Federal Election 2025: Toronto-Danforth NDP candidate Clare Hacksel answers our questions

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Beach Metro Community News sent these questions to the federal candidates in Toronto-Danforth. Not all candidates responded by our deadline. Candidates were asked to keep their responses to approximately 300 words. Please visit our website at www.beachmetro.com for more information on the candidates.)

QUESTION 1: Please tell our readers a little bit about yourself and why you are running in this election?

My name is Clare Hacksel (she/her). I’m a midwife, a mother, and a long-time resident of Toronto-Danforth, where I live with my husband and our kids. I was raised by a single mom who ran a small business on Queen Street after my father passed away. Her resilience taught me the value of hard work and looking out for one another, values that have shaped my life and career.

For over 20 years, I’ve worked on the front lines, in homeless shelters, sexual health clinics, and now at Michael Garron Hospital.

Every day, I see what people in our community are going through: families struggling with the cost of living, renters barely holding on, seniors choosing between food and prescriptions. These aren’t isolated cases, they’re systemic failures.
After years of broken promises from the Liberals, I’m running because I believe Toronto-Danforth deserves better.

We’ve been promised bold action on housing, healthcare, and climate, and we keep getting half-measures and delays. I’m tired of governments that say the right thing and do the opposite. Just in this campaign alone, we’ve seen the Liberals allow Canadian arms to be illegally sold to Israel.

The progress we have seen, $10/day childcare, dental care, and pharmacare, only happened because the NDP pushed for it. And I know we can do so much more for Canadians.

I’m stepping up because I know what it means to serve. Healthcare workers don’t show up for praise, we show up because we care.

That’s what I’ll bring to Ottawa: a voice grounded in frontline experience, and a commitment to fighting for the future we all deserve: affordable housing, real climate action, and a government with integrity that puts people first.

QUESTION 2: Why is your party and your party leader the best one to deal with the threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, and how will your party support Canadians impacted by tariffs and other American policies towards Canada?

The NDP has always stood with working people, from its roots in Prairie co-ops during the Great Depression to fighting today for families facing rising costs and economic uncertainty.

In the face of growing threats from Donald Trump, we don’t need more political posturing, we need a real plan that protects Canadians and strengthens our economy.

Trump is erratic, self-interested, and dangerous, a friend today, an enemy tomorrow. He’s already threatening tariffs that put Canadian jobs and industries at risk. I’ve met workers in Toronto-Danforth already facing layoffs just from the uncertainty. We need action that puts people first.

That’s why the NDP is proposing Victory Bonds, a modern update of the tool that helped Canada mobilize during World Wars I and II. This isn’t about fear mongering, it’s about readiness. These bonds will raise funds without raising taxes, and invest directly in job-creating infrastructure, clean Canadian manufacturing, and industries we can count on for the long haul.

We’ll also ensure that no worker left behind by U.S. trade threats falls through the cracks. EI must be expanded to cover everyone facing job loss, these workers did everything right and deserve our support.

And let’s invest in what makes us resilient: universal healthcare. We’ll streamline licensing to help more doctors move and work in Canada and between provinces this will strengthen services that can’t be outsourced or tariffed.

Jagmeet Singh and the NDP understand that the best response to Trump isn’t to follow, it’s to lead. With courage, clarity, and compassion, we’ll defend Canadian jobs, values, and our communities.

QUESTION 3: Beyond Canada’s relationship with the United States, what do you see as the next most important issue in this election and how will you and your party address it?

Affordability is a defining issue of this election.

Even before Trump, Canadians were struggling. From sky-high housing costs to rising grocery bills and stagnant wages, families are being squeezed and unless we make different choices, things will only get worse. The Liberals don’t understand what regular folks are going through.

As a midwife, I see the impact on young families every day. Parents have to choose between paying for medication or paying the rent. At the Bethany Baptist Food Bank, where I volunteer, the line for basic groceries grows longer every month. In Toronto-Danforth, tenants live in fear that their homes will be bought up by corporate landlords like Brookfield, who hike the rent or push people out altogether.

There’s no silver bullet, but we can take bold, practical steps. As your representative I will work to ban corporations from using federal loans to buy up rental housing and instead redirect those funds to help tenants form co-ops and support nonprofits in keeping homes affordable. I’ll demand that we expand pharmacare to cover all medications, saving families hundreds every year while reducing strain on our hospitals.

We’ll also stand up to the grocery giants. Right now, a handful of companies control our food supply. It’s time to break up these monopolies and cap the price of core grocery items, while promoting real competition and choice for consumers. And we’ll strengthen consumer protection laws to stop price fixing and corporate collusion because no one should have to pay inflated prices while CEOs rake in profits.

Real solutions to the affordability crisis won’t come from status quo politics. They’ll come from leaders who know what working families are going through and who are willing to fight for them. That’s what I’m committed to doing, that’s what I bring to the table.