Chow attempts to tackle major issues facing Toronto nearly 100 days post-election

It’s been nearly 100 days now since Toronto elected Olivia Chow as mayor. In that time, Chow has been working to tackle some of the major issues she inherited while trying to settle into the new role.

Fresh off her election victory, Olivia Chow hit the ground running with a shortened transition period before taking office and promising action. “I want to get started immediately to make life more affordable for the people of Toronto,” Chow said in her victory speech.

She met with grassroots organizations, staff and councillors to try and make an impact as soon as possible before officially taking office on July 13.

“The mayor was confronted with a series of very large and very steep challenges. The biggest of which is financial, and she has been making some inroads with the province for financial support,” said Zachary Spicer, an associate professor at York University’s School of Public Policy and Administration.

Her first task was dealing with the crisis of refugees being left outside a downtown shelter intake centre for weeks after being told there was nowhere to go.

“The refugees that are stranded in front of Peter Street. We know that our shelters are full,” said Chow.

Chow’s first meeting found some short-term response to help the newcomers, including topping-up the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit with $6.67 million and opening 250 additional shelter spaces for refugees.

The looming $1.5 billion budget shortfall the city is facing quickly came into focus along with the possibility of a new municipal sales tax being brought up as a way to bring in money.

Council recently voted to have different revenue tools installed which also including increases to the municipal land-transfer tax on luxury homes worth $3 million or more and asking the province to bring in a Toronto-specific municipal sales tax.

Chow also increased affordable housing targets with city council. There were 7,500 affordable homes, of which 2,500 would be new rent-geared-to-income units and a new target of 17,500 rent-controlled homes, on top of 40,000 affordable rental units the city committed to building by 2031.

She also added more TTC service using funds set aside for the operation of the Eglinton Crosstown. As of Sept. 5, the TTC restored 126 school trips for elementary and high school students and adding more vehicles to nine routes that serve colleges or universities.

Much of the first few months concentrated on trying to convince the provincial and federal governments that Toronto needs help. It eventually led to a meeting with Premier Doug Ford and the forming of a working group in an effort to try strike a “new deal” for the city.

“We’ll find ways to cooperate to deal with the budget deficit that we have,” said Chow.

“I don’t think that she can knock off a lot of those larger priorities off her to do list yet, but she is certainly making a considerable amount of progress,” added Spicer.

The fight with the province over the future of Ontario Place, however, continues and there’s been no mention of the Gardiner Expressway since the election.

As for the federal government, Chow said she was optimistic after a series of meetings in Ottawa last week. She believes momentum is building and that Ottawa understands the city’s dire situation.

“I tried to capture what the tenants are going through now in the city of Toronto and said we need immediate help now. The positive thing is that they didn’t say no. They are thinking about it,” Chow said on Friday.