Olivia Chow has filed her papers to be candidate for mayor this snowy Wednesday — but she sent someone else to City Hall to deliver them. The gentleman said the candidate herself was busy working on remarks for presentation Thursday. Olivia Chow quit her job as a member of Parliament today and will declare her candidacy for mayor of Toronto tomorrow (Thursday, March 14, 2013). Ms. Chow has name-recognition and is a sympathetic figure. She has a strong downtown base. The issue will be whether Ms. Chow’s decidedly left-wing reputation will play in the many parts of Toronto where centre-right candidates typically win. In recent years, David Miller narrowly won the 2003 general election against John Tory. Mr. Miller was probably not seen as being as far to the left as Ms Chow. Most people believe that Miller won largely for his opposition to the island airport bridge. It is an issue that many think cuts across right and left. It is mushy municipal motherhood to be in favour of better transit and food trucks. The present field does not have much to say about the 2014 incarnation of the airport story — jet planes for Porter Airlines. We shall see if Ms Chow and her advisers think they can isolate her opponents on an issue that goes beyond left and right.
