With their electoral showdown less than two weeks away, the leading contenders to be mayor of Toronto offered acutely different visions of the city’s present and its future Wednesday.
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contenders → lead → present
Incumbent Olivia Chow and councillor Brad Bradford each spent an hour fielding questions from Star journalists on some of the most pressing issues facing Torontonians in separate meetings with this newspaper’s editorial board.
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Chow → spend → board
The candidates gave in-depth answers about their plans for the city budget, their leadership styles, and how they would address the interwoven problems of homelessness, addiction and public safety.
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they → give → homelessness
Here are some of the at-times thorny issues they took on.
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they → take → issues
Bradford offers new details of how he’d find the money
Bradford, the councillor for Beaches—East York, has grabbed headlines during the campaign with big-ticket promises.
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Bradford → offer → promises
On Wednesday, he said his campaign is based on “fiscal discipline,” and offered additional details about how he would pay for his ideas.
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he → say → ideas
He provided a handout to Star journalists, indicating his pledge to hire 1,000 new police officers would be funded through the “annual budget review process.”
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pledge → provide → process
(This would be separate from the line-by-line review he’s proposed.)
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he → propose → review
Bradford’s team predicts the police hiring plan would cost an estimated $143 million when fully implemented in its fourth year.
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plan → predict → year
The councillor said it’s not unreasonable to expect to find enough savings in the city’s existing budget to help pay for the new officers.
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it → say → officers
“We’re going to find savings at city hall,” he said.
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he → go → hall
Bradford predicted his plan to provide refunds to TTC passengers for delays of 15 minutes — pegged at $3.5 million to $7 million annually — could be “absorbed” into the existing TTC budget by improving the reliability of the transit system and attracting more paying riders.
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plan → predict → riders
(TTC officials have projected the cost of a refund program would be higher than Bradford’s estimate and as much as upwards of $50 million.
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cost → project → estimate
Currently, the agency is projecting a $148 million shortfall for 2027.)
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agency → project → 2027
A more expensive transit policy — installing platform edge doors at subway stations — would be funded, said Bradford, through his plan to eliminate the annual practice of using hundreds of millions of dollars from the operating budget to pay for infrastructure.
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Bradford → instal → infrastructure
He said it’s a measure that could also free up money for other policy proposals.
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that → say → proposals
Bradford has also promised to freeze the residential property tax rate in his first year (he has said he would maintain the annual council-approved 1.5 per cent hike for the city building fund), while protecting front-line services.
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he → promise → services
But he didn’t rule out raising taxes or taking on more debt later in his term to pay for his priorities.
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he → rule → priorities
“I think you would assess it based on the context of the situation and the time,” he said when asked if those options were on the table.
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options → think → table
In her editorial board meeting, Chow said Bradford’s plan amounted to making promises and saying “I can find the money somewhere.”
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I → say → money
She charged that his policies are so expensive he couldn’t deliver them without cutting services.
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he → charge → services
“I’m doing the math.
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I → do → math
Someone contradict my math,” she said.
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she → contradict → math
Bradford denies disparaging colleagues
Bradford rejected an allegation in a recent story in news outlet The Local that, according to unnamed former staffers, he referred to women councillors using the word “bitch.”
“Absolutely not true,” he said.
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he → deny → word
Asked about reports that he can be difficult to work with, Bradford described himself as a “passionate guy” who is trying to do his best for the city, and said he could co-operate with councillors he disagreed with if elected.
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he → ask → councillors
“I’m pretty relentless in the pursuit of things that need to be fixed, and you know I want to work with everybody to get that done,” he said.
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he → ’m → everybody
Chow defends handling of fallout from Gaza war and security concerns of Jewish community
Chow has faced intense scrutiny from some quarters for her handling of the local reverberations of the war in Gaza.
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Chow → defend → Gaza
She has also received criticism that she’s been insufficiently empathetic to fears from Toronto’s Jewish community at a time of rising hate crimes.
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she → receive → crimes
Asked what she would say to Jewish voters who have such critiques, Chow noted said she has denounced antisemitism, attended most vigils, visited Jewish schools that have been targeted in shootings, and gone to events such as the Nova Massacre exhibit.
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that → ask → exhibit
She further pointed to significant police resources deployed to protect Jewish institutions.
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She → point → institutions
Vote Compass data shows Toronto voters divide on housing and property taxes, in what feels like ‘two different cities.’
Vote Compass data shows Toronto voters divide on housing and property taxes, in what feels like ‘two different cities.’
She said the “only thing” she hasn’t done was attend the Walk for Israel, “because I do not agree with what the Israeli government is doing and I’ve said so,” said Chow, who has called Israel’s attack on Gaza after the Oct. 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas a genocide.
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who → show → Hamas
“I do as much as I can in supporting the Jewish community in Toronto.
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I → do → Toronto
But I will not shy away about criticizing what’s happening in Gaza, because I do not agree with it and I have a right to say so.”
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I → shy → right
When asked why she supported the so-called “bubble zone” bylaw, which limits protests around specific institutions — a decision that angered pro-Palestine protesters — Chow said residents have a right to access child care centres and synagogues.
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residents → ask → centres
The bylaw was created after a large protest at a Thornhill synagogue promoting illegal land sales in the occupied West Bank.
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bylaw → create → Bank
The Star revealed last year that the city solicitor advised Toronto city council before the vote that the city would likely lose a court challenge as the bylaw could be unconstitutional.
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bylaw → reveal → challenge
Chow denies she’s lacking ‘bold’ ideas
Chow, who is seeking a second term, has mostly stuck to building on policies she’d drafted while in office during this campaign.
When asked where are the “bold ideas” from a progressive mayor, she insisted her proposals to expand her mid-morning snack program for all kids to lunch, freeze TTC fares and implement a weekly cap are ambitious.
“Don’t tell me that feeding every kid a lunch is not bold and ambitious,” she said.
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she → deny → lunch
“For a family that can’t afford to buy groceries, it matters.
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it → afford → groceries
They can either face eviction or stop buying protein for their kids.”
She argued there’s no point in making big promises that are not realistic.
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that → face → promises
“Where are we now with SmartTrack?” Chow said, referencing John Tory’s 2014 campaign promise of a 22-stop regional line that has shrunk to just three stations and has blown over budget.
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that → say → budget
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
