By Edward Lander

Olivia Chow will remain mayor for another term, Torontonians decided in the city’s municipal election held on Oct. 26.

The incumbent mayor beat challenger and outgoing Beaches–East York councillor Brad Bradford in a close race that saw the pair neck-and-neck through much of it.

Chow campaigned on a similar progressive platform to the one she ran in the 2023 by-election, adopting the slogan “forward, not back.”

Her priorities, according to her website, were lowering transit costs, tackling homelessness and cracking down on bad landlords.

She also said she’d introduce a lower TTC fare cap than the one the agency introduced in September, promising just 10 rides before the service becomes free for the calendar week.

Bradford campaigned on a centre-right platform that put issues like crime, public safety and traffic congestion at the forefront.

In Ward 13, home of Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), incumbent councillor Chris Moise lost his seat, trailing several-thousand votes behind Curran Stikuts, a newcomer in the race.

Stikuts received the support of New Democrat MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, who serves Toronto Centre’s provincial riding and was formerly councilor for the ward. Stikuts was also endorsed by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council.

Stikuts attended the Ward 13 All Candidates Panel, hosted by the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union on Oct. 19, where he discussed his platform.

At the panel, he pledged to increase the ward’s housing supply through programs like the multi-residential acquisition program, which supports non-profit housing providers with the acquisition and retrofitting of homes, according to the City of Toronto.

He also commented on transit issues: “I remember commuting to TMU, it was a pain, it’s always a pain, but there’s some really easy fixes that we can do to help get things moving. First is looking at our bike lanes,” he said.

Stikuts said there are opportunities to expand the ward’s bike network, including expanding cycle routes on Gerrard Street and Dundas Street.

Before pursuing city hall, Stikuts was a housing advocate and former director of advocacy at the 519 Community Centre.

Stikuts, who is also a graduate of TMU’s social work program, noted the university’s importance to the ward.

“TMU is at the centre of our ward and it’s very much at the very, very centre of our city,” he said at the panel.

The election also saw high voter turnout overall, with close to a million voters casting ballots in Toronto. Over 200,000 of those votes came during the early voting period. This was a nearly 72 per cent increase in advance voting, according to CBC.

On campus, students shared thoughts on the results.

TMU student Pheonix Le said he was “ambivalent” to the results, but was pleased Bradford did not win the mayor’s race.

“I think Chow has a lot of room for improvement and promises she hasn’t fulfilled yet. But I think it’s more like harm reduction, as I’m pretty against a lot of the platform that Bradford was trying to champion,” he said.