Better transit, street safety, lower taxes, training for TFWs, caregivers

Better transit, street safety, lower taxes, training for TFWs, caregivers

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Randy Bucao: For Councillor, Ward 10 York Centre, Toronto

By Rachelle Cruz

He’s been all over town, in case you haven’t heard. This Filipino Canadian ramped up his campaign for the upcoming municipal election on Oct. 27, running for Toronto City Councillor for Ward 10 York Centre. From early this year, you saw him sweeping up uprooted trees at the Earl Bales Park Annual Cleanup; spending a day with the North York Pinoy Athletic Association; and attended numerous events from Taste of Manila, Mabuhay Festival, and more recently the Magkaisa-Kaya! 1st Annual Walkathon. He has tirelessly been switching gears from his nine-to-five IT job to his aspirations to become a public servant with little shut-eye in between. With a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the East (Manila), this native Cebuano has 20 years of professional experience in the IT industry (Yes, he manages his own campaign website as well), and has also been involved with numerous volunteer work in his community. The Philippine Reporter wanted to know more… Who is Randy Bucao?

TPR: Why did you decide to run for City Councillor for Ward 10?

BUCAO: Ever since I wanted to help the community. And then it’s my 20th year in Canada. For the past 6 years, I have been the Toronto School Board Advisor for my daughter’s school. And then last year, I got elected in the Parent Catholic Involvement Committee with TDSB and I became the vice chairman. I also volunteered at CultureLink. I was going to run for school board trustee. However, school board trustees you’re only helping Catholic people. It’s a very narrow scope. Most of all Filipinos are growing very, very big. Now I told myself, if no one will represent the Filipino community at least in the City Council, who will?

TPR: What has been your experience like so far, as you run for councillor?

BUCAO: I have learned that Torontonians and especially the constituents of Ward 10 are really bright people. When you meet them on the streets or when they open their doors to me, they are not even surprised that I am a visible minority. They give me more courage. This campaign has given me a real freedom. It is only my courage that is all I need to win this election. I don’t think that ethnic background really matters. We have seen the strength of fully diversified city that we are. This I learned a lot – the courage to meet and talk to people face to face.

TPR: During your campaigning and when talking to residents of Ward 10, what are some of the issues that are high priority for them?

BUCAO: Ward 10 can be divided into two: home owners and tenants. Ward 10 is growing. We have low- to highly-paid individuals. There are some who live in by or near the major bus routes. Their main concern is to have a better transit, then a few would like to see a less traffic and quicker to get to the subway stations. There are some who want to have lower Property Tax and even reduce or getting rid of Land Transfer Tax. It has more than a dozen of good-sized city parks and parkettes. It has also a large population of pre-school children and senior citizens, and their main concerns are some street safety like crossing and walking along the side road. They want some better all-way stop and more crossing lights especially on Bathurst St. When I become a Councillor, their voice will be guaranteed to be delivered in the Toronto City Council. I would like to see a reduction of non-recyclable waste like plastic and styrofoam. We spend a chunk of money for collecting these waste and if we reduce them by passing a regulation, we could have some savings in our city then we can use that savings to fund our community projects and city park improvements. Then, most of all, we can have a better green environment.

TPR: As you know, many educated Filipinos come to the city and work, but often not in the jobs that they were trained for back home.  This leads to the deprofessionalization and deskilling of Filipino workers.  Can you offer some ideas or solutions on this age-old issue?

BUCAO: When you get here, get local training. While you are here for two years, have yourself trained and go to school. You have to look forward and train yourself for your future growth. If you are working here as TFW or LCP, you have to train yourself. We have various non-profit organizations that help Filipinos to upgrade and get more opportunities. For example, the people at Bathurst/Wilson, I have seen them, this is what I have been telling them.

TPR: There’s a recent study called the Filipino Youth in Transitions in Canada (FYTC).  The study was prompted by the poor completion rates compared to that of other cultures, and the study’s objective was to find out what the reasons were for the Filipino kids’ poor performance. One cause cited was deprofessionalization and deskilling of parents that resulted in lower income, the inability of parents to send children to university, in turn affecting the children’s prospects for higher learning, discouraging them from pursuing higher education.  What do you think about this?

BUCAO: Number one is that stay away from drugs. No matter who you are, no matter how life gets hard, stay away from drugs. Talk to your parents, talk to your guardian. There’s only one way to tackle the problem is to communicate with each other. Without communication, it does not help. Second, I think there should be social programs that should address these issues so that the parents and their kids can understand each other.