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For Immediate Release – Jan. 27, 2006

Slums Unlimited Bus Tour Set to Show Tourists Another Side of the City

As the City of Toronto gears up for an unprecedented campaign luring tourists to the upcoming World Premiere of Lord of the Rings in 2006, Tourism Toronto is spending millions of dollars to convince international visitors of the allure of our great city. Under the brand Toronto Unlimited, they are spreading the word about Toronto’s reputation for world class cultural events, cuisine and shopping.

But we at the Parkdale Tenants Association feel the architects of the tourism campaign have neglected to highlight another feature that Toronto is also famous for — its world class slums, which rival anything that New York, Chicago or Los Angeles have to offer.

That’s why we have decided to help the City market itself by forming our own agency, Slumtourism Toronto, to show visitors another side of the city, one they are unlikely to come across in the glossy brochures and newspaper ads distributed by our sister agency.

On February 2, 2006 — the day Lord of the Rings is scheduled to premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre — we will premiere our own free Slums Unlimited tour leaving from Nathan Phillips Square. Here, a bus will be waiting to bring tourists to some of the worst slum buildings in Parkdale, Flemingdon Park, Jane & Finch, and selected other neighbourhoods where the real Toronto will be on display. The bus will leave from the Queen Street side of the square at 11:00 AM and will return at approximately 2:00 PM.

At 10:30 AM, before the tour departs, we will hold a press conference to announce who we have chosen as Lord of the Slums — the person we consider most responsible for the deplorable rental conditions plaguing hundreds of thousands of Torontonians.

Our campaign is not targeted at the stage production of Lord of the Rings, which we fully support. Rather, it is meant to highlight the staggering hypocrisy of both the City and the province, which both pat themselves on the back for the time, money and resources they put into landing this production while they continue to ignore the concerns of tenants, who are languishing in squalor.

The City is currently attempting to win another major event to Toronto, the 2015 World’s Fair. This is an endeavour that we would consider supporting — under the right conditions. We are serving notice today that, unless the City and Province act immediately to alleviate the catastrophe facing tenants — which would include licensing apartment buildings and supporting zoning bylaws to allow licensed rooming houses city-wide as a response to the homeless crisis — we will seriously consider forming the Tenants, Not Circuses Coalition to oppose the World’s Fair bid.

The PTA's original Lord of the Slums press conference was held Thursday, November 24, 2005, at 10:30, on King St. across from the Princess of Wales theatre. Photos from the event are available here.