Mayoral challenger Brad Bradford launched a critique of rising crime and costs amid stumbling city services as he sought to close the gap in support between himself and Olivia Chow at a kickoff campaign rally in Etobicoke Tuesday night.
Bradford, the Beaches-East York councillor who launched his campaign when nominations opened on May 1, made the case to a crowd of approximately 150 attendees at the Plast Huculak Centre, a Ukrainian community centre on the Kingsway, after two recent polls showed the gap in support between the two tightening.
Many in the audience raised their hands when Bradford asked if they or anyone they knew had experienced their car being stolen or a break-in at home. Before the event started, several attendees mentioned crime as their top concern, citing news stories or anecdotes from neighbours.
Bradford sought to tie his east-end ward to Etobicoke by saying families had moved to these neighbourhoods because they were “quiet and safe.”
“The problems that used to be focused downtown are being shipped out here,” he said.
The crowd also loudly booed his mention of the Bloor West bike lanes in Etobicoke, as Bradford itemized challenges related to traffic congestion.
While Chow holds a healthy nine-point lead in support over Bradford, according to a Liaison Strategies poll released Tuesday, that is down from the 13-point lead she held in a survey from the same pollster in May. Forty-nine per cent of decided or leaning respondents said in the recent poll that they would vote for Chow if the election were held today, compared to 40 per cent who would support Bradford.
A Mainstreet Research poll released two weeks ago found that about 44 per cent of decided voters would re-elect Chow, and about 38 per cent would support Bradford. That also represented a notable rise in support for Bradford compared to an earlier poll that included former mayor John Tory as a potential candidate. Tory announced in March he would not run again.
Pollsters credited Bradford’s rise to his being the sole high-profile centre-right candidate, and his focus on issues like public safety, which are resonating with voters.
Asked why he chose to hold his first rally in Etobicoke, Bradford said his team was campaigning across the city, then mentioned recent outreach in Scarborough. The Liaison poll showed Chow dominating handily downtown, while Bradford maintains an edge in Etobicoke. They are neck and neck in Scarborough. The margin of error for the poll as a whole is 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, but margins of error for subsamples are higher.
Chow has indicated she will not start campaigning until September. Municipal elections will be held on Oct. 26.
