Michael Taube: Chris Alexander, give it up already

The Toronto mayoral election will be held on Oct. 26. Olivia Chow has led since the beginning, but there are signs her re-election bid could be in some jeopardy. If a certain someone would listen to reason and drop out, the left-wing incumbent mayor would likely be on her way out, too.

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Three recent polls indicate the gap between Chow and her main opponent, city councilior Brad Bradford, is narrowing.

Mainstreet Research’s Sept.14-17 poll had Chow leading Bradford by 46-38 per cent, with former Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander at 10 per cent and the Other category at seven per cent. Liaison Strategies’s Sept. 19-20 poll put Chow ahead of Bradford by 47-40 per cent, with Alexander at 10 per cent and Other at three per cent. Forum Research’s Sept. 23 poll suggested Chow led Bradford by 46-35 per cent, with Alexander well back at six per cent and Other totalling 13 per cent.

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If you average the three polls, Chow’s lead is in single digits, which can easily dissipate under the right political circumstances. Support for other candidates is notably high in Forum’s poll, too. This could mean some Torontonians are hedging their bets until election day.

If so, it shows a fundamental lack of awareness of what damage a second Chow term could potentially cause.

Chow has been an unmitigated disaster since winning the 2023 Toronto mayoral by-election. Municipal and property taxes increased by 9.5 per cent in 2024 and 6.9 per cent in 2025. They went up an additional 2.2 per cent in 2026, a smaller amount that was offset by plucking $1.7 billion from the city’s reserve funds. In other words, raiding the coffers was the only option for the spendthrift mayor’s team to shift the narrative away from her poor economic record.

Meanwhile, Toronto Sun columnist Brian Lilley noted on Sept. 24 that Chow’s “spending on transit increased by $647 million (about 27 per cent) between 2023 and 2026.” He mentioned other increases, including “emergency management up 48.3 per cent since Chow took office, the city clerk’s office up 48.2 per cent and municipal licensing and standards up 43.6 per cent.” These spending hikes haven’t led to improved quality of services, but have certainly added to Chow’s list of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

Crime and safety have been low priorities, too.

While Chow has suggested crime rates were down during her mayoralty, Lilley noted this was “based on the fact that the current year’s crime rate is lower than the previous two years, which were record highs.” In the past three years, crime levels “have been among the highest on record for Toronto.” There’s also been a significant rise of antisemitism in Toronto’s Jewish community. Chow and her staff have repeatedly denied a lack of interest or involvement in this situation. Her decision to skip the Sept. 8 mayoral debate about antisemitism because her campaign wasn’t being launched until the following day didn’t alleviate those concerns whatsoever.

Things won’t improve if Chow is re-elected. She’ll likely become more emboldened to hike taxes, increase public spending and make Toronto even less desirable to live and do business in. While the wealthy will be hit hard, the middle class will badly suffer, too. Programs that the latter group desperately need access to will be almost out of reach. The high costs of housing, food, utilities, transit and more for middle-income earners won’t come down anytime soon, either.

The city has become more expensive and unaffordable during Chow’s three years as mayor. One can only imagine how much worse it will be after an additional four-year term.

What about Bradford? There are pros and cons to his candidacy. He’s taken some questionable positions as a city councillor, including his support for renaming Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square in 2023 (which he now regrets). But at least Bradford has more common sense than Chow and recognizes the need for fiscal prudence. His policies, which include a “one-year property tax freeze,” hiring 1,000 new police officers, “voiding anti-competitive restrictive covenants and exclusivity clauses in the grocery sector” and emphasizing crime and safety as priorities, are logical and realistic. Bradford has a far better understanding of the business community, private sector and what Toronto needs to do going forward.

The other piece of the puzzle? Alexander’s candidacy is going nowhere fast.

Alexander’s polling numbers have been stagnant. His policies are barely discernible. Even his small, nondescript campaign office located at Yonge and St. Clair has hardly been a hub of activity. I’ve walked and driven past it several times. There’s usually one or two people doing some work on a computer and little else. Hardly anything resembling a stampede of support!

Alexander is also doing himself no favours with his horrendous political messaging. This was circulated on his X account on Sept. 25, “Toronto has lots of qualified candidates for mayor. It’s time for someone overqualified.” That’s right: the mayoral candidate who has never served a single day in municipal politics, or the role he’s running for, believes he’s overqualified due to previous work and life experience. It’s a level of arrogance which should immediately remove him from serious consideration.

I suggested to Alexander that he withdraw his candidacy before the Aug. 20 deadline. Once again, I implore him to quit. His quixotic candidacy serves no purpose, other than taking crucial votes away from Bradford and giving Chow an extra political boost. Why would any self-respecting Conservative want this?

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