Former Toronto Mayor John Tory in Toronto on April 26. Tory has endorsed his ex-deputy, Ana Bailão, to be the city's next mayor, less than a week before the municipal byelection.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Former Toronto mayor John Tory waded into the race to succeed him, a day after Premier Doug Ford backed another candidate, as both try to blunt the momentum of front-runner Olivia Chow.
Mr. Tory endorsed former councillor Ana Bailão Wednesday in spite of pledging publicly not to get involved in the race. In a lengthy statement released by Ms. Bailão’s campaign, he called her “the leader who can deliver on the promise of Toronto.”
The by-election for mayor will be held on Monday to elect a replacement for Mr. Tory, who resigned after acknowledging an affair with someone on his staff. Weeks of polling have shown Ms. Chow, a former councillor and former NDP MP, well in the lead, with Ms. Bailão typically falling between second and fourth place.
Premier Doug Ford gave his backing to former police chief Mark Saunders on Tuesday, acknowledging there was a Saunders sign on his lawn and saying he would vote for him. The Premier had also said he would not get involved in the mayoral campaign, but has repeatedly weighed in.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Ford alleged, without providing evidence, that if Ms. Chow is elected she would raise taxes by 25 to 30 per cent, and that businesses would “flee” the city. He added that Ms. Chow “makes David Miller look like a fiscal conservative,” referring to the former left-leaning mayor who led Toronto between 2003 and 2010.
“If Olivia Chow gets in, it will be an unmitigated disaster,” the Premier said at an unrelated announcement in Burlington, Ont. “People are terrified. Businesses are terrified; therefore, the workers should be terrified.”
The Chow campaign said that Mr. Tory and Mr. Ford don’t get to decide who is to be mayor of the city.
“Life is not affordable for a lot of people and the status quo is not working,” Ms. Chow said in a statement. “That is why my message of building a more affordable, caring and safe city is being welcomed by so many Torontonians.”
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Ms. Chow has faced repeated criticism from her opponents during the campaign for not indicating how much she would raise taxes, including from Mr. Saunders, who has also claimed that she would need to raise taxes by 25 per cent or more. Ms. Chow has only said she would support a “modest” property-tax increase, as well as adding new taxes on homes worth more than $3-million and increasing the city’s vacant-home tax.
The Saunders campaign has portrayed the former chief as the only person who can beat Ms. Chow and in a statement said voting for Ms. Bailão would only help Ms. Chow. The statement criticized Mr. Tory for leading the city during a rise in violence, homeless encampments and congestion.
“Ana Bailão was John Tory’s deputy,” the statement said. “She was there every step of the way. So am I surprised by his endorsement? No. He is just fine with the status quo. I’m not.”
In his own statement Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Tory said Ms. Bailão was the best choice to move projects forward while working with the public service, community groups and the private sector.
Ms. Bailão was a three-term councillor and Mr. Tory appointed her honorary deputy mayor for housing in 2017. She chaired his re-election campaign in last fall’s municipal election. She returned briefly to private life before re-emerging to contest Monday’s mayoral by-election.
She has racked up a string of endorsements from long-established councillors, with one of her supporters bragging recently on Twitter that seven of them had a collective 112 years of experience on council. She was also backed last week by Jennifer McKelvie, who has been acting as mayor since the resignation of Mr. Tory.
Mr. Tory had previously said he would not weigh in.
“I have no plans to be involved at all,” he told The Globe and Mail earlier this month when asked if he would endorse anyone. “And so I’m just, I’m watching.”
His statement did not explain the change of heart and he did not respond to messages about the reversal.