One-on-one with Mayor Olivia Chow following a turbulent Toronto year

The year 2023 will come to be known as one of the most turbulent and chaotic years in Toronto, which, for a city where residents are no strangers to dramatic turns within the mayor’s office, is saying a lot.

But the sudden departure of John Tory caught most by surprise. After a wild mayoral byelection where 82 candidates fought for the city’s top job, Olivia Chow was victorious.

In her six months in the mayor’s office, Chow has presided over major transformative changes that will define Toronto for decades to come. Like her predecessor, the new mayor has defined herself during her time in office as a tireless worker who marches to her own beat. During city council’s final meeting of the year, a marathon three-day ordeal that saw debate devolve into squabbles between rival councillors, Chow remained at the meeting while feeling under the weather.

It wasn’t until her doctor diagnosed her with pneumonia that she cancelled her weekend itinerary to recover at home. While at home, relaxing for what seems like the first time since she took the reins of the city, Chow told Global News she was looking forward to the upcoming break to reconnect with family, her cat and her love of swimming and art.

Before that break, Chow sat down for a year-end interview in the shadow of the Gardiner Expressway, which, along with the Don Valley Parkway, will be uploaded by the province in a deal that will come to define her first half-year on the job.

Chow reflected on how much change the city has seen in just one year’s time. A big part of that is getting the pockmarked highway off the city’s books.

“As I look up and see all the holes that we have to patch and worrying about the $1.5 billion that we don’t have on the budget, and this is like a big thing being lifted off my shoulders,” Chow said.

The money that would otherwise be committed to long-term upkeep for the highway will now be able to be put back into other areas where it’s sorely needed, she said — things like improving the TTC, building more housing, and ensuring city services aren’t cut for those who need them the most.

The new deal, as it came to be known after a few short months of negotiations between the Ford government and senior municipal staff, has shown Chow’s ability to break through party lines — something her opponents pegged the former NDP MP as being incapable of doing during the spring mayoral byelection. But after a couple of trips to Queen’s Park, the mayor and Premier Doug Ford have shown themselves to have a strong working relationship.

It’s one Chow credits to the pair finding common ground, but also their shared grief.

“We share the understanding of a bond of losing a loved one too soon,” she said. “We were able to see eye to eye on a number of things.”

But when it comes to the future of Ontario Place, where the mayor remains opposed to the province’s plans to redevelop the west island, Chow said there are areas where the pair remain far apart.

Looking ahead, Chow is looking to the Trudeau government to show more of a willingness to work with the city in the same way the province has. The federal government did join the new deal working group, but it did so too late to come to any meaningful agreements to satisfy Toronto’s needs. Some of the province’s pledges in the agreement, like funding for new subway cars sorely needed for the TTC’s aging Line 2, are contingent on the feds matching the deal.

Chow is also teasing changes her office plans to address in January to address something her predecessor never managed to get a handle on: congestion. The city’s roads seem to be growing more clogged by the day, costing time and money for surface transit users and motorists alike. Traffic wardens, she said, are beginning to help a great deal, but she conceded more still needs to be done.

While she’s not about to give too much of her upcoming agenda away, Chow is promising a much less drama-filled year ahead. The agenda for 2024, she said, will be directed at building more housing, including shelter housing, and addressing some of the issues that were laid bare during the pandemic.

Chow is also guaranteeing a more consistent approach to who is in the mayor’s office for the upcoming year.

“I hope there’s no byelection!” she said laughing, “I’m not going anywhere.”