The countdown is on to Toronto’s next mayoral election. Four weeks from today, Torontonians will decide if Olivia Chow has earned a second term, or if challengers Brad Bradford and Chris Alexander are better suited to take the city’s top job. Those three candidates have emerged as the frontrunners on a crowded ballot that includes 50 other names in a race that has been shaped by flashpoints such as affordability, traffic congestion, and safety. Here’s what you need to know about the leading candidates, the main issues they’re tackling and how they’ve pledged to address them, as well as what’s at stake this election cycle. The candidates Chow A former Toronto city councillor and NDP parliamentarian, Chow won the 2023 byelection by a roughly 34,000-vote margin. She previously ran for mayor in 2014 but placed third behind former mayor John Tory, who went on to serve three consecutive terms before resigning over an affair he had with a member of his staff. Born in Hong Kong, Chow and her family immigrated to Toronto’s St. James Town neighbourhood when she was 13 and credits the city for shaping the person she is today. The 69-year-old politician is the widow of the NDP leader Jack Layton, who died of cancer in 2011. She is the stepmother to Layton’s two children. Bradford Elected in 2018 to Ward 19 Beaches—East York, Bradford came to the role with a background in city planning and previously worked in the office of then-chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat. He was one of only a few candidates at the time to receive an endorsement from Tory in a race where no incumbent was running. Bradford, a father of two, previously ran for mayor in the 2023 byelection, but finished eighth among 101 other candidates. The 40-year-old was born and raised in the suburbs of Hamilton by his single mother, former MP Valerie Bradford, along with his two siblings. Alexander Alexander is a former Conservative cabinet minister, who oversaw the citizenship and immigration file under former prime minister Stephen Harper from 2013 to 2015. Before he was elected to the House of Commons to represent the former riding of Ajax-Pickering in 2011, he served as the ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005 and later became one of two deputy special representatives of the United Nations in that country. The 58-year-old father of three was born in Toronto. His campaign has described him as “overqualified” for the role of mayor. Since leaving politics in 2015, Alexander worked as an executive, strategic advisor and corporate director in Toronto. The issues Affordability The cost of living in Toronto has become one of, if not, the biggest topics of conversation this election cycle. Each of the frontrunning candidates—including Chow—has said that the city has become too expensive while pitching their vision for a more affordable Toronto. One of the tentpoles of Bradford’s campaign is a one-year, property tax freeze he promised last week. As part of the plan, he’s pledging to also keep property tax increases for both homes and businesses below the rate of inflation for the rest of his term if elected. He said the plan can be funded without cuts to frontline service by leaning on “recurring room” in the city budget. Chow raised property taxes by 9.5 per cent in 2023—the biggest property tax hike since amalgamation—6.9 per cent in 2025 and 2.2 per cent in 2026. She has defended criticism of the spending, pointing to investments to feed more than 275,000 children through expanded school food programs, freezing TTC fares over the last three years, and the addition of more than 263 new front-line workers. Chow has pledged to keep property taxes at or around the rate of inflation if re-elected. Beyond that, Chow has campaigned on keeping TTC fares frozen in 2027 while also introducing a weekly ride cap that would allow riders to take the TTC for free after 10 paid trips in a week. For his part, Alexander has also promised no property tax increases next year, followed by increases below inflation in his second year. He wants to raise TTC fares to help “fix” the system, he told reporters last week. He’s also unveiled a plan to address food insecurity in the city through strengthened cooperation with food banks, as well as an action plan to combat U.S. tariffs through cheaper licensing and investment grants for businesses. Public safety Earlier this month, Chow unveiled her plan to address crime in Toronto at the root level with a four-year, $28-million expansion of youth safety programs. The plan would scale up current youth violence prevention and intervention initiatives to reach 15,000 youth and 500 parents and caregivers each year. As well, she said the funding would prevent even younger children and youth, from as young as the age of six years old, from heading down the wrong path through mentorship, recreation and arts programs. According to her campaign, investments in those areas during her time as mayor drove down youth violence 40 per cent in 2025. Meanwhile, Bradford says he’ll hire 1,000 net new police officers in his first term. He said the officers will be deployed to frontline positions, on patrol, in neighbourhoods, and at subway stations. Bradford explained that his pitch far exceeds the Toronto Police Service’s current multi-year hiring plan, which he says will only see 250 net new officers deployed between 2026 and 2029. He said he also wants to add a police substation to Sankofa Square if elected. Alexander has released a five-point plan to address hate crimes in Toronto, which increased consistently from 2019 to 2024, according to police data. The most targeted group among those victimized were Jewish individuals. As such, Alexander said that under his leadership he would advocate for “robust” enforcement of the existing laws in the Criminal Code regarding hate crimes. The plan also includes enhanced coordination between the mayor’s office and post-secondary institutions which have received credible reports of intimidation or violence against Jewish students and an overhaul of Toronto police hate crime reporting. Traffic One of Alexander’s most comprehensive platform promises is his five-point “TTC Turnaround” policy, aimed at cracking down on fare evasion, inappropriate use of transit, and a 10-cent fare increase (20 cents during rush hour) to generate an estimated $100 million in new revenue. At a news conference earlier this month, Alexander called Toronto’s transit system the “backbone” that keeps the city moving, but