Public health before politics with Joe Cressy

Joe Cressy joins Nate to discuss his role helping to lead the city's pandemic response, a public health approach to the opioid crisis, Toronto's housing affordability challenge, and why he's leaving politics at the end of his current term.

Joe Cressy is the City Councillor for Toronto's Ward 10, Spadina-Fort York. As the Chair of Toronto's Board of Health, he's played a leading role in the city's pandemic response alongside Mayor Tory, putting their political differences aside to put public health first.

In that same role, Joe has also been vocal about the need for stronger efforts to combat the ongoing opioid crisis, that has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. He helped to secure inter-governmental approval for Toronto’s supervised consumption sites, and the Board of Health has recently called on the federal government to decriminalize the possession of drugs for personal use, following Vancouver and BC’s lead.

Joe grew up in a political family and both of his parents were city councillors. After managing a successful campaign for his friend Mike Layton, Joe put his name on the ballot in 2014, first unsuccessfully at the federal level, and then successfully for city council in Ward 10. He's served his Spadina-Fort York community ever since, but he will be leaving politics at the end of this term, when the next municipal election rolls around this fall.