Strong mayor powers central to Brad Bradford’s plan for City Hall

City councillor Brad Bradford’s efforts to become the next mayor of Toronto include fully embracing the legislative authority handed to the position by the province.

“Not only am I willing to use it, I’m campaigning on it,” Bradford told CityNews in a one-on-one interview. “I will be a strong mayor of action and, without getting into the details of Bill 3 and Bill 39 and the different legislation, those are things that have been needed at City Hall.”

The former city planner has campaigned on the slogan “Less Talk, More Action” since launching his bid for mayor on March 29. Bradford was elected to a second term as councillor in the 2022 municipal election.

“It didn’t take me longer than four years to recognize the problem,” Bradford said. “Endless debate, deferral, delay. The joke at City Hall is the best way to get re-elected is to do nothing at all.”

Bradford not only points to his colleagues on city council, including others running for mayor, but staff as well. Part of his plan is to introduce public mandate letters for senior leaders to hold them accountable.

“There are thousands of incredible, dedicated professional public servants that do amazing work,” Bradford said. “They are moving heaven and earth to get things done but like every major organization that employs 40,000 people, there are also some people who are mailing it in.”

In terms of increasing the housing supply, Bradford plans to streamline approvals and unlock more city-owned land and convert empty office buildings downtown into homes. He’s critical of the numbers other candidates have been pitching as part of their campaigns.

“You can throw out however many, ten thousands of units, that you want to put in a plan,” Bradford said. “If we don’t actually change the process at City Hall, it’s just going to be a plan shuffling between desks and we’re not actually going to build any housing.”

Bradford has promised to employ a Congestion Relief Commissioner to deal with traffic gridlock and a SafeTTC plan, including the installation of platform edge doors in subway stations.

Various polls throughout the campaign have placed Bradford among the last of the major candidates, with an average of 5 percent of voters who are decided or leaning in his direction.

“This is a byelection that throws more chaos into the mix,” Bradford shared. “It’ll matter who shows up and turns out on election day but we have a message that resonates with real Torontonians.”

This interview is a part of a series of one-on-ones from CityNews with the top candidates for mayor ahead of the byelection. You can find the other candidate’s interviews here.

With files from Meredith Bond