TORONTO – Former federal Conservative minister Chris Alexander has quit the race to become the next mayor of Toronto as advance voting begins in the city’s municipal election.
Alexander said he decided to drop out after a recent poll showed he doesn’t have a clear path to victory.
“Our path to success, it became clear to me over this weekend, was not obvious and perhaps not there at all,” he told reporters Tuesday.
“With the latest poll that came out this morning, we haven’t taken our numbers beyond what they were at the start of our campaign and we wanted to take this difficult decision before advance polls.”
The veteran politician and diplomat said he is not endorsing any other mayoral candidate.
Recent polls have placed Alexander as a distant third in the race, behind current council member Brad Bradford and current mayor Olivia Chow, who has been the front-runner since the start of the campaign.
Alexander’s name will remain on the ballot as the deadline to officially withdraw in the municipal election passed on Aug. 21.
Alexander was elected as MP for Ajax–Pickering in 2011 and was the federal immigration minister from 2013 to 2015.
He previously worked as a diplomat and served in the Canadian Embassy in Moscow before he was selected to be the first resident Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan in 2003.
The municipal election is taking place on Oct. 26, with six days of advance voting beginning in Toronto on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2026.
