Olivia Chow elected Toronto's next mayor, vowing a more progressive approach at city hall

Olivia Chow was elected Toronto's next mayor in an unexpectedly close race Monday, promising to bring a more progressive approach after more than a decade of conservative leadership at city hall.

The former downtown Toronto NDP MP and city councillor bested a record field of 102 candidates that included about a half dozen established contenders. Among those rivals was second-place finisher Ana Bailão — a past deputy to former mayor John Tory, whose shock resignation in February triggered the byelection.

Chow, who was born in Hong Kong and came to Toronto at age 13, will become the third woman and first racialized person to serve as mayor in the city's history. She steps into the top spot as it grapples with a massive budget shortfall, an affordability crisis and public safety concerns.

"If you ever doubted what's possible together, if you ever questioned your faith in a better future and what we can do with each other, for each other, tonight is your answer," Chow said in her speech to a crowd of cheering supporters.

"Thank you to the people of Toronto for the trust you've placed in me and the mandate for change as your new mayor."

Public opinion polls had pegged the 66-year-old as the frontrunner throughout the six-week contest, often enjoying a double-digit lead over her closest rivals. Final polls conducted before election day indicated a late Bailão surge, prompted in part by a last-minute endorsement from Tory.

"I want to sincerely, sincerely congratulate Olivia Chow on her win tonight," Bailão said during a concession speech. "Our city faces many challenges and I wish you all the best as you navigate these challenges alongside city council and working with other governments."

With more than 99 per cent of polls reporting, it appears Chow won all of Toronto's downtown wards — including Bailão's former ward of Davenport — and five of six wards in Scarborough. Meanwhile, Bailão managed to win in all three Etobicoke wards and all of the north Toronto wards except for Willowdale.

During a campaign that saw several candidates issue dire warnings about the state and future of the city, Chow generally offered a more hopeful outlook. She said often her mayoralty would be "people-centred" and that she wants to build a Toronto that is "more caring, more affordable and safer for everyone."

An Olivia Chow supporter reacts to the candidate's close win at an election night party at the Great Hall in Toronto on June 26, 2023. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Among her headline commitments is a pledge to get the city back into social housing development and an annual $100 million investment in a program to purchase affordable homes and transfer them to non-profits and land trusts.

She previously ran for mayor in 2014, falling from the top position early in the campaign to place in a distant third. Chow will be Toronto's first progressive mayor since David Miller, whose tenure ended in 2010.

She benefited this time around from a fractured field, with a number of other leading candidates like ex-police chief Mark Saunders and conservative newspaper columnist Anthony Furey vying for support from conservative-leaning voters. Bailão was a reliable council ally to Tory during his mayoral tenure and was widely viewed as the most obvious candidate to carry on his brand of leadership.

Chow campaigned from the left, promising to boost rent supplements by introducing a "luxury home tax," an expanded land transfer tax on homes sold for $3 million and over. She also said she'll triple the city's existing vacant homes tax to three per cent.

Chow will inherit largely untested strong mayor powers, however she has repeatedly said she wouldn't use them to override "majority rule" in council. In theory they would allow Chow to pass budgets with just one-third council support, veto bylaws and unilaterally shape the city's top-level administration.

She did not release a fully-costed platform, and repeatedly declined to say by how much she would need to raise property taxes to pay for her suite of commitments — a focal point of criticism from her main rivals throughout the campaign.

The last week of the campaign saw Ontario Premier Doug Ford all but formally endorse Saunders, warning at an unrelated news conference that a Chow mayoralty would be an "unmitigated disaster" and that she would raise taxes at an "unprecedented rate."

Ana Bailão gives her concession speech to supporters in Toronto on June 26, 2023. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

Ford's pointed attack raises questions about Chow's relationship with Queen's Park as the city faces a $1.5-billion budget hole that will almost certainly require provincial help to fill.

In a statement Monday night, Ford struck a conciliatory tone, saying he will "work with anyone ready to work with our government to better our city and province.

"Throughout Olivia's life, she has proven her desire and dedication to serving the city that many of us call home. While we're not always going to agree on everything, what we can agree on is our shared commitment to making Toronto a place where businesses, families, and workers can thrive."

Chow has long been a fixture of Toronto politics. She became a school board trustee in 1985, served 12 years on city council representing Trinity-Spadina and eventually became a New Democrat parliamentarian alongside her late husband and former federal NDP leader Jack Layton.

Some of her notable policy stances include supporting an anti-homophobia curriculum in the 1980s, helping bring nutrition programs to Toronto schools in the 1990s and fighting against exploitative immigration consultants in the 2000s.

For much of the last decade, she has run the Institute for Change Leaders at Toronto Metropolitan University where she trained community organizers.