In the fall, Toronto voters will head to the polls to decide their municipal leader. The choice remains whether to re-elect incumbent Mayor John Tory, a Progressive Conservative with high approval ratings, but who has faced a litany of controversies like the Scarborough subway extension, or to elect an entirely new and fresh face that has yet to be determined.

In this short article, The Innis Herald delves into the potential candidates and their current political standings, and looks at the main issues that are expected to come up once campaign season gets into full swing.

On the candidates

Thus far, John Tory is the only declared major candidate in the race. He is currently the incumbent, having served as Mayor since 2014, when he beat then-City Councillor for Ward 2 Etobicoke North Doug Ford, and former New Democratic Party Member of Parliament Olivia Chow. Both Ford and Chow were widely believed to run again, however Ford has since won the leadership for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and is running for the legislature, while Chow has declined to run.

Tory is already widely considered the frontrunner in the race. With no other major candidate thus far, he remains the only person with any kind of name recognition. In addition, he also boasts high approval ratings — over fifty per cent of general poll respondents indicated that they had a positive view of the incumbent.

The election is only six months away, however, leaving time for candidates to jump in. These include Desmond Cole, a popular social activist in the Greater Toronto Area and a former columnist for the Toronto Star, and current City Councillors Mike Layton, Joe Cressy, and Kristyn Wong-Tam. All have indicated a reluctance to join the race.

On the issues

Going into the election, the main issue as it stands will be transportation and transit. This is especially true with regards to the Scarborough subway extension, which has plagued city politics for years and remains a controversial issue — the project will cost the municipal government millions, and yet only one stop will be added as part of the extension, with many Torontonians questioning its effectiveness.

Added to this will be the hot debate around the King Street pilot project, which limited traffic on one of the busiest streets in the city to only streetcars, as a way of alleviating commuter woes. Although it gained popularity with commuters, who have seen a reduction in their overall transit time, the project has gained the ire of car owners and small business managers, who claim that it has destroyed the current system that was working fine, in their opinion.