2023 Toronto Mayoral by-election

[DSC]

What bothers me here is not his choosing to endorse someone, its that he publicly stated he would not, and now has.

Same pattern Deputy Mayor McKelvie followed.

.... and Mr Ford himself. I put it down to fact they are scared Chow will (easily) win.

 

[EddyMCD]

This is pretty late in the game for a Tory endorsement, I wonder how much it will pump Bailao's numbers.

 

[John_Dee]

If Chow does win, and Dofo rescinds the "strong mayor" powers he was previously so hot-to-trot for - or tries to, at least - there's no way the optics for that are going to be anything but terrible. I could see him doing it. He's that petty.

And speaking of Ford (and Tory), I wonder if there's anything to the speculation some of us were engaging in that the real reason Tory resigned was that Thug learned of Tory's affair and tried to blackmail him. If there is something to that, does Tory have any reason to remain quiet about it? Apart from the obvious, natch, i.e. Ford's legendary vindictiveness towards perceived enemies and his almost certain-to-follow efforts at revenge against Tory for not keeping his mouth shut.

 

[smably]

I'm no fan of Bailao, but I'm going to count these late endorsements as good news. They are too late to affect Chow's chances of winning, but they could help bleed support from Saunders and hopefully eliminate him as a contender in 2026. A third or fourth place finish might be enough to embarrass him out of politics forever. I can dream.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

John Tory finally backs a candidate in Toronto mayoral election

Tory revealed Wednesday he endorses Ana Bailão in Monday’s byelection, while Doug Ford warned an Olivia Chow victory would be ‘unmitigated disaster’ for the city.

www.thestar.com

John Tory has named his preferred candidate in the election to succeed him, despite previously declaring he would stay out of the race.

The former Toronto mayor confirmed to the Star on Wednesday that he will endorse Ana Bailão in Monday’s byelection. Bailão, a former councillor for Davenport, served as one of his deputy mayors.

Her campaign is expected to issue a formal statement Wednesday afternoon.

Excellent, she can own his failures then.

AoD

 

[Pacer]

With continued support from Ford as well in the media, we have a split vote for the stop chow camp(s).

 

[picard102]

Ana is the status quo. That is not acceptable.

We just had an election a few months ago that found the status quo to be more than acceptable.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

We just had an election a few months ago that found the status quo to be more than acceptable.

Until the status quo decided that he was anything but that.

AoD

 

[picard102]

If Chow does win, and Dofo rescinds the "strong mayor" powers he was previously so hot-to-trot for - or tries to, at least - there's no way the optics for that are going to be anything but terrible. I could see him doing it. He's that petty.

He doesn't need to rescind them. Most of the powers require the use to align with provincial priorities.

 

[picard102]

Until the status quo decided that he was anything but that.

AoD

Polls showed he'd easily win if he ran again.

 

[JGHali]

Polls showed he'd easily win if he ran again.

So? He resigned. A poll testing a hypothetical doesn’t tell you much except that Tory was familiar and the incumbent. His last minute endorsement once again demonstrates that his whole “integrity” schtick was just performative.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Polls showed he'd easily win if he ran again.

Maybe he should then!

AoD

 

[picard102]

So? He resigned.

So saying he would win again means that the idea of the status quo being unacceptable is false.

I somehow doubt you'd be talking about his integrity if he endorsed Chow.

 

[ShonTron]

A Tory endorsement doesn’t necessarily mean much anymore. Yes, they – and the robocalling – helped get BadBad elected in 2018, and probably kept Grimes in long past his best before date, but his endorsements weren’t enough for Grimes in 2022, and his preferred candidate against Gord Perks came in third. And Grant Gonzales?

It might have helped in a tight, two-person race, like it probably helped keep Nunziata in last time, but it shouldn’t be enough for Bailao.

 

[No Vacancy]

There are many new rental buildings in development/construction across the City, and all of them are by REITs or typical condo developers. We need these to continue being built. Even if they are expensive, the additional supply of these theoretically eases pricing pressures on older buildings. I have seen first hand on multi-building site developments where the City offers additional floors on condo buildings to developers in exchange for more rental units.

If ultimate rent control is implemented, no new rental units will be constructed, and the housing crisis will get worse. Everyone wants public rental building to be constructed, but the reality is that the City is simply not capable of doing that themselves, they need private partners. The City just approved the multiplex zoning, who the hell is going to lay out the money to build a multiplex if they can never raise rent?

It's a very bad policy.

I agree with every word you've said and appreciate the opportunity to discuss this critical issue here with smart people like yourself.

I am an investor in rental units. The problem with a hard rent control, a "vacancy control" as you'd call it, is that it will totally dis-incentivize any new rental construction as well as instantly turn existing rental buildings into defacto slums. If landlords are not given the ability to capture market rent, ie the rent that a new tenant is willing (not forced!) to pay, a landlord will slowly, but surely, run his building into the ground in order to maintain a profit. Repairs will be slowed, any upgrades to the building will totally stop and anything short of essential services will be removed. This is exactly what happened under the disastrous Rae government in the 1990's. As it stands today with extremely low turnover of units landlords are simply not recovering their annual cost increases through the meager guideline amount of 2.5% while inflation roars at 7%+. Landlords are having to eat that cost and accept a lower profit or a loss in many cases and all operating costs have skyrocketed along with inflation. In my opinion all rent control at all is immoral and ineffective but that's probably a lengthier post. They only protect the tenants currently in residence and serve to make vacancy artificially low while pushing up market rents by artificially limiting the availability of supply. If rents were set every year you'd see more turnover, more supply and ultimately a more competitive market. Why should a private property owner a price cap in the amount of money he can charge for his product? Does Apple have a price cap on the cost of an iphone? How about Rogers? Loblaws? Air Canada?

The failure is on the part of the City/governments to ensure a stable flow of housing to its people- the responsibility to do that should never be downloaded to private citizens and corporations. Rent control is really immoral theft.

FYI Chow has zero ability to affect rent regulation in the city of Toronto; it's a provincial law. She may try to interfere but will be shot down by the province. She is actually probably a tenant's worst enemy, and a landlord's too to be certain, because she will make it much, much, more difficult for property managers to run buildings smoothly. She will make it more difficult to evict bad tenants which hurts good tenants and landlords alike,

Just watch her in action- it will be an unmitigated disaster.