Mayoral candidates pledge city’s support for sport and recreation facilities

"You won’t lower it. You won’t make it more affordable," she said.

The front-running Tory, however, made no promise during a debate this week at the Metro Central YMCA beyond "holding the line" on the fees, and giving people "value for money" instead of soccer fields he said were often "full of holes."

In an ideal world, he’d lower the fees, but "nothing is free," he told an audience of 200.

Ford, an Etobicoke councillor, disagreed with Tory’s assessment of the fields. To "say our fields are a disaster" is an insult to city staff, he said.

Ford also objected to the city’s decision to give Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment – in which Rogers Communications is a partner - $10 million for renovations to BMO Field at Exhibition Place.

Though the former Rogers CEO responded the money was a loan, Ford called it "a handout" for powerful companies, and charged Tory was in a "huge conflict of interest" since he remains on the board of Rogers.

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• Dec 31, 1969
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At one point, Ford demanded to know whether Tory had coached sports, and looking a bit deflated when Tory said yes, asked which ones.

Children’s softball, Tory said. "I coached for 10 years."

Ford said he’s been involved in coaching, sponsoring, and mentoring athletes, and would continue as mayor.

He pledged to renovate 20 run-down playgrounds a year, and said he’d build three cricket fields and five new outdoor rinks - in North York and Scarborough – if elected.

Many of Scarborough’s outdoor rinks were covered in the 1970s, so they could be used year-round. Ford suggested Scarborough residents face a "two-tiered system" because the area has only one outdoor rink..

"People of Scarborough only have one outdoor rink, and it’s because of us," he said, referring to a rink and skating trail, approved by his brother Rob’s administration, the city expects to open in McCowan Park in 2016.

Scarborough’s sole permanent outdoor rink for now, however, is in Albert Campbell Square in front of the Scarborough Civic Centre and can only be used for recreational skating - not hockey as there are no boards.

The candidates agreed the city’s online registration system for recreation programs is frustrating and must be improved, and that Toronto could use a city-wide strategy for sport and perhaps someone to oversee it.

Chow said there should be one fee structure for school and city facilities – an idea the city is investigating.

"Let’s make it simple," she said.

The debate was hosted by the Toronto Sports Council, a resource-sharing network and a "voice for sport" at Toronto council, which wants municipal politicians to pay as much attention to sport as they do to the arts.

"Sport is often seen as a luxury, and we don’t view it that way," but as a critical part of communities and our society, Karen Pitre, chairperson of the group, said in an interview.

Sport volunteers, she said, are questioning why the city’s inventory of fields isn’t larger, "and why it’s in such terrible shape."

Toronto is increasingly turning to private companies and other non-traditional for help building sports facilities – Ford said he has yet to meet anyone who minds having a logo on a park sign – but Pitre said the city still has an important role to play.

"To say the status quo is acceptable is something we’re not prepared to accept," she added.

In 2012, the city changed its permit structure for fields in the middle of a season, a move Pitre called "ill-conceived."

The changes were delayed and are still being discussed by a working group, she said, adding sports teams, if they must pay more, want to know "what we get for it" in facility improvements.