The final debate of Toronto’s mayoral campaign is underway. Live coverage here

Bradford said Toronto is the economic engine of the country, but it is not “running at full speed,” citing U.S. President Donald Trump’s attack on Canada.

“We need a mayor who is going to stand up and fight for Toronto’s interests working hand in hand with the other levels of government to make the case for investment and capital and talent coming to Toronto,” Bradford said.

He added that he will also create more jobs for Toronto youth. Bradford pointed out that youth unemployment skyrocketed during Chow’s term.

For Chow, the trade war is creating uncertainty, and it is important to keep investing locally.

She said she supported cutting small business property tax by 20 per cent.

“We’re cutting red tape, and we’re making the environment for big companies to invest,” Chow said. 

Chow said the province has “interfered” with many of the city’s matters, pointing to its plans to expand Billy Bishop airport and the removal of speed cameras.

“However, here’s one thing we can do, by working together, including with the federal government, we can say to the (Premier Doug) Ford government that you need to stop, and that’s what we did in flying jets into waterfront, and we are able to protect the waterfront because we worked together with the local residents and residents all across Toronto. We won the battle.”

Bradford said he’ll sit down with the premier for a formal discussion on the city’s priorities.

“But it has been unfortunate to see the province running roughshod over local decision making. And while I may agree on some of the particular policies, we need someone who is going to stand up for Toronto first.” 

Bradford, who has promised a line-by-line review of the city’s finances, said having a perspective outside of city hall is needed.

“It’s the people who set their own budgets looking at their own budgets, and that might be fine once in a while. But I also think it’s a good idea to have an outside perspective,” he said.

“(What) city staff will tell you is they find savings, but they are fictional savings.”

Chow said city staff are already conducting a line-by-line review of the budget each year, that’s how they find savings.

She pressed Bradford if he could keep his promise not to increase property taxes in his first year.

“There is no increase to the tax rate. We’re going to freeze that for the first year,” he insisted. 

Chow said she’ll first foster even stronger relationships with the provincial and federal governments, with a particular focus on transit.

“Can they take a bit more load from transit so that we could do more with our transit system? Those are things that a good partnership can have, and I’ve had very good relationship with other levels of government in the past.”

Bradford repeated his campaign promise to deliver a “line-by-line” audit of the city’s spending, which he says hasn’t been done in 15 years.

“Think about how much the world has changed. My wife and I go through our credit card bill every single month. I know small businesses do the same. So should City Hall.” 

Chow noted that while the province has taken over Toronto’s recycling program, more could be done to separate waste, specifically in the city’s high-rises.

“They should source separate so that we produce less garbage, more recycling, more reuse, and also composting. That is one thing that we could do.”

For his part, Bradford said the city’s current system isn’t working.

“You’ve seen the videos of Toronto city workers going to the garbage bins and dumping the garbage and the recycling into the same truck. So it’s it’s a bit of a charade that separation is happening. That is unacceptable, and it needs to change.” 

Chow says:

“I want to build housing, a lot of them, at least 10,000 to start this year, and because I have the confidence of Prime Minister (Mark) Carney, there’s multi-billion-dollar investment in the city, we are going to be able to build housing that people can afford, faster and cheaper. That is my number one priority in the policy I want to see done.”

Bradford says:

“I know affordability is the number one issue for Torontonians right now, and with good cause, because under the current administration, your tax bill has gone up by nearly 20 percent. I am going to eliminate Toronto’s double land transfer tax for the average home price here in Toronto, and that is a savings of $18,000 of your money back in your pocket at a time when I think we could all really use it. That was brought in under the last NDP mayor, David Miller. It has been a tax on families, newcomers, seniors for far too long. I’m going to eliminate it.” 

 Bradford said getting more people back on transit will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars.

“If we could get more people riding transit, we’re taking cars off the road. That is reducing emissions,” he said. “My plan to make transit safer, more reliable, and cleaner will bring customers back.”

For Chow, it’s keeping Toronto’s water public.

