2026 Toronto Mayoral Race

[Northern Light]

Tory saw the latest polls.

I do hope this opens the possibility that someone in the centre runs against Chow and Bradford. I'd never vote for Brad Brad but Olivia has been a mild disappointment to me. While she's been barely competent and surprisingly effective at dealing with Doug Ford, I've noticed the city breaking in little ways due to her more lefty inclinations. The visibility of social ills in public space like tents in parks, homeless people on sidewalk grates and their belongings strewn about all over downtown and on streetcars, and completely giving up on handling the anarchy on our roads and sidewalks. Red light runners with total impunity, cops don't care about traffic enforcement anymore despite their budget going up every year, food couriers running into pedestrians (my rib bruises are finally clearing up, still sore...ouch), there's just no handling of this situation at all.

While Olivia has been imperfect....... I'd go the other way vs your take and say she has exceeded my expectations for the most part.

Here's why:

1) She has mostly delivered (and will finish delivering this year) her promise on expanded library hours with every branch in the City open 7 days per week.

2) She expanded outdoor pool hours last year.

3) She has expanded school lunch programs significantly.

4) While late to the game she has tackled the slow streetcar issue head-on in a way we've never seen before. Proof will be in the pudding on Finch and Eglinton, among others, but signs are this will be a big step in the right direction. She tackled RapidTO on Dufferin and Bathurst south of Bloor and both have cut street parking, added turn restrictions and sought to expedite transit.

5) She's delivering on fare capping which is way overdue, with a move to 47 fares this September but then 40 next year.

6) She's continued with EHON reforms begun under Tory and moved the needle on making density on main streets easier. We're already seeing the results.

7) She's tackling the issue of parks washrooms in disrepair and generally not open year round, fully funding a program to renovate or rebuild more than 100 parks washrooms in fairly quick succession with all the rebuilds to be open year-round.

8) She's finishing Union Station getting the Great Hall flooring and lighting done, and jersey barriers removed from out front (admittedly with rather crappy new barriers, but you can't win'em all)

9) She bit the bullet with 2 well above inflation property tax hikes, which was overdue and needed to make up for past freezes.

10) She's sacked the Parking Authority board and is moving to increased parking prices.

11) She's tackled the issue of fully upgrading Toronto's streetlight system to LED.

12) She's getting several smaller, overdue fixes done, including repairing the Amsterdam Bridge at Harbourfront.

13) While not all staff love her.....she's been more demanding of senior staff and performance than I can remember in a generation. While Rick Leary's departure was high profile, he is one of many, many management changes. Moreover, she hasn't been overly patient with replacements who don't achieve either.

I'll leave it there at lucky 13.....

Are there some disappointments? Sure.

So far, Mr.Lali has underwhelmed at TTC. Parks is still ummm....challenged.

She caved on raising prices at TTC parking lots this year....

There's been too much focus on shelter beds and not enough on affordable housing (permanent apartments )

Recreation Centres need the same expanded hours as libraries (mainly they need to add evening service on weekends across the board)

****

On encampments......the City has removed more, more assertively in her brief tenure than the entirety of John Tory's reign.

Its been done more quietly, but there's unmistakably less of that, not more.

Should there be more diligence on fare enforcement and poor behavior on TTC? Sure I agree.

But really, not a bad package when you look top to bottom. I think she deserves another term to address the outstanding issues noted above and a few more.

 

[nightstreak]

While Olivia has been imperfect....... I'd go the other way vs your take and say she has exceeded my expectations for the most part.

Here's why:

1) She has mostly delivered (and will finish delivering this year) her promise on expanded library hours with every branch in the City open 7 days per week.

2) She expanded outdoor pool hours last year.

3) She has expanded school lunch programs significantly.

4) While late to the game she has tackled the slow streetcar issue head-on in a way we've never seen before. Proof will be in the pudding on Finch and Eglinton, among others, but signs are this will be a big step in the right direction. She tackled RapidTO on Dufferin and Bathurst south of Bloor and both have cut street parking, added turn restrictions and sought to expedite transit.

5) She's delivering on fare capping which is way overdue, with a move to 47 fares this September but then 40 next year.

6) She's continued with EHON reforms begun under Tory and moved the needle on making density on main streets easier. We're already seeing the results.

7) She's tackling the issue of parks washrooms in disrepair and generally not open year round, fully funding a program to renovate or rebuild more than 100 parks washrooms in fairly quick succession with all the rebuilds to be open year-round.

