Toronto mayoral candidates squared off again Thursday evening in the last televised debate for this election.
The debate, hosted by CP24, featured one additional candidate: former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey, who has enjoyed a rise in popularity according to a recent survey.
Olivia Chow, who is maintaining her lead in polls, continued to face attacks from her opponents for her refusal to give an exact figure for her proposed property tax hike.
Chow said the budgeting approach adopted by City Hall in the past decade, which focused on setting tax rates first, has failed, and she will start with the people.
“Look at what services I need, then have other levels of governments join us,” she said. “Find the taxes, especially people that are buying very expensive homes, they can pay a bit more, then, after that, a modest tax increase.”
Brad Bradford compared Chow’s budgeting approach to pulling off everything from the shelves in Costco and figuring out how to pay only after arriving at the tills.
“Families, seniors, my family, we need to live within our means, and City Hall has to do the same thing,” Bradford said.
The debate touched upon the issue of encampments. Most candidates said they will focus on providing housing for people in those sites, while Furey said he is more concerned about the public safety side of the problem.
He said there are growing scenes of violence related to encampments and the drug crisis.
“We are a compassionate society. We must care for these individuals,” he said. “But at the same time, we can’t let our standards slip any further.”
Ana Bailão said while she supports funding the police, she will also invest in the city’s community service unit and mobile clinics, which she sees as alternative responses to those in need of mental health support.
“This is not an either or,” Bailão said. “We need to ensure that our officers are focused on the crime.”
Former police chief Mark Sanders, who said in previous debates public safety is his top issue, said he will employ 400 more officers to deal with rising random crimes and longer wait time for emergency calls.
Sanders also accused Chow of always trying to defund the police. Chow responded she was not on city council or a member of the the police services board while Sanders was chief.
The open debate sessions saw candidates frequently interrupting with one another. Mitzie Hunter, former Ontario MPP from Scarborough, said Josh Matlow’s track record on transit is unreliable, while Matlow accused Hunter of running her campaign by making things up, instead of basing it on facts.
The debate also featured several rounds of flash questions, in which candidates were expected to give yes or no, or a few words as their answers. At one point, they were asked whether their campaigns have used artificial intelligence.
Hunter said one of her volunteers used ChatGPT but fact-checked all the content, while Matlow said his platform featured authentic photos.
“No one in our pictures has three arms, Anthony,” Matlow said, referring to Furey’s use of an AI-generated image featuring a women with three arms in his platform.
The mayoral election will take place on Monday, June 26.