5 key takeaways from last night’s fiery Toronto mayoral debate - Toronto Star
At a downtown event hosted by the Star and the Toronto Region Board of Trade, finances and affordability were in focus.
Incumbent Olivia Chow, former MP Chris Alexander and Coun. Brad Bradford, the three frontrunners in Toronto’s mayoral race, take part in the debate hosted by the Star and the Toronto Region Board of Trade, moderated by the Star’s editor-in-chief, Nicole MacIntyre.
The three leading candidates to be the mayor of Toronto clashed over property taxes, the affordability crisis, city finances and more Tuesday night in a hotly contested debate.
Incumbent Olivia Chow, Coun. Brad Bradford and former federal cabinet minister Chris Alexander squared off for an hour in front of a lively crowd at the Isabel Bader Theatre downtown in the second debate among the three.
The event was hosted by the Toronto Star and the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
“We’ve benefited from decades of fast-growing population, and our economy has flatlined,” said Giles Gherson, president and CEO of the board, in his opening remarks.
“We’re losing ground, and we can’t afford to. To top it off, we are now thrust into a spiralling trade war. Perhaps no region in Canada is more exposed to a tariff storm than Toronto.”
Moderator Nicole MacIntyre, the Star’s editor-in-chief, agreed, noting: “This city is at an inflection point. Who we choose (as Toronto’s next mayor in the Oct. 26 election) is going to take us to what’s next, and there’s a lot at stake.”
MacIntyre posed questions — and opened the floor for the candidates to debate each other, at times speaking over each other — about how each candidate would, among other things, manage the city’s economic development, address data centres and get housing built at a time where most renters say they think they’ll never be able to afford a home.
There was even a surprise campaign announcement.
There was also a question for the kids, on trees — the only time everybody in the room appeared to be laughing with each other rather than at each other.
There are more debates to come, including another co-hosted by the Star, and there are a total of 53 mayoral candidates.
Toronto’s mayoral candidates debated tonight as the city gears up for the Oct. 26 election.
While debating the city budget, Bradford revealed — for the first time — what his tax rate would look like, at least for the first year.
“I am going to freeze your property taxes for the first year,” Bradford said, when asked what he would cut “to make the math work” on some of his costly policy promises so far. “Then I’m going to go through diligently, thoroughly, and do that line-by-line review that I’ve been calling for for years, but the mayor has been voting against.”
Bradford announced earlier this week he would order an independent review of every city division, agency and program — the first since 2011.
In 2011, under mayor Rob Ford’s direction, outside experts found the city’s spending was already lean and the next year recommended major cuts to services including libraries, child care, housing, snow removal and the zoo. The next year, Ford tried to make significant cuts but council opponents added money back to the budget.
The property tax rate is an often fraught debate at city hall.