8) She's finishing Union Station getting the Great Hall flooring and lighting done, and jersey barriers removed from out front (admittedly with rather crappy new barriers, but you can't win'em all)

9) She bit the bullet with 2 well above inflation property tax hikes, which was overdue and needed to make up for past freezes.

10) She's sacked the Parking Authority board and is moving to increased parking prices.

11) She's tackled the issue of fully upgrading Toronto's streetlight system to LED.

12) She's getting several smaller, overdue fixes done, including repairing the Amsterdam Bridge at Harbourfront.

13) While not all staff love her.....she's been more demanding of senior staff and performance than I can remember in a generation. While Rick Leary's departure was high profile, he is one of many, many management changes. Moreover, she hasn't been overly patient with replacements who don't achieve either.

I'll leave it there at lucky 13.....

Are there some disappointments? Sure.

So far, Mr.Lali has underwhelmed at TTC. Parks is still ummm....challenged.

She caved on raising prices at TTC parking lots this year....

There's been too much focus on shelter beds and not enough on affordable housing (permanent apartments )

Recreation Centres need the same expanded hours as libraries (mainly they need to add evening service on weekends across the board)

****

On encampments......the City has removed more, more assertively in her brief tenure than the entirety of John Tory's reign.

Its been done more quietly, but there's unmistakably less of that, not more.

Should there be more diligence on fare enforcement and poor behavior on TTC? Sure I agree.

But really, not a bad package when you look top to bottom. I think she deserves another term to address the outstanding issues noted above and a few more.

Some good points, not all impress me — different priorities for different voters, to be sure— but I'll give her credit for these nonetheless. She's certainly done far better than John Tory or any other candidates who ran for his replacement would have. Her biggest accomplishment was offloading the Gardiner which has kept City Council in a budget noose for as long as I recall following city budgets with Mayors from all stripes.

That said, the city feels less safe, more dirty and a lot less courteous. People may not always see the connection but I like the analogy of the municipal government as parents to their citizen children. When your mom slaps you on the back of the head for running a red light, you stop doing that — lest you get the boomerang sandal.

Little cuts, big annoyances and senses of injustice ricochet throughout society, influencing how it feels to live in a city. She's had 3 years and it feels worse. Perhaps the position we're in now was inherited and she could use another term, but Olivia will nonetheless be getting an earfull from me if she comes to my door with regards to my expectations.

 

[Northern Light]

Some good points, not all impress me — different priorities for different voters, to be sure— but I'll give her credit for these nonetheless. She's certainly done far better than John Tory or any other candidates who ran for his replacement would have. Her biggest accomplishment was offloading the Gardiner which has kept City Council in a budget noose for as long as I recall following city budgets with Mayors from all stripes.

I would argue she's a fair bit better than Rob Ford, so at least the best Mayor since Miller.

Granted, that may not be as high a bar as one would prefer.....still.

That said, the city feels less safe.

I'm always big on evidence.

So let's look at some on that score, shall we?

Homicides at literal record lows:

Shootings/fire arm discharges at 5-year lows by a considerable margin:

Looking at the broader range of offenses (was called major crime indicators):

Also a down trend every year since she's been mayor and a 4 year low.

Robberies are down, Auto theft is down, only a handful of indicators are marginally negative (regular assaults) but when you adjust those for population growth they are also down per capita.

Now, lets grant, shoplifting is definitely up vs pre-pandemic, but that isn't a threat to the typical person in the same way as the above, even if it is unfortunate.

 

[nightstreak]

I would argue she's a fair bit better than Rob Ford, so at least the best Mayor since Miller.

Granted, that may not be as high a bar as one would prefer.....still.



I'm always big on evidence.

So let's look at some on that score, shall we?

Homicides at literal record lows:

View attachment 719068

Shootings/fire arm discharges at 5-year lows by a considerable margin:

View attachment 719069

Looking at the broader range of offenses (was called major crime indicators):

View attachment 719070

Also a down trend every year since she's been mayor and a 4 year low.

Robberies are down, Auto theft is down, only a handful of indicators are marginally negative (regular assaults) but when you adjust those for population growth they are also down per capita.

Now, lets grant, shoplifting is definitely up vs pre-pandemic, but that isn't a threat to the typical person in the same way as the above, even if it is unfortunate.

