TORONTO

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti says give him four years and the co-operation of the municipal, provincial and federal governments and he’ll reduce gang violence in Toronto.

If, in the unlikely event, council agreed to give him permission to pursue an anti-gang strategy and he could get the help of the federal and provincial governments, he could reduce violence in the city, Mammoliti said Wednesday.

“If that did not show results over a four year period than I would resign my seat,” Mammoliti said. “I’m so confident that by adopting a particular plan, a tough plan, that you’d see a substantial decrease in what we’re experiencing right now.”

Mammoliti’s call to tackle gun and gang violence comes just over a week after a mass shooting in Scarborough that killed two people and injured 23 others.

Part of Mammoliti’s plan at the city level would see the city immediately cut off any social benefits for anyone caught co-operating with gang members or found with an illegal gun in their home.

“If they happen to be on welfare and it was found they knew (about criminal activity) they would immediately be cutoff from any government assistance,” he said.

If someone lived in Toronto Community Housing and had criminals living with them, Mammoliti said they would be kicked out of TCHC.

Money spent right now on “mentorship programs” aimed at older teens would be spent instead on kids between the ages of 3 and 5, he said.

“In other words, I’d basically say the 20-year-olds, we’re wasting a lot of money with, it is not going to work, it hasn’t worked,” he said.

Under his plan, Mammoliti said the province would need to make it easier for landlords to evict criminals and the feds to pass a resolution that would immediately deport any immigrant who was convicted of a gang-related crime.

“The other thing I would want changed federally is the definition of a terrorist because a gang member is a terrorist,” he said.

He also vowed to ask the federal government to bring back the death penalty.

“These are the sorts of things that need to happen that nobody is talking about,” Mammoliti said. “All anyone is talking about is further investments into programs that have not worked for the last 40 years.”

Councillor Adam Vaughan said making Mammoliti Toronto’s “gang czar” and giving him four years to solve the problem won’t work.

“It’s the sort of thing you see out of some sort of Hollywood concocted municipal campaign,” Vaughan said. “I’d rather solve this problem in Toronto with Torontonians.”

“It’s just a more complex conversation than the one Giorgio seems to be wanting to have,” he added.

Vaughan said he thought Mammoliti was busy trying to solve the city’s child care and arena issues.

“Surrendering the will of council to a single individual and then waiting four years to see if we get results ... what are we going to do wait four years before we decide he’s wrong?” Vaughan said.

“I’m just not sure I’d give that power to myself let alone anybody else. Community safety requires community action. It requires partnership between government and local authorities. It has to be sometimes customized to particular neighbourhoods.

“There is no cookie cutter approach, one-size fits all approach to this that I think is going to work. We need to sit down as councillors and solve problems in our wards and work together to make sure the resources that are there.”