Josh Matlow lives in Midtown Toronto-St. Paul's with wife Melissa and daughter Molly.
Josh is a long-time advocate for big progressive ideas. Before running public office, Josh served as co-director of Earthroots, a Toronto-based environmental non-governmental organization where he championed efforts to protect the Greenbelt with the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act.
As St. Paul’s School Trustee (2003-2010), he made real progress towards his community's top priorities:
- Preparing students for the real world by initiating a financial literacy curriculum, including credit cards, budgets, and the stock market.
- Preserving and expanding community services, including keeping school pools open.
- Creating more student spaces by rebuilding the North Toronto Collegiate Institute.
- Promoting public safety by championing initiatives to curb youth violence.
- Advancing environmental policies, including a "green grid" project for renewable energy generals like solar panels on school rooftops.
- Championing programs that make life easier, like the student nutrition program which saves families time and money, and ensures that every child has the energy they need to succeed.
Josh was elected to Toronto City Council as the representative for Toronto-St. Paul's in 2011, and he has been one of the most active and effective members of Council ever since. He is motivated by a strong belief that Toronto can be better - that there are solutions to the problems we face if we are willing to listen to the public and to experts, put in the work, and be honest and accountable.
- Championing significant improvements to the basic services we rely on including snow clearing, waste collection, park maintenance, and road repairs.
- Fighting for public transit that’s faster, safer, more reliable and affordable by introducing policies like fare capping and transit signal priority and motions to address safety and subway delays.
- Leading efforts to protect the places we value, including protecting the waterfront, reopening the Ontario Science Centre and Old City Hall, and keeping Ontario Place public.
- Focusing on community safety, including actively supporting intergovernmental efforts to prevent vehicle thefts and home invasions, combatting gun violence, and fighting hate-motivated crimes.
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Promoting planning for housing that meets our community’s needs by introducing policies which make it easier to build gentle density and a wide range of more affordable units, supporting higher standards for the physical form and design of new builds, improving livability and protections for rental housing, and ensuring that our local social services, parks and infrastructure keep pace with provincial growth plans.
- Launching initiatives to support people in every stage of life, including creating the Toronto Youth Equity Strategy and the Toronto Seniors Strategy, making our community more accessible for people with disabilities and opening more affordable childcare spaces and programs.
Josh is also attentive to the local needs of Toronto-St. Paul's residents; working to promote a safe, caring, and livable community.
- Creating fun and beautifully designed public spaces, including new parks and playgrounds, ice rinks, sports facilities, and green medians.
- Improving traffic congestion and make our streets safer with ongoing improvements in every neighbourhood, and major projects like the redesign of the Eglinton and Allen intersection and a new pedestrian scramble at Yonge and Eglinton along with motions to coordinate traffic signals and free up lanes from construction hoarding.
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Protecting small businesses by finding new homes for displaced local businesses and advancing policies to support vibrant main streets with smaller, independent shops and restaurants.
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Supporting community events and celebrations, including launching annual street festivals, farmer’s markets, and movie nights.
Keeping residents engaged and informed is an important priority for Josh. You can sign up for monthly updates here.
Josh Matlow has been a Toronto Star’s “Newsmakers of the Year” and “People to Watch”, The Village Post and North Toronto Post Magazine's "Toronto’s Best Public Official", Town Crier’s “Pillar of the Community” and Now Magazine’s “Top Activists of the Year”.