Oh I don’t sense that I’m going to be murdered but I do feel less safe. Not every crime gets reported and not everything that makes for a sense of being unsafe is even tracked.

I’ve been hit by an e-bike with fairly painful consequences, constantly jumping out of the way of drivers and ebike food couriers running red lights, physically assaulted by someone who was clearly out of their mind, witnessed a mugging with a knife, and ride the streetcar with unstable people almost every day. All this in the last 2 years. I’ve lived in the city for 25 years and have never felt this sense of unease.

I could make a fair argument that most of these can be tracked to poor city policies or lack of priority on basic municipal services, high cost of living and a lack of civic engagement. I’m not being unreasonable and blaming them all on the current mayor — these are systemic — but I did expect more from her in addressing some of these basic bread and butter policies.

 

[Northern Light]

Oh I don’t sense that I’m going to be murdered but I do feel less safe. Not every crime gets reported and not everything that makes for a sense of being unsafe is even tracked.

I’ve been hit by an e-bike with fairly painful consequences, constantly jumping out of the way of drivers and ebike food couriers running red lights, physically assaulted by someone who was clearly out of their mind, witnessed a mugging with a knife, and ride the streetcar with unstable people almost every day. All this in the last 2 years. I’ve lived in the city for 25 years and have never felt this sense of unease.

I could make a fair argument that most of these can be tracked to poor city policies or lack of priority on basic municipal services, high cost of living and a lack of civic engagement. I’m not being unreasonable and blaming them all on the current mayor — these are systemic — but I did expect more from her in addressing some of these basic bread and butter policies.

I'm content to concede there are issues in the realm of public order ..... that said, anecdotal experiences are always tough, its not a matter of doubt, I've been assaulted in my life, but that happened more than 40 years ago, not recently, knock wood.

I get that if that's your recent experience it will slant your view ( I don't mean that negatively, its a normal reaction to such an act)

That said, the evidence is that minor disorder is up, serious violence is down.

It would be lovely to have both at non-existent levels, but the world is not kind.

I would ask, given that the Mayor is restricted from giving the police operational directions, what is it that you would have her do? {Sincere question) ....give me an actionable answer, I can't promise a policy change, I don't work for the Mayor, but I can definitely get my view heard......

 

[nightstreak]

I would ask, given that the Mayor is restricted from giving the police operational directions, what is it that you would have her do? {Sincere question) ....give me an actionable answer, I can't promise a policy change, I don't work for the Mayor, but I can definitely get my view heard......

Olivia Chow received more votes than Mark Carney and Doug Ford combined. Yes, that doesn't sound like the truth, but it is — even if on a technicality. The mayor of a city, is elected citywide, the Prime Minister and Premier were elected by their constituents of their riding. Being the Mayor of the largest city in the country and the fourth largest in North America gives the Mayor immense power. She speaks for millions of us, her role is to be our voice and to champion policies that benefit us.

If after a friendly conversation with the Chief of Police, they can't come to an agreement on prioritizing traffic enforcement to begin to bring some order to our roads, then the Mayor can have every large newspaper in her office within the hour to give a statement on the topic she wants to make news about. And it will be news. Every day if she wants it to be.

If another priority is mental health support for people who are clearly struggling and making it difficult for others who share the same public realm, she again could make that the topic of news simply by speaking about it and make it uncomfortable for Doug Ford to be the Premier in a province where suddenly a mental health crisis is on the news for weeks on end.

Olivia Chow could both be friendly with the Chief of Police and the Premier and she can be a fighter using her platform to speak for us.

On the surge of food couriers rushing to get everywhere, this is something that the Mayor and City Council have independent control over. Institute mandatory identification plates for e-bikes delivering for food apps. Implement a prohibition on time based incentives in food courier apps. If they don't comply, then they don't have a license to deliver in this city. Yes, everyone wants their food quickly but the apps themselves need to stop incentivizing traffic violations built into how they do business. The city can grant licenses and they can pull them. I'd also like to see the Mayor more open to new technology. Food delivery robots don't break rules and don't run people over because they're trying to make a number of deliveries within impossible time, because they need to pay their rent.

There are plenty of other actions within the scope of the municipal government that can be taken to lower the temperature on interactions between cars, bikes and pedestrians. Narrow car lanes to the minimum provincially allowed. Straighten the corners at intersections and add bump outs at crosswalks to prevent drivers from rounding a corner at red lights — and for god sake, get rid of the dangerous slip lane that she can see right outside her office at Bay and Queen.

