Toronto has elected its first Chinese – Canadian mayor, Olivia Chow, 66, an immigrant arriving in Canada as 13 – year – old, promising to adhere to a more progressive approach, ending more than a decade of conservative rule, in the largest city in Canada.
Promising to support a housing affordability crisis faced by tenants and to enhance the city’s low property taxes, emerged victorious from a best ever field of 102 candidates
Facing a strong opposition from Ontario, Doug Ford, the brother of Rob, who was Toronto’s mayor, until a video drew global attention of him smoking crack cocaine. He dropped out of the race in 2014 after a cancer diagnosis.
There had been warnings from the opposition during the race, that it would be an unmitigated disaster if Chaw emerged victorious.
John Tory, the previous mayor, left the office in February in disgrace, admitting an affair with a staffer. He endorsed his protege, Ana Bailao, although pledging not to have any part in the race.
In 2014 Chow ran for mayor and placed third behind Tory and Ford.
Chow emphasized “the mandate of change” in her acceptance speech on Monday, as the voters in the country’s economic capital had given her.
Chow clinched victory with 37.2%, ahead of Bailao with 32.5% and mark Saunders, a former city police with 8.6%.
The new Mayor served as a city councilor in Toronto, a member of parliament for the new democracy party and a trustee in the school board. Along with her second time running for mayor, she campaigned for Jack Layton, her late husband, who in 1991 won running for office and subsequently becoming Canada’s opposition party leader before is demise. A statue of Layton still stands on the Toronto waterfront, and remains a respected figure for a number of Canadian progressives.
Chow, taking charge of a city consisting of 2.7 million people, and a metropolitan area of nearly 7 million, stressed with an approximately $1.5bn (895 million pounds) budget deficit, and swelling rent.
Public safety concerns are also growing, specially after a wave of attacks on individuals using public transit systems, with deteriorating services and overcrowding.
Chow is a titleholder of transit, and promotes cycling and walking. She is said to have no driving license, and pledged to turn the tables on low – tax austerity policy enforced by her conservative predecessors.
Her strong wards to her supporters ended with, if any doubt of possibility, faith and future with each other, for each other, tonight is your answer.
