Olivia Chow elected mayor of Toronto in a "change election"
"There's a recognition that ...The lack of affordable housing, problems with transit, perceived deterioration of municipal services ... all trace back to a lack of revenue on the part of the city."
"Chow has promised to not use the 'strong mayor' powers granted by Ford's government... If she keeps her word, that means any tax hike will need council support.
Winning that support begins in earnest today."
I have a theory about the results. We already know who the top two will be, almost certainly, and maybe even the top ten we can make a good stab at, based on the yellow boxes. But I think there will be one more interesting thing in the results: ballot design confusion by some voters, leading to higher than expected numbers for those in pink.
We won't know until the results roll in. But I'm interested to see!
I spoke too soon. Of course Mainstreet is still feeding the Bailão narrative. Their final poll has Chow at 36% and Bailão at 30%.
So, the odds of a win is now 81% for Chow and 19% for Bailão. Well, I'm volunteering to get out the vote for Chow tomorrow. Hopefully she'll win and we can see some change.
“If a left-wing mayor gets in there, we’re toast. I’ll tell you. It would be a disaster in my opinion,” Doug Ford told reporters just days after John Tory resigned.
Final polls have been released. Here's the full picture. Every poll shows that the right wing is worried, and is ditching their preferred candidates for Bailão to try to defeat Chow. This means Bailão is going to owe them a lot of favours if she wins! The right wing will not let her do the progressive stuff she has been talking about, they'll force her into status quo.
Toronto will select a new mayor Monday. Even though it usually has the lowest voter turnout, city government touches our lives much more than provincial or federal does - water, garbage, sidewalks, streets, TTC, fire fighting, EMS, daycares, schools - so you really should take the opportunity to have your say.
Sad to hear that York South Weston tenant activist Chiara Padovani was hit by a pickup truck near Weston Road & Lawrence on Monday while riding her bike to coach a kid's soccer team. She's okay, but it will take awhile for her to recover and be able to walk again.
Looks like that’s a wrap for Josh in this cycle. If elected, I hope Mayor Chow sees Matlow as a close ally rather than a 2026 competitor. Deputy Mayor Matlow can do a lot of good. #voteTO#TOpoli
"I have never seen a leader of a federal party get involved with municipal elections until now. Pierre #Poilievre is doing just that. So is Premier Doug Ford, and neither of them are saying nice things about Olivia Chow.
Your choice is easy, Toronto."
#voteTO
"If you resign as mayor, causing the City to spend millions on an election, you should be banned from even talking about the election, never mind endorsing someone."
"Over the past five years, provincial legislation, enabled by a largely compliant mayor, has diminished the stature of Canada’s largest city & the ability of its residents to democratically participate in its governance—and all without their consent or participation in any way."
The #Conservative vote is divided between the right-leaning, ex-cop Mark Saunders, who's Doug Ford's pick or the former Postmedia -Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey, who's even harder right - more of a Pierre #Poilievre convoy type.
"All you need to know about Ana Bailao is that she’s the “move the Science Centre” candidate & has Ford/Tory insider Nick Kouvalis handling her campaign.
This & much else suggests she is carrying water—and may well carry off #Toronto's waterfront—for Doug Ford."
"People who actually live in Toronto need to get out and vote, and take their damn city back.
It’s a city, not an investment instrument, nor a washing machine for money launderers."