Procure new technology to police red light infractions at the city level. If an intersection is important enough to have a traffic light, then it's important enough to enforce it. The old monolithic photo with flash red light cameras are outdated. High speed stereoscopic video and software can detect red light runners and are small enough to be built into the traffic lights themselves.

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

A new rider is potentially entering the race

Michael Ford says he’s giving ‘serious consideration’ to Toronto mayoral run

Michael Ford, a former Toronto city councillor and MPP who is the nephew of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, says he’s seriously considering tossing his hat in the ring to become the city’s next mayor.

www.cp24.com

 

[christiesplits]

A new rider is potentially entering the race

Michael Ford says he’s giving ‘serious consideration’ to Toronto mayoral run

Michael Ford, a former Toronto city councillor and MPP who is the nephew of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, says he’s seriously considering tossing his hat in the ring to become the city’s next mayor.

www.cp24.com

Wow. I believe he left provincial politics for health reasons, so I'm surprised he's entering public life again.

 

[ShonTron]

I’m convinced that Michael Ford was born with FAS (both his parents are complete messes) and so I’m a little bit sympathetic towards him but he has no business being in serious politics. He’s only there because he’s in that family (and still had to change his name) and offers no qualifications of his own.

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

A new rider is potentially entering the race

Michael Ford says he’s giving ‘serious consideration’ to Toronto mayoral run

Michael Ford, a former Toronto city councillor and MPP who is the nephew of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, says he’s seriously considering tossing his hat in the ring to become the city’s next mayor.

www.cp24.com

April Fools Day came a few weeks early..... him and Bradford will wind up splitting the right wing vote if he gets into the race.

 

[RapidTransit]

He won't win, and he knows it.

If anything, he might hurt the Ford brand. Especially when provincial elections come around. And he'll split the right vote.

But with anything, if he says something extreme and outrageous, it can get a lot of people's attention. Getting rid of streetcars, more expressways. No more tax increase for the next 4 years. As ridiculous as it might sound, people will still vote for that.

 

[DSCToronto]

He won't win, and he knows it.

If anything, he might hurt the Ford brand. Especially when provincial elections come around. And he'll split the right vote.

But with anything, if he says something extreme and outrageous, it can get a lot of people's attention. Getting rid of streetcars, more expressways. No more tax increase for the next 4 years. As ridiculous as it might sound, people will still vote for that.

Yes, many people LOVED (and Love) the Ford Family but before we get TOO depressed we should remember that many of our southern neighbours LOVE Trump and even after his disastrous first term, his rebellion and his scandals voted for him again.

 

[TwoWheelPoli]

A new rider is potentially entering the race

Michael Ford says he’s giving ‘serious consideration’ to Toronto mayoral run

Michael Ford, a former Toronto city councillor and MPP who is the nephew of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, says he’s seriously considering tossing his hat in the ring to become the city’s next mayor.

www.cp24.com

Got mixed feelings about this. As much as having Michael Ford split the right wing vote with Brad Bradford could help Olivia Chow, we don't need another Ford in the Mayor's office!

 

[nightstreak]

A new rider is potentially entering the race

Michael Ford says he’s giving ‘serious consideration’ to Toronto mayoral run

Michael Ford, a former Toronto city councillor and MPP who is the nephew of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, says he’s seriously considering tossing his hat in the ring to become the city’s next mayor.

www.cp24.com

I don’t think he could win. He has neither of his uncles' populist charisma. He was elected city councillor in Rob's ward by putting the Ford name on the ballot, riding the sympathy wave and staying out of the public eye. Very different running a citywide election with the intense media spotlight. He's not a bright man to put it politely and it would be immediately noticeable.

All that before talking about how Doug Ford has depleted the Ford brand in Toronto. Rob was going to be defeated before dropping out, Doug was defeated. The only way he's been able to gain so much control over Toronto was running for Premier where he got in after the Liberal cycle had been exhausted and anyone could've won.

 

[Towered]

I’m convinced that Michael Ford was born with FAS (both his parents are complete messes) and so I’m a little bit sympathetic towards him but he has no business being in serious politics. He’s only there because he’s in that family (and still had to change his name) and offers no qualifications of his own.

Agree - just seeing him and listening to him immediately show that there's something "off"...