(Toronto) Olivia Chow encouraged residents to imagine a more compassionate and affordable Toronto on Wednesday as she officially took office as mayor in a city facing major housing and financial challenges.
The 66-year-old former NDP MP and former city councillor, the first visible minority to lead Canada’s most populous city, used familiar themes from her election campaign to say her first speech as mayor, showcasing Toronto as a resilient city ready to change.
“Let’s build a more affordable, safer and more inclusive Toronto, where everyone has a place,” said Ms.me Chow to cheers and applause from a packed city council chamber.
She alluded to a shortage of affordable housing and a transit system overwhelmed by service cuts, while mocking what she called the city’s “reluctant partners” in provincial governments. and federal, who refuse to bail out the finances of Toronto, ravaged by the pandemic.
This year, the city’s budget is nearly $1 billion short, largely due to declining transit revenue and rising housing costs.
The rise of M.me Chow at the helm of the city is the culmination of a long political career. She was first elected as a school trustee in 1985 and served 13 years on Toronto City Council until 2005. She was then elected as the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Ottawa alongside her late husband, former federal political party leader Jack Layton.
She immigrated to Toronto from Hong Kong when she was 13, settling with her parents in a high-rise apartment block in St. James Town, a downtown neighborhood familiar to many newcomers from the middle class. factory Girl.
“Toronto’s story is also mine,” she said, asking those present to imagine a young family arriving in the city today with dreams of a better future.
Mme Chow edged out 101 other candidates to win last month’s by-election for mayor to replace John Tory.
Her victory propels a progressive to the helm of the city for the first time in more than a decade.
Since the June 26 by-election, Mr.me Chow met with city government, finalized his team, and held transition engagements with public service and nonprofits on priority issues including housing and community crisis response.
Mme Chow pledged to reinvest local government in building social housing and spending millions to acquire and preserve affordable housing.
“We can and must start by tackling the housing crisis. We can and must, because the suffering is real,” she said.
Financial turbulence
The tenure of M.me Chow will end in 2026. It will soon be tested by the city’s financial turmoil.
A City staff report says there is enough in the COVID-19 contingency fund to sustain this year’s budget, but without more money the safety net would be insufficient to cover the shortfall that could reach 927 million for next year.
The city’s housing crisis and record levels of homelessness are also expected to quickly pose tests for Mr.me Chow.
Adding to a sense of urgency, Toronto is at an impasse with the federal government over a request to provide more money to help house asylum seekers, with the City recently instituting a transfer policy to federal programs. of those claimants facing shelters at capacity.
Mme Chow would not commit to rolling back the controversial policy on Wednesday, even though critics say it violates the city’s own standards that prohibit turning people away based on their immigration status. She pressed Ottawa for an additional $160 million to help house the refugees, saying it was a federal responsibility.
A number of issues could also test the relationship between M.me Chow and Premier Doug Ford.
During the election campaign, Mr Ford backed former police chief Mark Saunders and said a term for Mr Chow would be a “total disaster”.
Mr Ford softened his speech after the victory of Mme Chow, highlighting a number of issues for potential collaboration, such as expanding public transportation and affordable housing.