By Priya Raman
TORONTO — Olivia Chow’s second term as Toronto’s mayor began Tuesday with a friendlier city council and a $1.1-billion budget gap. A cooling real estate market is part of the reason the gap may be hard to close.
Ms. Chow won Monday’s election with 532,201 votes, or 54.2 per cent, to 404,013, or 41.1 per cent, for Councillor Brad Bradford, CBC News reported. Turnout was about 46 per cent, the highest since 2014, according to The Canadian Press. CP said the roughly 13-point margin would be the narrowest win by a sitting mayor since the city’s 1998 amalgamation.
“Tonight, the people of Toronto have spoken,” Ms. Chow told supporters at The Great Hall on Queen Street West. “You have given me the extraordinary honour of continuing to serve as your mayor.”
Mr. Bradford, speaking earlier from the Fairmont Royal York, did not contest the result. “It’s indisputable, and she has my good wishes,” he said, according to CBC.
The bill comes due
Ms. Chow’s first term was shaped by a $1.8-billion shortfall she inherited in 2023. She closed it with two large property tax increases and a deal with Premier Doug Ford’s government. Under that deal, Ontario took over the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway and provided $1.2 billion in operating money for transit and shelters, while the city dropped its opposition to the Ontario Place redevelopment.
That deal is set to expire. The city projects a 2027 budget hole of about $1.1 billion, according to The Canadian Press. TTC ridership is still below pre-pandemic levels, and a softening real estate market is expected to squeeze the municipal land transfer tax, a major source of city revenue.
Ms. Chow has also promised to hold property tax increases at or below inflation, after taxes rose 18.5 per cent during her first term, CP24 reported. She repeated that pledge on Tuesday.
“I do know the budget very well. I just hope that there is no surprises from outside the City of Toronto, but I don’t expect any,” she told reporters, according to The Canadian Press. She said she had exchanged texts with the premier that morning.
Mr. Ford, who praised Ms. Chow during the campaign but stopped short of endorsing her, congratulated her and said he would “work with anyone to drive the economy to make sure we protect communities and companies and people” from U.S. tariffs.
Housing and the new council
Ms. Chow’s housing platform promises 10,000 new rental home starts in 2027, with at least 20 per cent of them affordable. She has also promised a “bad landlords taskforce” to conduct proactive inspections, according to CP24. Her other pledges include capping weekly TTC fares after 10 rides, a fourth straight fare freeze and free school lunches.
Her allies on the new council will make those pledges easier to pass. Tenant organizer Chiara Padovani unseated Frances Nunziata, who had held York South-Weston since 1997. Housing advocate Diana Chan McNally is projected to take Parkdale-High Park. Former MP Nate Erskine-Smith, who allied himself with Ms. Chow, won Beaches-East York. Mr. Bradford gave up his council seat to run for mayor.
“There’s a firm belief that we are stronger together,” Ms. Chow said Tuesday. “They know that we can take better care of each other.”
A night of upsets elsewhere
Ms. Chow held on as incumbents fell across the region. Mississauga’s Carolyn Parrish lost to Alvin Tedjo. Hamilton’s Andrea Horwath and Windsor’s Drew Dilkens were also defeated.
Asked Tuesday whether this would be her last campaign, Ms. Chow, 69, did not commit. “I’m going to spend every moment of today and the next four years working hard for the people of Toronto,” she said.
Leave a Reply