Thousands Marched To Queen’s Park Against Bill 60 On National Housing Day

On Saturday, November 22, 2025 — recognized as National Housing Day in Canada — thousands of tenants, housing advocates and community allies convened in downtown Toronto to stage a determined march and rally against the provincial government’s proposed legislation, Bill 60 (the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act).

A march with purpose

The demonstration began at the offices of the Federation of Rental‑Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO), located at King and Yonge, where protesters gathered early in the afternoon and then marched through the Financial District and past Toronto City Hall toward the lawn of Queen’s Park.

Spirits were high — proclamations such as “Doug Ford, slum lord” and “stop the war on the poor” echoed through the crowd. Participants represented a broad coalition: tenant unions, grassroots organizers (like ACORN Canada), housing justice groups, cycling and climate‐justice advocates, and longtime renters concerned about stability.

In remarks at the rally, the co-chair of the York South‑Weston Tenant Union, Chiara Padovani, decried the bill as “a slap in the face” to tenants already struggling with unaffordable rents and rising cost of living.

What Bill 60 proposes — and why it stirred the protest

According to critics, Bill 60 would introduce a series of changes to tenancy and eviction procedures in Ontario. Key concerns include:

• Reducing the rent-arrears grace period for eviction from 14 days to 7 days. 

• Shortening appeal timelines at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) from 30 days to 15. 

• Requiring tenants to pay 50 % of alleged arrears before raising new issues (such as maintenance or safety) at LTB hearing.

• Removing the requirement that landlords provide one month’s rent in compensation when evicting tenants for the landlord’s own personal use of the property.

• Creating a publicly accessible database of LTB decisions; tenant advocates say this could act as a “blacklist” for tenants.

Voices from the march

• Yaroslava Avila Montenegro, Executive Director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations: “Unlocking housing by throwing people on the street is not a housing solution. Where are those people going to go? They’re going to end up on the street and that’s what we want to help prevent.” (TorontoToday.ca)

• Stacey Semple, organizer with ACORN: Called Bill 60 an “attack on tenants’ rights” and argued that giving more tools to landlords would lead to “massive homelessness within just a short period of time.” (TorontoToday.ca)

• Benjamin Scott, a Toronto renter and father, who attended with his seven-year-old son: He worried about what kind of rental market his son would inherit. “We can’t be thinking of landlord profits as the number‐one priority.” (TorontoToday.ca)

The government of Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative party defended the bill, stating that it “restores balance and rebuilds confidence in Ontario’s rental housing market” by ensuring responsible tenants are protected and addressing LTB backlogs.

The broader context

Toronto and Ontario are already grappling with a deep housing affordability and homelessness crisis. As one rally speaker noted, there are roughly 80,000 people experiencing homelessness across the province, a number projected to grow dramatically over the next decade. 

City Council had already warned that Bill 60 could make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and exacerbate the homelessness crisis. 

For many tenants, the bill represents yet another pressure point in a rental market where rent hikes, limited availability, and insecure tenure are already the norm.

What’s next

The legislature was expected to vote on Bill 60 today following the march. The opposition Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) pledged to force a debate and attempt to repeal the legislation once passed.

The march organisers also mobilised participants to:

• Contact PC MPP s urging them to vote NO on Bill 60. 

• Attend the legislative gallery at Queen’s Park for the vote.

Why this matters for Toronto

As someone who lives, works, and creates in Toronto’s vibrant arts and nonprofit sector, you’ll understand that stable, affordable housing isn’t just a social good—it’s foundational to inclusive cultural, community and artistic ecosystems.
For many renters (often younger, diverse, and creative professionals) the threat of eviction, steep rent increases or forced displacement means less stability, fewer opportunities, and diminished capacity to contribute to the city’s cultural life.

In the broader narrative of “A Vision to Revitalize the Arts in Toronto,” housing justice is a key piece of the foundation. The ability for artists, young professionals and community-builders to live in the city, sustain their work, and remain anchored matters deeply.

On National Housing Day, the march against Bill 60 brought into sharp relief the tension between housing policy designed to “unlock supply” and the lived realities of renters facing precarity. The hundreds (and reportedly thousands) of voices in the streets of Toronto demanded that any reform must protect—not weaken—tenant rights.

As the legislation advances, the question remains: will the voices of tenants be heard and will the resulting policy truly serve stability, affordability and fairness, or will it favour landlord interests at the expense of those already vulnerable?