“For me, that is important because water is sacred, and we cannot tamper with it,” she said. 

A CP24 viewer asked, “If the city council votes against your idea, which you consider important, will you move on, or will you use the strong mayor powers to push through your agenda?”

Bradford did not answer the question, only saying he is committed to delivering on his agenda and will work diligently with his council colleagues.

After pointing out that Bradford did not answer the question, Chow proceeded to say that she will work with the councillor who would vote against her promises.

Bradford retorted that Chow used the strong mayor powers during her first term. 

Bradford says he’ll have uniformed officers at all TTC subway stations and create a universal lighting standard so that stations look and feel safe.

“Because if it looks and feels like the TTC doesn’t care, it invites the anti-social behavior. That’s the broken window theory in action,” he said, adding that he also plans to introduce platform edge doors.

Meanwhile, Chow said her record as mayor speaks for itself, but conceded that the city can “absolutely” do more.

 “We need to keep moving forward and work together with TTC special constables, so that all the services with the police are co-ordinated, and that is the plan. And you are seeing this plan rolled out, including those mental health workers all across the stations and in buses, because sometimes these folks, just bringing police officers is not enough.”

Chow said she is the candidate with the knowledge on how to end homelessness.

“I see it downtown. I know it’s tough out there. No one should be living in a tent,” she said, claiming that she moved 4,000 people out of the street into supportive housing.
Chow said she plans to build more supportive housing.

In addition to building more housing faster, Bradford said he will implement wraparound supports.

“If we love the city, we also have to acknowledge what’s not working and be honest in our accounting of where we are today. And folks who are sleeping rough on the streets or in our parks or on our transit system—that is a failure of our society. It’s not a compassionate response.”

Chow questioned Bradford’s plan, saying he voted against a shelter.

“Where are you going to put the homeless people if you vote against a shelter? We have to house them. We have to bring them inside.”

Bradford responded, saying he voted against the shelter because there was no proper community consultation. 

Bradford reiterated his plan to deploy 1,000 net new front-line police officers within his first 100 days in office to address crime throughout the city and within the TTC.

“A city that is not safe is not free, and nearly half of Torontonians feel less safe today than they did three years ago, and the numbers back them up,” Bradford said.

Chow said she would do “everything” she can to lower crime in the city, starting with continuing her investments in curbing youth violence.

“By investing in after-school activities, in youth violence prevention programming, all of that matters, and you can just hear from the chief to say that yes, gun violence is down.” 

Chow touted the Scarborough busway, which she claimed Bradford was against. She said she will also build the Scarborough East LRT, pointing out that the city has already spent millions for the project.

“Scarborough, you should not be left behind,” Chow said.

The Scarborough East LRT will be his number one priority, Bradford said.

“I will go and have a meeting with Queen’s Park and with Ottawa to secure a funding commitment, and we will get shovels in the ground by the end of my first term,” he added.
Bradford criticized Chow for how long the busway was built.

“It’s a road. It took three years to build a road, and what I heard from folks at Kennedy Station tonight was they were frustrated that it took three years to get built. They’re frustrated that the transit is not safe, that it’s not reliable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chow slammed Bradford’s inaction during his time at the TTC board.

“Not a penny was spent in building that Scarborough East LRT. You haven’t saved any down payment. It was under my watch. That is happening right now,” she said. 

Bradford, who previously voted to extend a stretch of bike lanes on Bloor Street in Etobicoke but is now campaigning on removing them, said he’s not afraid to “change course if something’s not working.”

“Here’s what we found: there were 38,490 vehicles per day, and there were only 197 bicycles. So the city had allocated 50 per cent of the road space to half a percentage of road users, and that doesn’t work.”

Chow argued cyclist safety is paramount, and that existing bike infrastructure offers an affordable option for those without a car.

“Those bike lanes actually protect a lot of cyclists, and if you look at bike share use, has been enormous. People want a way to move around the city without paying much money and really be safe.”

The second issue of the debate is getting around Toronto.

