LILLEY: Solitary contender needed to topple Chow in next year's mayoral race
Splitting vote in any way in 2026 municipal election will simply hand Chow second term
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Who can defeat Olivia Chow?
That’s one of the most common questions in local political circles these days.
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Toronto’s mayor is doing a horrible job, including trying to chase away jobs from Home Depot with her ridiculous comments this week. She isn’t focused on economic development and it shows. The city’s unemployment rate stands at 8.6%, well above the national average, as there are 352,000 people out of work in the city.
The streets are still a mess, whether it is the state of the roads or the garbage that isn’t picked up and the garbage bins that are busted.
The encampments in parks move from location to location and our shelter system is at a breaking point, even after expanding to close to 10,000 beds. Most of those beds in the expansion are taken up by asylum-seekers, meaning the federal government should be paying for that, but when was the last time you heard her advocate for the city on that issue?
Police Chief Myron Demkiw was boasting Tuesday at City Hall that major crime indicators were down, but that’s only compared to last year’s record-setting pace. Despite the decline from last year, major crimes — from assault to auto theft — are up substantially compared to five or 10 years ago.
We have seen an incredible growth in antisemitism and Chow has been mostly silent. Toronto made headlines around the world after Dave Portnoy, the celebrity founder of Barstool Sports, had “f— the Jews” yelled at him as he was recording a video about pizza on Harbord St. this week – yet nothing from Chow.
As nice as Chow is — I’ve known her for close to 20 years and get along with her — she is not the leader the city needs. We need to find a solid single candidate to run against her in 2026, one who will bring stability and sanity back to city hall.
There is a long list of potential candidates, but Chow will surely be re-elected if more than one of them enters the race.
Councillor Brad Bradford is looking to run again, as he did in the byelection that put Chow into office. Former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey, who also ran in the byelection, is seriously considering another run. Former councillor Ana Bailao is said to be considering another run as well, but didn’t return calls, while Marco Mendicino, a former MP and current chief of staff to Prime Minister Mark Carney, is considering throwing his hat into the ring.
“I would run as the pro-business, tough-on-crime candidate who is focused on getting the city back on track and getting infrastructure built,” Furey said when contacted Wednesday.
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Bradford said he keeps hearing about higher taxes, poorer services and no accountability at city hall.
“I’m hearing from residents across the entire city of Toronto that they are frustrated for paying more and getting less; it’s time for new leadership,” Bradford said.
There is one name that keeps casting a shadow over the race and could force some of the other potential candidates drop out if he runs: John Tory.
Tory is keeping his cards close to his chest and declined to comment. A reporter for Toronto Today approached him Tuesday while he was having coffee in the Financial District and he was non-committal about another run at the mayor’s office, which of course got tongues wagging.
He didn’t want to comment when I reached out to him Wednesday, either, but the chatter about Tory running again has been non-stop for months. Depending on who you believe, he’s either being encouraged to run or is telling people privately he will run.
“He’s 50-50,” said a former adviser.
“He’s running, 100%” said another political activist.
Some of those encouraging Tory to run are telling him to announce his candidacy by Canada Day to scare off any other potential candidates and ensure there is one solitary candidate in the centre or centre right of the political spectrum. Regardless of whether it is Tory or any of the other candidates, there is wisdom in putting forward just one sensible and serious candidate against Chow, but does that have to be decided now?
The race for mayor officially starts in April 2026, but the public doesn’t usually pay attention until after Labour Day. If there is more than one candidate running, they could treat the time between April and September as a primary of sorts.
The goal is to have one candidate when it counts, so that Chow doesn’t get a second term.
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