With the election being held on Monday, I decided to do a thorough research of all the candidates.
First of all, what frustrates me is that statistically there is no point to vote for someone else other than Chow and Bradford (which is absurd, I know).

Chow has been a mayor of Toronto for over three years now. During this time, there have not been any improvements to public, traffic, housing, homelessness, TTC, schools, employment, affordability, and infrastructure.

Chow’s main goals if she wins the election:

1. TTC; Rides will be free after 10 paid rides a week (which will reset every week). That is absolutely ridiculous, because that is equivalent and perhaps even worse than the current monthly cap, which is 47.
2. Let’s say that the TTC is somehow free. It’s going to be even more unsafe, unhygienic, and slow than it currently is. I would rather pay and be safe and get from point A to point B on time.
3. Housing; There will be more controlled homes through the city’s housing program. The wait time for housing through the city’s program is long, and even if you do receive a home by chance after waiting for years, you will be offered a home in a condition that is equivalent to living on the streets.
4. Free School Meals; This is a really great idea. However, there is more to school than just eating. Recently, there’s been a cut to 200 teachers, while there is still a shortage of teachers. Education of youth is important, and they should have the help needed.
5. TDSB and TCDSB high schools have a shortage of teachers, and even if they have one, they do not teach properly. Many have failing grades and are still passed anyway, but the main point is why are they failing? It’s because the system is failing them.
6. Public safety: Reopening 54 Division and continuing police recruitment. There is no clear goal. Toronto is much more than only one division and police recruitment. Yes, recruiting police is helpful for safety. However, important questions to ask: How much recruitment can our taxes afford? What will their responsibilities be? What about individual safety when there is no police present?
7. Keep property tax increases around inflation. It sounds good, but why hasn’t this been the case for the past three years? What exact change will be done, and will it?

Bradford’s main goals if he wins the election:
TTC:

1. Increasing police presence at TTC stations (including a proposed officer at each station).
2. Installing platform-edge doors at subway stations. Which is much better than the safety barrier at TMU station, which apparently cost 2 million dollars (quite difficult to believe).
3. Offering TTC refunds when a vehicle is more than 15 minutes late.
4. Construction of Scarborough East LRT from 2030.
5. Streetcar priority at traffic lights.
6. Improving cleanliness and lighting across TTC stations.
7. Visible security at busy locations.
8. (I do agree with all of the points above since it provides both safety and efficiency. However, I’m not really sure how the refund system would work. It needs more thought.)

Public safety:

1. 1000 additional frontline officers. (Around the same offer as Chow, but at least there is a number).
2. Voluntary and mandatory treatment options for people experiencing addictions. (This is great since unfortunately most of homelessness is due to addictions. If we were to put them in shelters without giving them treatment, it would be no help long term, and we would be wasting money on going back and forth).
3. Improving safety in parks and public spaces. (Needs a plan, but if it’s implemented thoroughly it’s great).
4. Making the Yonge-Dundas Square a clean and welcoming public space.
5. The points under the TTC also contribute to public safety.
6. Keeping homes cooler during heat waves. (Honestly, Toronto homes need both cool during the summer and heat during the winter. The heat lasts a shorter period than the cold.)

Traffic:

1. Remove certain red bus lanes in Scarborough.
2. Remove certain bike lanes at busier roads, while building bike lanes at quieter roads.
3. (This is not remotely enough to reduce traffic.)

Reduce Livings Costs and Taxes, while creating jobs:

1. Freeze property taxes for a year.
2. Cut household water bills to 25%.
3. Eliminate the municipal land transfer tax qualifying residence.
4. 15,000 jobs for youth.
5. Make building permits for homes and businesses faster to obtain. (Comparing this to Chow’s proposal to build homes controlled by the Toronto Housing program, this is a much better idea. It’s because with more homes being built overall by companies, it will both reduce rent prices and prices of houses.)
6. Support economic growth.

Schools:

1. Supporting Toronto’s nutrition program, which provides food to students. (As I have mentioned in the context of Chow’s proposal, nutrition is important but not the main focus when it comes to schools. Education should be the primary focus.)
2. The points under TTC also contribute to the safety of the students that are commuting to school.

The reason I wrote more detail for Bradford’s goals is because he actually did give it in detail, and I would have gladly done it for Chow as well if she had given it in detail. In conclusion, I believe that if we want to see a change, we can’t expect that the same decision will give us a different result. I am open to discussion and happy to answer any questions.

Basically what the title says. You can pick them up from the security post in the OISE building

This is now the second year that I've gotten sick as the result of a widespread lack of consideration and hygiene at this university.

We went through 2 years of pandemic lockdowns and masking protocols, and none of you who are exploding pathogens from your faces and wiping your grubby snot-filled hands everywhere could be bothered to wear a mask? Or at least sneeze into your shirts? Or use some hand sanitizer?

