Tory announces $4.5M for gun violence initiative, `confident` councillors will support him
(The Star Fashion & Style)

Mayor John Tory has announced a $4.5-million boost to help Toronto police fight gun violence, even though the city’s share of the funding can’t be approved before city council meets again in the fall.In a news release Monday, Tory’s office said the money is being provided by the municipal, provincial and federal governments “to help fund immediate efforts to address the current gun violence.� The statement did not provide details on how the funds will be used. It included a quote from Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones that the province’s share would come from funding that was announced last year.The federal government is committing $1.5 million in new spending for policing, a spokesperson for Bill Blair, the minister of border security and organized crime reduction, told the Star on Monday.Tory’s office acknowledged Monday that the mayor does not have the authority to commit the city to its $1.5-million share. The mayor’s office said a proposal would be made to council at its next meeting in October.The move comes just three days after Chief Mark Saunders told reporters that policing alone would not be the answer to the ongoing violence, emphasizing the need for young men to be given better opportunities so that they may choose not to pick up a gun.Saunders said Monday that he welcomed the funding and that the police service will launch its plan “in the coming days.�The province’s $1.5-million contribution is part of the $25 million that Premier Doug Ford’s government promised in August 2018 for guns and gangs enforcement over four years. Ford previously said the majority of that money — $18 million — would go to Toronto Police to be spent as the force saw fit. Saunders has previously said that money would be used for guns and gangs initiatives. A spokesperson for the Solicitor General, Hayley Chazan, did not answer questions Monday about whether the province is now dictatin ...