“Toronto – Canada’s version of a Democrat run city”

Olivia Chow says if she wins the mayoral race on June 26 she will get the wading pools open earlier.

She seems sincere and perhaps with much of the union vote behind her she may soon be in a position to throw taxpayer money at it to make it happen.

Toronto has had a net loss of more than 11,000 young families over the past decade, a sign that the housing affordability crisis at the heart of the mayoral campaign is becoming an existential threat to the city’s future.

The statistic is one of a series of stark numbers pointing to the scale of the problem. Real estate prices and rents have soared, construction of new homes has lagged population growth, and development approvals can take years.

Olivia Chow looks likely to win Toronto’s upcoming mayoral vote. She enjoys just 30 per cent support, but in a crowded field that could be enough. Chow’s platform is the same basic New Democrat theology she’s promoted for years. Canada’s biggest city has serious problems these days, lots of them. Are a familiar face and high-minded ideals enough to solve them? We’ll find out.

TTC drivers were assaulted more than 50 times over the first four months of 2023, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all violent incidents across the bus network during that same time period.

New documents obtained by CP24 through a freedom of information request provide a detailed accounting of all of the reported incidents of criminality on TTC buses from January through the end of April.

The poll pegged Chow’s support at 38 per cent of decided respondents, compared to 14 per cent for former police chief Mark Saunders, 12 per cent for former city councillor Ana Bailão and eight per cent for Coun. Josh Matlow.

Trailing behind: former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey at seven per cent and, tied at six per cent, former MPP Mitzie Hunter and Coun. Brad Bradford. Ten per cent chose another candidate while 14 per cent were undecided.

Could a “doom loop” be coming to a Canadian city near you? Many signs point to yes. While it may sound like a gravity-defying amusement park ride, a doom loop is a much more terrifying reality where rather than eluding gravity, a city plunges into a bottomless sinkhole of decline.

With just over a week to go until election day, Municipal Affairs Reporter Shawn Jeffords weighs in on some key questions about where the race to become Toronto’s next mayor is going in the final days.

What’s the last week of this thing going to look like?

We’ll see more campaign announcements and a shift to rallies where candidates can project confidence and a sense of momentum ahead of election day. Campaigns will make last ditch efforts to sway undecided voters.

Behind the scenes will be a different story as each team’s get-out-the-vote operations gear up to motivate, and sometimes literally deliver, their supporters to the polls on election day.

Toronto’s collective IQ seems to have shrunk to a new low. Don’t drink the water.

Part of the problem was Ford’s endorsement of the uninspiring Saunders.  This has split what is laughably called the “right.” Furey is the only candidate among the also ran’s to have earned that designation.

On a recent Saturday night, I arrived home at 1 a.m. to find a car parked in front of my house. It’s unusual but not unheard of, and anyway this is Toronto, no big deal. I didn’t really notice it.

But when I left my own vehicle, two men jumped out of that parked car and rushed toward me, their heads and necks covered by those Dali masks from Netflix’s “Money Heist.” It seemed surreal, if macabre. Then the larger one put a 12-inch knife to my throat and demanded: “Give me your key, don’t make me do something I don’t want to have to do.”

As the race for Toronto mayor enters its final stages, candidates hoping to block Olivia Chow’s path to victory appear to have no firm plans to join forces to stop her.

With less than two weeks until voting day, the former NDP MP has a commanding lead, according to public opinion polls. That’s led to speculation some of the trailing mayoral hopefuls who oppose her progressive agenda could end their campaigns and urge supporters to rally behind an opponent who has a better chance of beating her.

Seven of Toronto’s mayoralty candidates clashed over how to deal with homeless encampments, during a debate hosted by CP24 on June 15. And one of the fiercest clashes came between Olivia Chow and Anthony Furey.

Furey, a journalist, vowed he would put families first in his drive to get rid of the encampments.

“I am going to phase out those drug injection sites that are causing so much of this disorder, lawlessness in our streets,” said Furey. “There are people involved in the drug crisis, who are going up and saying abusive things to 4-year-old children, littering needles in front of the school … And I’m the leader who’s going to say we’re going to phase out those drugs sites and replace them with treatment centres. A compassionate society doesn’t keep people on drugs.”

Toronto’s mayoral election on June 26 will set the path for Canada’s largest city over the next three years with an exceedingly wide choice of 102 registered candidates, including a dog named Molly, who is my second choice. My first choice is Anthony Furey, whose campaign team (full disclosure) I’m on.

Support for Toronto mayoral candidate Josh Matlow is seeing a jump as he ties for second place with candidate Mark Saunders in a new poll.

The Liaison Strategies survey shows Matlow and Mark Saunders at 16 per cent support each among decided voters. They both received 14 per cent support among all Toronto voters.

Despite a small drop in support, frontrunner Olivia Chow, who has held a consistent lead in several recent polls, continues to lead the race with 26 per cent among all voters and 30 per cent support among those who have decided who they’re voting for.

All media are spinning for Chow. Disgusting.

Olivia Chow looks to have a sizable lead in Toronto’s mayoral race, which is a shame because some of the other candidates actually have good ideas. They are in contrast to Chow’s platform, which is consistent with her NDP brand, of trying to solve all the city’s problems — many of which are the results of oppressive regulation, high taxation, and government mismanagement — by increasing regulation, taxes, and government control.