Olivia Chow is now the mayor of Toronto, having bested a field of 102 at the end of June.
Instead of the usual six-week transition, Chow opted for a quick start having been sworn in just over two weeks after being elected.
Even before taking the oath of office on July 12, Chow got to work holding meetings with organizations and officials focused on creating housing, meaning affordable housing, which had been a key point during the by-election campaign period.
Chow campaigned on a promise to build 25,000 rent-controlled homes on city lands over the next eight years.
Given the spectacle of unhoused refugees lining city sidewalks, the lack of reasonable shelter is a growing crisis.
Further, Chow and the rest of Toronto City Council will also have to quickly find the answer to the city’s $1.5 billion budget shortfall.
While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford both eagerly congratulated Chow on her election, the federal and provincial leaders both made no commitments on the needed bailout.
For his part, Trudeau passed the buck to Ford, saying earlier: “The provinces need to step up now to support cities that are their area of jurisdiction.”
The new mayor has offered up one longer term solution which is projected to save the city hundreds of millions by replacing the elevated eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway with a boulevard.
Chow has said the city would save money by doing this, which could then go to improving transit and housing. It is good that she is flagging that prospect now since rebuilding that sector of the Gardiner is scheduled for 2026.
Every person elected to a high-profile position such as Mayor of Toronto is usually allowed a honeymoon period. With a number of longstanding and pressing issues demanding solutions, we shall see how much leeway Chow is allowed.
As soon as he was elected, Rob Ford won support from the rest of council to cancel the annual vehicle registration tax, despite the cost to the budget bottom line of an annual $60 million.
While TTC fares went up in March 2015, then newly elected mayor, John Tory, made public transit free for children under the age of 12 years.
We await the first grand gesture from Chow.
One reassurance is that the new mayor is no neophyte. Chow’s political resume began in 1985 having been elected as a Toronto school board trustee. From 1992 to 2005, Chow served as a Toronto councillor; that is, both pre- and post-amalgamation.
She then went to Ottawa as the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Trinity-Spadina from 2006 to 2014.
In 2014, she resigned from Parliament to campaign to become mayor of Toronto. That election was won by John Tory, who received more votes than Doug Ford (currently the Progressive Conservative premier of Ontario) and Chow, respectively.
Toronto has now seen the results of almost 20 years of fiscal restraint and ‘efficiencies’ while at the same time continuing to swell police funding.
Almost 25 per cent of the city budget goes to funding Police Services, the Police Services Board, and the Police Parking Authority. In 2023 with an increase of more than $43 million, that amounts to $1.16 billion dollars.
This figure represents a greater amount than what is allocated for employment services, shelter and social housing and children’s services combined.
Now, it’s Chow’s time to lead. While change is a constant refrain among those seeking election, as a politician on the left of the political spectrum, Chow’s election does signal Torontonians’ desire for a new direction.
