Toronto’s election has only just begun but the mudslinging has already started, with a leading mayoral candidate facing an integrity complaint that he immediately dismissed as a “smear.”
The municipal race officially got underway Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., when nominations for mayor and 25 council seats opened.
The city hall offices known as “permit alley” were abuzz with media and electoral hopefuls, as candidates lined up to be among the first to file their papers and speak to reporters. Voting day is Oct. 26.
As expected, Coun. Brad Bradford was the first high-profile candidate to sign up for the mayor’s race. The Beaches—East York representative announced last fall he planned to run, and has been holding campaign-style announcements criticizing Mayor Olivia Chow for months. He walked into the elections office at 9:30 a.m. and made it official.
“It feels amazing,” he told reporters after submitting his papers, his wife Kathryn and two young daughters, Briar and Bronwyn, in tow.
He said his campaign will focus on “the three C’s” of crime, congestion and cost of living. “If we can do a better job of delivering on those things for everyday Torontonians, then I think we can get ourselves back in a position where we have a city where we can be proud of,” he said, arguing that under Chow, “families and small businesses are being asked to pay more for a city that delivers less.”
Brad Bradford comes under fire
But Bradford was scarcely done filing his papers before he was under fire from opponents.
Left-wing advocacy group Progress Toronto, which supported Chow in the last election, announced it had submitted a complaint with the city integrity commissioner against him on Friday, over an April 2 event the group alleged may have violated council’s code of conduct. The group claimed the gathering at a Concord, Ont. restaurant, labelled as “An Evening With Brad Bradford” and hosted by a developer, may have been an improper fundraiser.
Advertisements for the event said tickets cost $250 and up, and promised a “chance to meet Toronto’s future mayor.”
Until candidates register, they’re prohibited from raising or spending money on their campaign.
Bradford dismisses complaint as a ‘smear’
Bradford said he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“There has been no fundraising prior to this campaign. This is a smear from Progress Toronto, and they’re going to be engaged in that type of nasty politics,” he said.
Bradford’s campaign said the event was no different than other politicians such as the mayor speaking at the Canadian Club or other ticketed venues.
Progress Toronto executive director Saman Tabasinejad didn’t provide any evidence the ticket revenue went to Bradford’s election effort.
“Well, we just don’t know where that money went,” she told reporters. But the group maintains the gathering was concerning, labeling it a “cash-for-access” arrangement that should be investigated.
Nick Ainis, the Toronto-based developer who hosted the get-together, told the Star Friday he used the ticket revenue to pay for the event and fund his podcast. He said the goal was to introduce Bradford to people from Toronto’s construction industry.
“It was not a fundraiser for Brad,” Ainis said. “There were no donations, no monies exchanging for Brad, no intention of having any monies given to Brad.”
Olivia Chow refuses to confirm candidacy
Chow has not yet said whether she plans to seek re-election, but is widely expected to. On Friday morning she wasn’t at city hall, and instead scheduled a youth safety announcement in Scarborough.
She wouldn’t answer reporters’ questions about whether she will run or when she will announce her intentions. “We can talk about the election later … But at this point, I am very focused in doing my job,” she said.
By the end of the day on Friday, a total of eight people had signed up to run for mayor.
How some council seat contests are shaping up
Meanwhile, 30 candidates had registered to run for council, with the only incumbent being Eglinton-Lawrence Coun. Mike Colle.
Other candidates included Chiara Padovani, a tenant advocate who is trying for a third time to take the York South-Weston ward held by Coun. Frances Nunziata. In the last election in 2022, Padovani came second by just 94 votes. She said that since then she’s been advocating for local renters and seniors, which she predicted would help put her over the top this time.
Padovani has a prominent booster in federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis, who said in a post to X on Friday that she was “one of the best organizers in the country.” Padovani described Lewis as a friend.
Nunziata has represented York South-Weston since 1997. Her office said Friday she was still considering whether to run again.
Incumbents are notoriously hard to unseat at the municipal level, but there will be at least two open council races this year in which the sitting councillor won’t compete, and which could be hotly contested.
Veteran progressive Gord Perks is stepping down in Parkdale High-Park, and on Friday, Diana Chan McNally, a community worker and homelessness advocate, signed up in a bid to replace him.
She said she was running to “make the city livable and affordable for everybody,” and has Perks’s “support” but not “a formal endorsement at this point.”
James Dann, a former city worker who oversaw waterfront parks, is among those who will be vying for the seat in Beaches—East York, which will be left vacant by Bradford’s attempted leap to the mayor’s office.
Dann said that as a former municipal employee, he knows “how the sausage gets made and how to actually get things accomplished” in government.
Like Padovani, Shawn Allen is another returning candidate hoping to make a breakthrough in this election. The businessman placed third in September’s Scarborough-Rouge Park byelection, but was first in line at the election desk Friday. He signed up for another run in the ward.
He said his platform would be about “us(ing) tax dollars efficiently,” improving transit and addressing crime.
In addition to council offices, registration for school trustee and third-party advertisers also opened Friday. Nominations will remain open until Aug. 21 at 2 p.m.