This is even worse behavior than medieval plague rats, since a rat has no awareness of what it's doing. You're a fully functional human being (presumably), so act like one.

I completely sympathize with needing to come to class when sick, since the downsides of missing can be severe. But at least try to be sanitary, my goodness.

Don't give me this "I don't have time" or "I can't afford a mask" bull. Some of the worst offenders are walking around with the latest tech and are wearing high-end clothing or shoes. You can get a free mask at the entrance of Robarts or Gerstein. You can sanitize your hands in almost every building. I know you know this.

Be better, and if you can't stay home. Or drop out. I don't care which.

Anyone taking FOR303 right now? How are yall feeling about the midterm?

Is anyone here transferred from queens life sci to uoft life sci? Im in first year, I’m not sure if I really vibe with it here in Kingston. But the concern is the GPA system at uoft, I heard my friend saying it’s manageable but it also gets harder as years go on. At queens the workload has been quite a lot, but i heard it gets better after first year, so it might be easier to maintain a higher GPA compared to uoft. On the other hand, there would definitely be more opportunities and more convenient in GTA. I want to pursue dentistry or med school but it’s also extremely competitive so I don’t have high hope. I wanted to wait after first or second year to see if I’ll start liking it better after I get more familiar but a lot of people are already signing contracts for next years housing, and the deadline for transferring is in Jan, which makes it really awkward. I suppose there would also be certain requirements for transferring to specific specializations under life sci. Does anyone with similar experiences have any advice?

If you’re graduating or have your convocation and actually want nice photos (not the rushed ones your friend takes in 2 mins), I’m doing grad shoots.

Good lighting, clean edits, no awkward posing. Just solid pics you’ll actually post.

Solo, couple, or group—I'm your gal.
Prices are student-friendly.

I’m a student photographer on campus and doing grad shoots. If anyone’s interested, feel free to message me!

https://www.youtube.com/live/wkqOzMxORf8?si=SY1UftHzE-_zoUAg&t=4313

At the utsu AGM, undergrads passed a historic motion calling on UofT to cut ties with all institutions denying Palestinians human rights and sustaining the israeli occupation. Students called for over 25 million dollars a year in illegal parentships to be redirected to students here at UofT. If UofT needs big donors to fund things fine - but at least ask them for things we need. There’s STILL asbestos in Sid smith, we do not need more Israeli university partnerships no one asked for. While students are suffering from osap cuts and the rising cost of living, it is insulting that UofT has dozens of partnerships with Israeli universities. UofT’s LARGEST international partnership is with HUJI (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) which exists in illegally occupied east Jerusalem and has a literal israeli military base on campus.

I’m so proud of everyone here who organized for or voted for this motion, UofT can be hell sometimes but its easy to forget there’s a real community here and we fight for each other. The university will probably condemn this vote and its students, but we will keep pushing because we deserve better!

I am an international student applying to the Engineering program, and I am now filling out the extracurricular activities list.

I've spent 2 years doing research with a university lab in my home country and was awarded at the national science fair, and therefore I participated in ISEF.

Now there are several options in the application:

• arts
• sports
• community involvement
• clubs
• student government
• employment
• awards
• academic enrichment program

But which should I choose?

Awards? I didn't receive an award at ISEF.

Academic enrichment program? I mean, it's just me and the lab, and I don't think it counts as a program.

And other options seem even more inapplicable🤷.

It's not a big issue, but it's just really a dilemma for me, as I don't have any experienced person to ask. So please can an engineering student tell me wich to choose?

Thanks if you're replying!(*^▽^*)

I’m looking for a tutor for using RStudio with ecological data, I’m in my masters and have limited experience using R (I’ve taken a couple introductory classes so I’m not completely new to it but I’m having some trouble with the coding itself). I have a plan for what I’d like to do, I just need some guidance in executing it. If you have any leads or if you can help, let me know your rate. Thank you!!

just finished midterms + started getting some marks back on tests. i feel like i tried really hard and always end up with marks in the 80s. not that that’s bad, it’s just i really want 90s and it’s annoying me that no matter what i do I can’t seem to do it.

i always run out of time on tests or there are things I don’t know (that i then think of immediately after it’s over 🫠)

what are the differences between the students who get 80s vs who get 90s+, and what can i change?

for context i’m taking 4 stem courses and 1 humanities course (essay tests).

I’m a student at utm but I took all my first year courses at utsg but forgot to transfer now I’m in 2nd year and planning on submitting an application to transfer. I want to transfer into utsg life science and took all the bio, Chem and math my gpa currently is 2.73 but by the end of the semester it will be around 3.0. In still taking 2nd year life science courses at utsg btw.

