that any additional funding would be coming from the provincetoeither helpTorontohire more officers or boost his government's 10-year, $3.8-billion mental health strategy.

Forddid, however, have adviceforvotersin Toronto's mayoral byelection in June.

"Everyone and their cousin, their brother, their uncle and their aunt are runningtobe mayor ofToronto, but there's only maybe one or two people that I think could actually run the city,"Fordsaid, without naming names, at an unrelated news conference in Mississauga, Ont.

"We're seeing stabbings in the subway, car thefts coming out of our gazoo and just enough's enough. We've gottoput more money into policing. There's a couple ofcandidatesthat are running, they're sitting councillors, that votedtodefundthepolice. The people that votedfordefundthepolice,don'tvoteforthem, simple as that. We can't have anarchy in our cities."

Fordsaid Toronto's next mayor should be a candidatewhounderstands policing.

Formerpolicechief Mark Saunders,whoalso unsuccessfully ranforFord's Progressive Conservatives in last year's provincial election, has said he is runningtobe mayor.

Gabriel Magalhaes, 16, was sitting on a bench at aTorontosubway station Saturday night when he was approached and fatally stabbed in an apparently unprovoked attack,policehave said. Jordan O'Brien-Tobin, 22, of no fixed address is facing one count of first-degree murder.

Court documents from Newfoundland and Labrador provincial court show a man with O'Brien-Tobin's name and date of birth is wanted on an outstanding warrantforbreaching probation conditions.

Magalhaes' mother has said in media interviews that she wantstosee more mental health and social supports.Fordsaid Tuesday he doesn't disagree with her comments and cited the money his government is already spending on mental health.

"My heart breaksforthem," he said. "I will be making a calltotheir family this afternoon ... and we'll do everything we possibly cantomake sure this tragedy, (this) senseless murder never happens again."

'The solution istoaddress the root cause,' NDP says

Fordalso said there should be full-timepoliceofficers in theTorontoTransit Commission.

Torontopoliceput more than 80 officers working overtime on patrol in the TTC in late January in responsetoa spate of violence in the system, but ended those shifts two weeks ago.Policesaid they were returningtodeploying on-duty officers on the TTCforregular, proactive patrols.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said as a mother whose now-grown children took the subwaytoschool, she is heartbroken by the tragedy.

"I would love the premiertoactually listentothat mother, because that is what the people of this city are saying," she said Tuesday at the legislature.

"They're saying, 'You've put the cops in there, it hasn't solved the problem.' The solution istoaddress the root cause. We have a homelessness crisis. We have a mental health and addiction crisis in this city. Iwanthimtoput the resources into supporting those folks ... That that mother could stand up and speak in such an effective way about what needstohappen, I mean, I hope he listens."