What to know
- Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford faced off in the latest Toronto mayoral debate hosted by the Toronto Star, Toronto Metropolitan University and United Way Greater Toronto.
- Housing and affordability were major points of contention, with the candidates criticizing each other’s plans and records.
- Bradford defended his proposal to cut Toronto water bills by 25 per cent, while Chow raised concerns about how the plan would be funded.
- Both candidates said they oppose expanding air traffic at Billy Bishop Airport, despite their differing past positions on the issue.
- Toronto’s mayoral election is Oct. 26, with advance voting taking place from Oct. 6 to 11.
Mayoral candidates Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford discussed housing, cost-of-living, transit, and other major issues at the latest election debate.
The two candidates attended a debate hosted by the Toronto Star, Toronto Metropolitan University, and United Way Greater Toronto on Tuesday.
The debate happened on the same day former MP Chris Alexander dropped out of the race on Tuesday morning ahead of advance polls opening.
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Housing
Once more, affordable housing was front and centre at the debate.
Bradford opened the topic by criticizing Chow for making ambitious housing promises and not delivering them. The city currently has a plan to deliver 65,000 rent-controlled homes by 2030. However, Bradford said she has only delivered 1,500 by now.
“If we continue at that pace, it will take another 115 years,” he said.
“We need to create the conditions in Toronto where it’s viable to create the housing that people can afford rather than relying on the city to try to do it.”
Chow’s campaign has previously said there are currently 22 housing projects under way under the Toronto Builds Policy Framework, while 10 more are expected to begin construction in 2027 and 51 are in development for 2028.
In turn, the candidate accused Bradford of increasing development charges when he was chair of Toronto’s Planning and Housing Committee from 2022 to 2023, and vice chair until 2024.
“You created the problems you are now campaigning to fix. Under your watch, building homes got a lot more expensive, it also got a lot slower,” she said.
“We spent the last three years fixing that. We’re now building homes faster and cheaper, and we’re just getting started.”
Chow also said Bradford plans to cut expenses on services such as transit and affordable housing in order to deliver his campaign promises.
In response, Bradford accused the mayor of fear mongering, saying she scares voters away from different approaches.
“It’s just more of the fear mongering and scare tactics from a campaign that’s out of ideas and out of gas,” he said.
Cost of living
Candidates were also asked about their plans to help Torontonians navigate the cost-of-living, which has also been appointed as one of the main concerns for voters in this election.
Chow emphasized some of her administration’s measures to cut costs for families, including freezing TTC fares, providing free morning meals and snacks for children in schools, and protecting renters from illegal evictions.
However, the incumbent mayor said more needs to be done moving forward, emphasizing her campaign’s promises to deliver a 10-ride weekly cap for TTC riders and providing lunch for children in schools.
In turn, Bradford promised to “introduce the biggest affordability commitment that you’ve ever seen from city hall, and arguably from any level of government, in recent election history.”
The candidate’s plans include cutting the Toronto Municipal Land Transfer Tax, which he says will make it easier for residents to afford moving or buying a home.
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Bradford’s water proposal
Last month, Bradford announced a proposal to cut Toronto’s water bills by 25 per cent, applying an automatic reduction to the first $1,500 of a household’s annual bill.
According to his campaign, it would be possible to pay for the reduction since Toronto Water collected about $400 million more in user fees than what was required to operate the system in 2024, and wastewater reserves increased from $141 million to $2 billion since 2009.
The proposal also included turning Toronto Water into a publicly-owned utility system, similar to Toronto Hydro, but keeping it fully owned by taxpayers, with private investment prohibited.
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During the debate on Wednesday, Chow also accused Bradford of cutting costs on water treatment in order to pay for his campaign promises.
“The way he wants to pay for it is going to make the drinking water less safe. The people of Toronto [have] owned our drinking water since 1873. Together we’ve kept it safe, this is our drinking water. And now, Mr. Bradford wants to hand it over to someone else and raise his budget. That’s a recipe for disaster,” she said.
In response, Bradford once more accused Chow of fear mongering, and said making Toronto Water a publicly-owned system would mirror approaches seen in other jurisdictions, including Kingston and Peel, and allow the city to invest in other infrastructure projects.
Billy Bishop Airport expansion
Although candidates did not extensively debate over the Billy Bishop Airport, its controversial expansion was mentioned.
During a series of the debate’s rapid-fire questions, which were meant to be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’, candidates were asked whether it would ever be a good idea to expand air traffic at Billy Bishop.
Both candidates answered ‘no’, but Chow took a jab at Bradford, saying he had previously supported it.
“No. But curious, it was a ‘yes’ previously, but thank you for saying ‘no’ now,” she said.
The airport has been at the centre of controversial debates since Ontario Premier Doug Ford proposed an expansion that would allow Billy Bishop to accommodate bigger jets. Since then, the project has been paused by the federal government, with officials saying they will only invest in infrastructure improvements for now.
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Toronto’s mayoral election is taking place on Oct. 26, while advance polls are open between Oct. 6–11.
