WARMINGTON: On whether she will run again, Mayor Chow's answer is 'I don't know'

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Just a little more than year out, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has revealed she’s not sure if she will seek re-election.  

Her uncertainty on whether to seek another term had light shined on it Friday morning while she was appearing on Newstalk 1010  

Saying there is a “shadow electoral campaign” that ”has already started” while noting several people have indicated their intentions to put their names on a ballot, morning host John Moore put a point-blank question to 68-year-old Chow.  

“Are you running?”

Chow attempted to dodge the question.  

“I am running the City of Toronto right now,” she said. “I am not doing anything else.”  

Moore came back at her and asked her again.  

“Are you going to be a candidate in the upcoming cycle,” he asked.  

Replied Chow: ”I don’t know.”  

So with those three words, the future leadership of Toronto, at a time when there are so many key issues from refugees to traffic to crime to cost of living in play, is up in the air.  

Chow tried to deflect all of this with her next comment.  

“We are talking about October next year. We are not even in October this year. So (I’m) not thinking about it at this point.”  

Is the Toronto public expected to believe the mayor is not “thinking about” whether or not she will seek re-election? Is her being unsure whether or not to take her record to the public something that could put the city in a position of weakness, in that the federal and provincial governments know they have a person in that seat who may not even be there next year?  

Chow was sworn in as mayor two years ago on July 12, 2023 after a byelection that opened up the position when then-Mayor John Tory resigned, soon after winning his third term, in response to the discovery of him having had a relationship with a female staffer.

Is it only fair to let Chow decide when she announces her intentions? After all, top potential opponents like a comeback-seeking Tory or Councillor Brad Bradford have not yet declared themselves.

One thing that’s different here is usually a year out will indicate whether or not an incumbent will seek another term. Challengers don’t have the same responsibility and are afforded more time. Chow has not responded to questions from the Toronto Sun to clarify just what she meant by her wishy-washy approach to Moore’s appropriate probing.  

The mayor did tell Moore “there are a lot of challenges that we have — whether it’s building housing people can afford, helping some renters, because half of the city of Toronto are renters, so we cannot ignore their needs.”  

She also was strong in her words toward Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal Liberal government to “pay up” when it comes to funding for refugees — who Chow rightfully pointed out Toronto is “sheltering” at great expensive but not getting full compensation in return. 

On Thursday, Chow attended an emotional vigil held in response to the horrendous shooting murder of eight-year-old JahVai Roy, at which she talked about holding on to one’s “anger” about what happened and looking for ways to curb gun smuggling from the United States. 

The mayor was certainly on the job this week. But will she be the one to tackle these challenges a year from now? If not, when will she let Torontonians know?  

Will other levels of government take her hesitancy to reveal her plans as weakness and a void in power, thus creating a lame duck effect? And who will step up and try to take her spot?  

Time will tell.   

But one thing that is clear is Toronto’s current mayor is not being clear on whether she wants the job when this term runs out next October. 

jwarmington@postmedia.com