Olivia Chow has been elected the new mayor of Toronto. With virtually all of the city’s 1,451 polls reporting, Chow had over 268,000 votes, or just over 37 percent of the total.
Chow, a former NDP MP and former city councillor, told supporters she is grateful for all the support.
“Thank you to the people of Toronto, for the trust you have placed in me and the mandate for change as your new mayor,” she said amid cheers from the crowd.
“I will dedicate myself to work tirelessly and building a city that’s more caring, affordable and safe, where everyone belongs,” she said.
It’s a political comeback for Chow, who finished third in the race for Toronto mayor in 2014.
Chow campaigned on a platform that included making life more affordable and providing more affordable housing.
“That shared belief in what’s possible is what will sustain us in the months ahead,” she told supporters. “Building more affordable housing, making TTC [transit] safer, faster and more reliable!”
And to cheers, she said Toronto is a place of hope, and second chances.
“A place where if we chip in a little more, we can improve public services and make our city more livable.”
“It’s never been more important to get on with building homes and public transit, especially where they can be built together to create communities where people can live, work, and enjoy time with their friends and family,” his statement added.
The Progressive Conservative premier added that he is committed to work with Chow, despite any political differences. “As I’ve always said, I will work with anyone ready to work with our government to better our city and province. There’s nothing we can’t achieve when we work together,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also posted his congratulations on Twitter.
The high cost of housing was one of the biggest issues in the campaign, along with problems like homelessness and making the city’s transit system better.
All of the main candidates had promises to get more housing built—the only real difference was how they were going to do it. Some, like Chow, were hoping to get governments more involved in building housing, while others saw a bigger role for the private sector.
The election was tight, and for part of the evening former city councillor Ana Bailao was in the lead.
Bailao, a former deputy mayor, finished second with more than 234,000 votes, or more than 32 percent of the total.
“We believed in our message … the message of building housing, of fixing services, and making life more affordable,” she told supporters. “And people listened—with the amount of votes we got tonight, people heard our message.”
While Chow and Bailao were close most of the evening, the other candidates fell far behind.
Former police chief Mark Saunders came in third, with over 62,000 votes, more than 8 percent of the vote.
Journalist Anthony Furey, a political newcomer, was fourth with over 35,800 votes, or almost 5 percent of the total.
Chow will be taking the reins of a city that is facing a $1.5 billion deficit, caused in part by the pandemic and lost public transit revenue. She told supporters change is not going to happen overnight.
“The work of changing a city left behind by decades of neglect is not going to be easy,” said Chow. “The work of change is always hard. We will face some roadblocks along the way. But I know we can make it happen by committing ourselves to each other, and to the city we love.”
Chow began her political career in the 1980s as a school board trustee. She was first elected to the Toronto city council in 1992, and after that was elected an NDP MP. She is the widow of the late NDP Leader Jack Layton.
In her speech, she talked about coming to Canada from Hong Kong with her parents, and the struggle of those early years as an immigrant family.
A record 102 candidates were running in the by-election for mayor, caused by the resignation of former Mayor John Tory earlier this year.
