Chow said big tax hikes would help her fix a broken city. But can she convince voters who are still waiting for the payoff

Mayor Olivia Chow was running late.

For the journalists waiting in a conference room at Toronto Star headquarters on a recent afternoon, it was easy to see why. Many floors below, the traffic on Spadina Avenue was bumper to bumper as drivers made their way to the construction-clogged Gardiner Expressway, and even the streetcars were crawling in their dedicated lanes.

Chow and her apologetic staff arrived at her interview with the Star’s editorial board about 15 minutes behind schedule, and jokes about the city’s notorious gridlock aside — the mayor says she’s striving to fix it — her delayed arrival was fitting.