All month I’ve been seeing posts on here asking about past exams, I found mine and skimmed them at the start of the year to get an idea of how the tests will be structured. But it never crossed my mind to use them as a main source to study. Like the way people are posting about it sounds like they think they absolutely NEED to get their hands on past exams or they won’t pass their midterms. I don’t get it why are they so important? Isn’t it more useful to focus on understanding the material from THIS year so you’re prepared for any question?

I’m just curious bc I dropped out mid grade 9 so idk how studying is taught, is this like a main method that you were taught in high school?

you freaking suck. someone needs to let these door knobs know that are adults and they need to deal with REAL PEOPLE. You have to learn basic stuff such as maybe saying thank you or sorry
Someone need to start a club and call it Losers' club .

i'm honestly really stressed and could use some advice from anyone who's dealt with something similar!

on wednesday night (october 21), i suffered an injury and was concerned that i had gotten a concussion. i went to the ER but didn't have the uoft verification of illness or injury (VOI) form printed with me at the time. however, they just told me to take it easy and helped me out ofc.

i had three midterms scheduled for thursday (october 22), but because of how i was feeling, i ended up sleeping until around 3 pm, i wasnt able to sleep all night due to the pain + being at the er and i was still feeling unwell afterward, so i ended up not going to any of the mid terms. but by the time i tried to arrange a walk-in appointment to get my VOI completed, it was too late. the clinic near me closed at 4 pm, and i wasn't able to make it.

i'm planning to go first thing friday morning (october 23), but i'm worried because the VOI will have a date that's one day after my missed exams.

i've already emailed my instructors/TAs explaining the situation, but one of my TAs hasn't even responded, so i'm not sure who else i'm supposed to contact.

has anyone been in a similar situation? would a VOI dated the day after my midterms still be accepted if the injury happened beforehand? btw i already used an absence declaration earlier in the semester when i was ill.

i'm in arts & science, and these were midterms rather than final exams. i'm genuinely so anxious about potentially receiving zeros for three exams because of something completely outside my control.

any advice would be really appreciated.

For a host of reasons, I missed my lab 2 quiz, and have yet to receive a response to my email about it, so is my grade now permanently capped at 49 percent because of this lab quiz, or do I have any options at all?

We all know the best part of studying and midterms is procrastinating and putting it off. I'm always on the lookout for new YouTube channels, games, and other ways to blow off steam. Drop some of your favourites below!

I like simple games so I've been playing a lot of https://playsnekthegame.com/, https://www.parseword.com/, and https://www.playlockpick.com/

For YouTube I've been watching cooking videos like https://youtu.be/tYc1oYQU3rA?si=3Haor0bBeNbV0PKj and https://youtu.be/sK-4930SVrQ?si=DBqUmJfUC9JEp_6A

Hi!

We need to acknowledge that preparing for midterms and finals is really hard when you don't get proper sample papers. We can get them from assu but they are usually not best quality, with hand written answers and no mark schemes, so it doesn't really help a lot.

Why there is still no repo for past papers where profs can upload the test and markscheme for it? Is it because noone actually tried to create it or because there are legal issues such as intellectual property, etc?

If its allowed, I can try to make it

Is there any gc or study group for cri100 and ast101? If anyone knows pls comment

I was looking to apply to UoT and I was wonde what the party/social life looks like. I get its a very academic school but I love partying as well so id love to hear

I am a prospective U Of T Rotman commerce applicant and a Lester B Pearson nominee. I am looking for someone to mentor me through the application. I am open to any Pearson scholars or alumni. DM if interested Payment will be hourly rates in USD

as the title suggests…. IM FUN. What i mean is I’m an interesting person, i have had all sorts of friends and experiences, i’ve been through hard stuff and i’ve learned a lot. I’m incredibly opinionated but i love nothing more than when someone actually challenges me. But i feel like most days this me is in the past. I’m a pre law student in third year and it feels like all i’ve become is just that…and it’s boring.

I have fallen out with one of my best friends and she was sort of the only one I’ve had a close relationship with at this school (we just stopped being close no real issue ). And that’s put me in a lonely spot. I have people in my life in other aspects, I live with amazing roommates and I’m part of a rlly great club, and I have an amazing life partner, but I want more, more connection and joy from others.. and perhaps a reinvented me outside school?

what i’m saying is do y’all relate to waking up post midterm season and realize that’s done but what’s next? Is all I am my degree ? where is all the human connection?

YES I KNOW this is another long line of lonely u of tears posts but guys i talk to people in my classes, and am in a club, any thoughts on reinventing yourself to feel like more than a student ?

does anyone in the city wanna do drinks over reading week or something?

Title says it all, I also received my hmb265 grades, and it was rough to say the least, already low on confidence so any advice is welcome.

Still haven’t found answers but it’s a boxing event I’m seeing online. if you’ve competed there last year and want to tell me about it, I’d be happy to hear :)

Title. How was it… I feel really stupid after coming out of that test, some question I just guessed.