Olivia Chow has been elected mayor of Toronto, winning by a slim margin after dominating the polls throughout the campaign.
In her victory speech, Chow thanked supporters for the “mandate for change” she was given. She said she wants to build more affordable housing, make transit safer and more reliable, and keep Ontario Place public, despite the provincial government’s plans to build a mega spa on the site.
Today is the “starting point,” Chow said, calling on the crowd to keep sending her their ideas and promising to “open up city hall.” It won’t be easy, she said, “but I know we can make it happen by committing ourselves to each other and to the city we love.”
Chow said she got a call from Premier Doug Ford, who said he was ready to work with her on shared priorities like building homes and transit.
“The people have sent a message today: they want to get things done,” she said, stealing Ford’s campaign slogan.
“Well, Mr. Premier, we are ready. Let’s work together to get it done.”
The former Toronto councillor and NDP MP quickly became the frontrunner when she jumped into the race this spring and kept a wide polling gap between herself and the other contenders. Several of her opponents pitched themselves as the only ones able to stop Chow, and none dropped out.
She narrowly defeated former deputy mayor Ana Bailão, 37 per cent to 32 per cent. Bailão was the choice of former mayor John Tory, whose resignation kicked off the byelection, and she pitched herself as a pragmatic consensus-builder. It did not resonate with quite enough voters after nearly a decade of Tory's pragmatic consensus-building.
The vibe at Chow HQ — The Great Hall on Toronto’s Queen Street West — whipped between tense and euphoric throughout the night. Supporters were all smiles before polls started trickling in at 8 p.m., taking advantage of the well-stocked bar at the back of the room. When Bailão jumped out to a 5,000-vote lead and stayed there, brows furrowed, faces turned downward and fingers refreshed various live-results pages.
Meanwhile, cheers grew to a fever pitch at Bailão’s party in the cavernous Revival Theatre in Little Italy.
But it was not to last.
At 8:30 p.m., with 86 per cent of polls reporting, Chow had her breakthrough. The giant CP24 projector at Chow’s party showed a 2 per cent lead for the home team. The place exploded. Chants of “O-liv-ia!” broke out. “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas blared on speakers.
As Chow pulled ahead, a sullen silence fell over Bailão’s crowd. Supporters who had just been jumping up and down stood still, hands over mouths, as Bailão’s lead melted away. Not 20 minutes later, people started moving towards the door.
The lead only grew for the next half hour until one by one, outlets called it for Chow. When CP24 interrupted its expert panel to confirm the news, the shrieks at Chow’s party began anew and a disembodied voice let everyone know the mayor-elect would wait for the runners-up before giving her victory speech.
When Bailão took the stage, she was celebratory, declaring “I have no regrets” to more cheers and chants of “Ana! Ana!”
"We took it to Scarborough, we took it to North York, we took it to Etobicoke and we took it to downtown, and people listened, with the amount of votes that we got tonight,” she said. “I have no regrets.”
“I’m really very grateful to all the people that worked so hard. I’m very proud to have brought people from across the political spectrum and across different sectors — from labour to business to mayors and city councillors and former city councillors.”
So, what’s next for Bailão? “Continue to just think.”
Asked about the effect of John Tory’s endorsement on her result, Bailão told The Green Line, “I think that the work that this campaign has done, the fact that I had nine councillors endorse me and three mayors — including John Tory — it demonstrated to people the fact that I bring people together, the fact that I have the experience and the leadership and the track record, and people were comfortable with saying that and expressing that.”
The outcome marks the second political defeat for Mark Saunders, who earned only 9 per cent of the vote. The former Toronto police chief was seen by some — including Premier Ford — as the right's best shot at holding onto the mayor's office. Saunders ran in the 2022 provincial election under the PC banner in Don Valley West and lost to Liberal Stephanie Bowman.
Near the end of the campaign, Saunders anointed himself the “Stop Olivia Chow” candidate and brought that message to the premier’s summer Ford Fest party.
But speaking to supporters at his election night party shortly after Chow’s victory was sealed, Saunders called on Torontonians to “support Olivia Chow.”
“We want what’s best for the best city in the world,” said Saunders, who also thanked his supporters, fellow candidates and family in his short speech.
Chow also batted away serious contenders for the progressive vote. Longtime councillor Josh Matlow was a potential frontrunner before Chow entered the race, but took home only 5 per cent.
“I look forward to having a coffee with mayor-elect Chow. She and I spoke earlier this evening, and we'll have a conversation about the best ways that I can contribute to the success of this city,” he said to a small group of supporters who gathered for him at Bay St. bar. “She's somebody who I know I can work with in a collaborative constructive way.”
He said believes that he got squeezed between Bailão and Chow’s campaigns, which made it a two-person race, costing him progressive voters who went to the winner.
He maintained some momentum until the final weeks when support consolidated behind Chow. And mere days after Chow announced she was running, urbanist Gil Penalosa — the left’s standard-bearer in the 2022 election — dropped out of the race and endorsed her.
Meanwhile, former Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter pitched the most detailed plan of any candidate, with specific tax rates and policies in a costed, 70-page platform, and released a podcast on her plans to "Fix the Six" but failed to gain traction, winning only 3 per cent.
Chow was less detailed, especially about her fiscal plans. The city faces a $1.5-billion budget hole, and she has refused to spell out exactly how she would fill it. She needs to take stock of what the city should accomplish, then figure out a way to pay for it — not the other way around, Chow has said.
She butted heads with Ford repeatedly during the campaign. Ford made a last-ditch effort to steer voters away from Chow last week, saying it would be an "unmitigated disaster" if she were elected.
Likewise, Chow has been critical of the premier's plans for Ontario Place and the Science Centre but has not attacked him as pointedly as other candidates.
She has promised not to use the strong-mayor powers Ford bestowed on the mayors of Toronto and many other cities.
After Chow’s victory was clear, the premier issued a conciliatory statement, praising her “desire and dedication to serving the city that many of us call home.”
“I hope that we continue to have a willing partner in the city of Toronto as we deliver on our plan to build Ontario,” he said. “As I’ve always said, I will work with anyone ready to work with our government to better our city and province.”
This story is part of a partnership between The Green Line and The Trillium for readers who care deeply about Toronto and the people, policies, and politics at play. We’re pairing The Green Line’s unique community-driven, solutions-oriented journalism with The Trillium’s signature insider coverage of Ontario politics and policy to dig deep into the city’s problems and connect you with the plans the Toronto mayoral candidates are proposing to fix them.
Jack Hauen and Charlie Pinkerton are reporters for The Trillium. Anthony Milton and Kuwarjeet Singh report for The Green Line.