that Chow has “neglected” the system, pointing towards what he called a $37.3-billion gap between what the system needs and what is funded. Alexander also pitched the idea of deploying plainclothes fare enforcement officers throughout the system, something he said would cost between $8 and $10 million a year. He said the initiative would pay for itself as the TTC has previously suggested it loses roughly $124 million per year to fare evasion. Bradford has promised to have shovels in the ground on the largely unfunded Scarborough East LRT by 2030. The project would see an 18.6-kilometre light rail service run from Kennedy Station to Kingston Road. A 2023 report from city staff pegged the cost of the project at $4.65 billion. As it stands, the feds nor the provincial government have committed to fund the project, with the latter telling CTV News in April that the transit line was not on their list of priorities. Bradford has also pledged to remove bike lanes on Bloor Street West in Etobicoke and build a citywide network for cyclists. Beyond the promise to make TTC rides free after 10 paid trips in a week, Chow has largely pointed to the ongoing and future efforts of her office to improve traffic, including increasing signal priority for transit and the deployment of 130 traffic agents at busy intersections across the city to assist with traffic flow during rush hour. In March, before she announced her intention to seek reelection, Chow unveiled a $299.4-million plan to tackle gridlock which will be overseen by the city’s first-ever Chief Congestion Officer, Andrew Posluns, who was named to the role late last year. What’s at stake this election cycle? John Beebe is the executive director of the non-partisan Democratic Engagement Exchange at Toronto Metropolitan University and says he’s hoping for a better turnout this election. “In the last municipal elections, it was historic low voter turnout across the province, and you know, in Toronto we had less than 30 per cent,” he told CTV News in an interview last week. “That’s not democracy.” Voter turnout for the 2023 byelection was roughly 38 per cent. Beebe said the group currently has boots on the ground to spur engagement in the leadup to next months’ vote, which he says comes at a moment of global “fragility.” “What’s at stake in this election is are we going to be able to build a city and communities where people can live and want to live, and you know that’s big, bold issues. But it is really at stake because our leaders, whoever we choose, will help shape that,” he said. In the last federal election, Beebe said he was encouraged to see voters come out in record numbers (the highest voter turnout since 1993) amid a backdrop of threats to Canada’s sovereignty from the United States. “Canadians are willing to come and turn out when they really see the challenge to their communities, and I think if we can understand that not just at the federal level, but at all levels, that we as Canadians, if we want a strong communities and we want to stand up for Canada, voting is a key part of our responsibility to do that.” Candidates mark 1-month countdown CTV News Toronto reached out to Chow, Bradford, and Alexander’s teams for comment on the one-month countdown to election day. Here’s what they said: Chow “Over the next few weeks, Olivia Chow will be making several announcements on how she will continue delivering a more caring, more affordable, and safer Toronto for all. “Since launching her campaign. Chow has already made commitments on how she will make life more affordable for Torontonians if elected Mayor for another term. She announced she is making the TTC even more affordable by adding a weekly 10-ride cap That means daily commuters effectively get evenings and weekends free. This builds directly on her fare freeze, now in its third year and soon to be its fourth, and on last year’s fare-capping rollout. She has committed to increasing the school food program to feed more kids and save families on grocery bills. She has also committed to holding property tax increases at inflation to keep funding the city without massive cuts to services. “Since her election as Mayor in 2023, Olivia Chow has made historic investments in affordable housing, expanding public transit, improving public safety, and more. The choice is clear: we can either go backwards or keep moving forward.” Bradford “At the Daily Bread debate, Olivia Chow was asked if Toronto is living up to its full potential. She raised her paddle and said yes. She thinks this is as good as it gets. I reject that. We’re not even close. Toronto isn’t broken. It’s stuck, and 4 weeks from today, Torontonians get to choose change. “The province has never given this city more money, and the Mayor still raised property taxes nearly 20 per cent. In 2023 she promised increases would be ‘modest.’ Then came 9.5 per cent, then 6.9 per cent, then an election-year 2.2 per cent she only got that low by drawing $1.7 billion from the city’s reserves. That’s almost $700 more a year on the average home. Food bank visits are up 340 per cent since 2019, 4.1 million visits last year alone. We have the worst commutes in North America. People are paying more and getting less. So where did the money go? “My plan tackles the three things I hear about most at the door: crime, congestion and the cost of living. I’ll freeze property taxes for one year, for homes and businesses, without cutting a single frontline service. And I’ll open the books with the first independent, line by line audit since 2011. I’m a city planner by training. When something isn’t working, you look under the hood. That’s exactly what I’m calling for, and have since 2023. I’ll hire 1,000 more police officers, create more voluntary and mandatory treatment options for people whose addiction has taken over their lives, start building the Scarborough Eglinton East LRT by 2030, and get bureaucracy out of the way so we build more homes. “Torontonians are realizing they don’t have to settle. Change is possible. For the next 4 weeks, I’ll do what I’ve done for the last year: knock on doors in every corner of this city and make the case for a city that’s safe, a city you can afford, a city that moves. A Toronto we can be proud of.” Alexander’s team did not respond to request for comment by deadline. Toronto’s municipal election is Oct. 26. For a full list of all the candidates running for mayor, councillor, and trustee click here. With files from Jermaine Wilson, Chris Fox and The Canadian Press