Chow highlighted that during her first term, she put traffic agents to combat congestion and said she plans to add more. As well, she said she will make construction faster, pointing out that the Gardiner rebuild has been shortened.

For Bradford, he said he will not schedule road closures during major events in the city, minimize lane closures during contruction and deploy smart signals to all city intersections.

Asked specifically about his plan to make Toronto Water a public utility, Bradford explained the model would largely reflect that of Toronto Hydro, which became a corporation in 1999.

“I am going to take the exact same approach: a wholly publicly owned, in perpetuity, municipal water utility, just like Toronto Hydro, just like cities here in Ontario and across the country, to make sure that we can finance that infrastructure over the long term of the asset, 100-year infrastructure, and get shovels in the ground faster. 

“You know, if we can finance that with long-term low-interest financing, we can get those projects done faster. Right now, two thirds of your water bill is actually to collect money, put it in a savings account, and collect a piddly amount of interest. The problem is the cost of the projects rise faster than the interest, and the city doesn’t have the money to pay for it. This is a modern approach.

Chow rebuffed the pitch saying that “giving” Toronto water “away” could put the city’s drinking supply at risk. 

Chow touted her school lunch program and TTC plan to freeze and cap fares as ways to help Toronto residents save money.

Bradford said he will freeze property taxes during his first year in office, conduct an independent line-by-line review of the budget to find savings and reduce water bills by setting up a publicly owned municipal water utility.

Chow questioned how Bradford will pay for his promises. He responded by bringing up Chow’s tax increase during her first term in office, which is the largest since amalgamation. 

Bradford opened tonight’s debate by highlighting promises he’s made on the campaign trail, including hiring 1,000 additional frontline officers and scrapping the municipal land transfer tax.

He also took a moment to address what he believes voters will hear from Chow about his campaign so far.

“Now tonight you’re going to hear things like Brad’s going to close the libraries or poison the drinking water. That is reflective of a campaign that is out of ideas and out of gas. But let me tell you this: Torontonians are ready for change. And if you want to change the city, you have to change the mayor.” 

Close to 30 per cent of voters say they are either open, or somewhat open, to changing their vote based on how Bradford and Chow perform at tonight’s debate, according to exclusive polling by Nanos Research for CP24 and CTV News.

The survey, which heard from 763 respondents between Oct. 15 and Oct. 18, showed that 13 per cent of respondents are open to switching their intended vote based on the debate, and another 16 per cent are somewhat open to changing their ballot.

Roughly 45 per cent of respondents said that they are not open to changing their voting intentions based on the debate, while another nine per cent said that they are somewhat not open to the idea. 

 Former Toronto mayor and CTV News municipal affairs expert John Tory says there is a lot at stake in the debate given that it is a close race.

“It could be that some of the people who are watching will literally decide tonight based on the performance of the candidates who they’re going to vote for,” Tory says.

“That’s unusual because normally by now there’s a gap of four or five or 10 — some number of points. But I think right now we see what amounts to a statistical tie between Mr. Bradford and Ms. Chow. So, I think tonight is going to be consequential, and they’re all going to be trying to put in their best performance that they can.” 

Tory believes voters will be watching to see who among the two is ready to lead.

“The election’s at hand, and I think more than judging a particular policy, people are going to say, “Does that person look ready to lead? Are they cool?”

He adds that the candidate who will keep their temper will win the debate.

“I think if they get into a lot of this fighting that often goes on, where they’re yelling over each other, both of them will lose from that. And if one does it and the other doesn’t, the one that stays cool, I think, is going to be the one that you know does better out of the debate,” Tory says. 

CTV News anchor Michelle Dubé is moderating the debate and says the issues that matter most to Torontonians will be discussed, including affordability, cost of living, traffic, transit, and public safety.

“This is a chance to potentially sway voters,” Dubé says.

She adds that voters can also look forward to the candidates asking each other questions. In addition, Chow and Bradford will also get to respond to questions sent by viewers.