Chris Alexander jumps into the Toronto mayoral race
Will Chris Alexander’s last minute entry guarantee the worst Toronto mayor ever another four years?
In 2023, during the by-election for mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow squeaked by the second place finisher with a mere 34,000 votes.
Had one or two of the six mayoral wannabes dropped out before e-day (Mark Saunders or Josh Matlow, for example) we would not have been strapped with the Train Wreck Chow for the past three years.
Egos divided the vote and egos have contributed to a city on life support.
So when former mayor John Tory decided not to run this year, I was thrilled not just because he started Toronto on the road to ruin. But I knew he’d divide the vote with Brad Bradford and we’d be stuck with Chow for another four years.
This week, just as the momentum for Bradford was increasing, former MP and diplomat Chris Alexander, jumped into the race with less than 90 days to go.
I suspected immediately that the fix was in.
I also suspected that the ringleaders behind his sudden entry are Premier Doug Ford and his right-hand man, Kory Tenycke, both of them power mad and who have worked overtime to try to sideline CPC leader Pierre Poilievre.
Ford (and likely Tenycke) contributed to the bad blood between the U.S. and Canada over the tariff issue by childishly removing U.S. liquor from LCBO shelves, commissioning a $75-million ad against the tariffs featuring Ronald Reagen and by constantly badmouthing President Donald Trump on CNN.
He has done nothing to stem the anti-Semitism in the province.
He has been a huge disappointment as Premier. I can’t believe I once supported him.
But he is, if anything, highly ambitious and has none of the moral compass of his late brother, Rob.
I could see Ford wanting to keep control over the highly foolish and childishly narcissistic Chow given that he believes Toronto is still his to rule..
Bradford would not allow himself to be bullied.
Besides, I suspect they’d already tried to split the vote by pushing Ford’s nephew Michael Ford to run. He politely declined in April.
When Alexander appeared from nowhere, it was just as Chow was making the biggest fool of herself this summer dancing from one event to the next and Bradford was closing in, according to polling. Last Saturday she wore a flimsy Caribana costume barely covering her private parts as she spouted nonsense, fueled perhaps by one too many drinks.
But hey, what does Alexander have to lose.
His ego couldn’t resist being back in the spotlight after 10 years and he was likely promised a goodie (plum appointment) for agreeing to help bring Chow back into power.
This past weekend I wrote to his campaign about whether Ford or Tenycke had encouraged him to run.
He denied that they were involved and insisted that he is running a non-partisan campaign.
“The people urging me to run were very clear: they think Toronto needs new leadership and did not see the right alternative among the challengers to that point,” he responded.
As polite as his response was, I say b.s.
Who is he kidding?
I’ve covered four mayors and more than my fair share of elections for the Toronto Sun and now with Juno News.
Mayoralty campaigns often start a year before e-day.
There is absolutely no way Alexander can get up to speed on local politics(seeing as he was a diplomat and a federal MP), craft targeted policies and disseminate his position on the issues that Torontonians care about in less than 80 days.
In other words, if he expects to swoop in on a TTC bus and win at this late stage, he’s delusional.
Alexander lives in Toronto but has never spoken out in recent years about the rabid anti-Semitism; public safety or lack thereof; the endless development and the constant lack of adherence to neighbourhood planning rules; traffic congestion and gridlock; decrepit infrastructure; streets infested with drug addicts and the homeless, to name just a few.
One would think that if he was truly concerned he would have jumped on the bandwagon ages ago.
His lack of understanding of municipal politics shows in the extremely vague priorities — written from 30,000 feet — he’s defined on his campaign website.
It is abundantly clear to me that he has no idea what Toronto residents are concerned about: High taxes with no value for the money expended; Taxpayer funds being spent on frivolous projects like Sankofa Square; Drug addicts infesting our downtown streets; a corrupt planning department (in my view); an impotent police force; TTC vehicles used as mobile homeless shelters and a transit system rife with violence.
These are just a few of the issues.
Toronto is clearly a city in decline and Alexander is burying his head in the sand if he doesn’t see it.
If he thinks he’s the guy to lead the city, he can’t sugarcoat the issues.
That decline has been precipitated by an anti-Semitic mayor who’d rather dance drunkenly in various costumes than actually lead the city. She is propped up by the dangerous regressive ideologues at Progress Toronto and lazy radically left councillors who don’t give a crap what taxpayers think and certainly don’t care if the Jewish community is repeatedly targeted with vandalism and harassment.
Alexander can’t even identify the issues. How the hell will he articulate a platform?
All he will do is bleed votes from Bradford and give the architect of the city’s decline another four years in office. The anti-Semites at Progress Toronto are likely already drinking champagne.
Bradford is not perfect but he understands the issues and knows what to do to try to get Toronto back on track.
It absolutely disgusts me that egos and a group of petty, power mad people would be engaged in a scheme that will only contribute to Toronto’s downfall.
Obviously they’re also quite fine with showcasing a silly buffoon — Olivia Chow — on the world stage.
I can't disagree with a word you said. Great report.