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Toronto, Mayoral candidate Olivia Chow continued her attack on rival John Tory Tuesday by attempting to draw comparisons between the frontrunner and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
While speaking to reporters outside Queen’s Park, Chow said that by electing Tory, Torontonians would just be replacing one conservative mayor with another.
“Like Rob Ford last time, John Tory speaks about all of the efficiencies that exist. Well we know what happened. Mr. Ford promised no cuts. The TTC was cut and that led to bus routes being eliminated,” Chow said.
“If you look at a John Tory’s record, his record has been clear. He has no progressive accomplishments. If you look at the time that he was in Queen’s Park, what did he do? He would not stand up for the city of Toronto. He said that the provincial Liberal budget was too “Toronto-centric.”
Chow continued on to say Tory has not committed to increasing funding for important public services like childcare and the TTC.
“If you want to see a real change of direction, a real investment in people, I am your candidate for mayor.”
When asked about the large number of endorsements Tory has received in recent weeks from well-known members of the Liberal party,
Chow said “it is not about who you know.”
“It is what you will do. What vision you have for the city,” Chow said.
“My worry is this… he is not going to find the money he wants to find to support his transit plan and what he will end up doing, I’m afraid, is he will end up is making deep cuts to services, vital services, because that is exactly what Rob Ford did.”
In response to Chow’s claims, Tory said she is simply playing politics.
“What a real shocker it is for people to know that I’m a progressive conservative when I was the leader of the party… I sat there as a progressive conservative. I was well-known as someone who cared about the fate of those who are facing special challenges,” he said.
In his platform, Tory says he has in fact committed to continue funding programs for children.
“She chooses to ignore that I’ve said that over and over again,” Tory said.
“I believe these kinds of investments in kids and families, especially in kids, are some of the best investments we make and that is a very big contrast to Mr. Ford and his voting record and that of his brother.”
Tory, Chow and Doug Ford all took part in a debate hosted by the Toronto Real Estate Board on Tuesday morning, touching on a variety of topics including the Municipal Land Transfer Tax.
When Chow was asked about whether she would offer relief to homeowners when it comes to the tax, she flatly responded, ‘No.’
“It is $300-million dollars… if we are to reduce the $300 million in revenue, the city’s property tax will dramatically increase and we cannot allow that to happen,” she said.
Doug Ford was met with applause when he discussed his plan to scrap the tax, which is paid by anyone who purchases a home or business in Toronto.
“A lot of my friends want to tax, tax, tax, spend, spend spend. I don’t believe in taxing and spending. I believe in saving and putting money back into the people’s pocket of this great city,” Ford said.
Tory was quick to point out how Ford’s brother, Mayor Rob Ford, also vowed to cut the tax but was unable to do so during his term.
“This very same promise we are here talking about today, actually didn’t get done…Here we sit today and it hasn’t been done away with, not at all, not a penny,” Tory said.
“I don’t think you can stand up in front of any audience, anywhere and discuss any tax anytime and say you are going to do away with it without expressly and explicitly spelling out where you are going to get the money to replace it.”
