“I want to be mayor because I’m ready to have a city that works for all people.’’

By Lincoln DePradine

Chloe Brown is an aspiring politician and among several people that want to replace John Tory. She says that Tory has had eight years of “poor performance’’ as mayor of the City of Toronto.

“It becomes so important for all of us to take this opportunity to bring your dear friends and families to the polls. Because, this is the only way that we send John Tory a message that we’ve had enough; and, he either shapes up or he ships out,’’ said Brown. “I want to be mayor because I’m ready to have a city that works for all people.’’

Polling takes place on Monday, October 24, to elect a Toronto mayor and other municipal officials, such as city councilors and school board trustees.

In the mayoral race, there are 31 candidates on the ballot. However, less than a half-dozen – including Brown – was chosen to participate in two debates with incumbent Tory. One was hosted by the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, and the other organized by the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

Brown and other contenders challenged Tory, who is running for his third term as mayor, on a range of issues such as public transit, homelessness and affordable housing, small businesses, red tape and taxation.

“Brown, more than any of the other challengers, succeeded in cutting through the fog of boredom that has permeated this mayoral campaign to shake up the discussion,’’ commented Toronto Star columnist Edward Keenan. “Brown was the one I most often heard getting applause — slight, but present — from the audience in the studio.’’

A 31-year-old policy analyst with the Canadian government, Brown has accused Tory of engaging in “broken-record politics’’ and named him among “bad micro-mangers’’.

“That’s why I’m running – we definitely deserve more than just broken-record leadership,’’ Brown said. “We cannot continue to flash material wealth but act morally bankrupt when it comes to the lives of the working class.’’

It’s become “very clear’’ that the City of Toronto “has been run for big businesses and big corporations and wealthier homeowners’’, Brown claimed.

“I’m not saying that anyone is bad but when the scales are tipped on one side, the other side usually suffers. So, what we really need to do is restore balance. What that means is changing the rules, the programs, the services to make sure that they work for people like me, like you, that may not have a million dollars,’’ she said.

Brown promises that if elected mayor, she would “move immediately to transform Toronto’’ into an “affordable and safe city, using my platform of new policies and tax fairness to rebuild pathways to prosperity across the city’’.

According to Brown, “it’s time to go beyond theory and actually get into action and practice. And, the only way that we do that is getting rid of the old forms of management that govern working class people’’.

As she put it, “the elected officials no longer represent the working class; and, that is why I’m running. Because, it’s time to get power back into the hands of capable people, who actually care about fixing their communities’’.

LJI Reporter