‘Running out of steam’: Bradford takes aim at Chow over new pitch for 15,000 youth jobs

Former Toronto mayor and CTV News municipal affairs expert John Tory says the issue of bike lanes will not decide the election.
“Scarborough is going to decide the election, for example, and whether Mr. Bradford can continue the progress he's made in the suburbs, and whether Miss Chow can hold on to her vote downtown,” Tory tells CP24 Live at 5.
He says bike lanes are a hot issue now because their removal is on the spotlight.
“I think that it's going to be a more important issue in some ways only because it's being discussed all this week. I mean, it's hard to get a wording edgeways on some other issue, but it will not decide the election,” Tory says.
As to what the campaigns have in store for the final two weeks of the campaign, Tory doesn’t expect any last-minute pledge.
“I think that normally you won't see anything new coming out at this stage. You might see somebody make a mistake. That could happen. You might see an endorsement come out that people hadn't expected. Things like that,” he says.
“You notice the announcements being made this morning were repeating things they'd already said. It's too late to come out and kind of have new policies because people see it as being for what it is, too late,” Tory adds.
“And so you'll just see them debating, trying to force each other into a mistake, trying to emphasize their own positives and the other candidates' negatives.”

As the province continues to scrap major bike lanes in Toronto, Nanos polling suggests residents would prefer transportation experts and city staff to have the final say on where bike lanes are installed.

The exclusive survey for CP24 and CTV News found 45 per cent of respondents favoured giving experts and city staff that authority, compared to 29 per cent who preferred Toronto City Council.

Meanwhile, just 13 per cent said the provincial government should make those decisions.

The findings come as bike lanes remain a contentious election issue, with Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford supporters sharply divided over whether Toronto should expand or reduce its cycling network.

Despite their differences over bike lanes, Toronto voters also appear united when it comes to traffic congestion.

The exclusive Nanos poll conducted for CP24 and CTV News found 46 per cent of respondents identified congestion as the city’s biggest transportation problem, followed by TTC reliability at 19 per cent.

“Traffic was way ahead of everything else,” Nik Nanos told CP24 Thursday.

The concern was also shared among supporters of both leading mayoral candidates and across every borough, gender and age group surveyed.

“People don’t see things moving in the right direction when it comes to the traffic situation and the ability to get around town,” Nanos said.

Bike lanes have emerged as a major dividing line between supporters of Toronto’s two leading mayoral candidates, according to new exclusive Nanos polling for CP24 and CTV News.

The survey found that 74 per cent of Olivia Chow supporters favour or somewhat favour expanding bike lanes, while the same percentage of Brad Bradford supporters oppose or somewhat oppose expansion.

“The biggest issue that differentiates the two front-running candidates is how you feel about bike lanes,” Nik Nanos, chief data scientist and founder of Nanos Research, told CP24 Thursday.

Nanos described the findings as a “real fundamental disconnect” between the two groups of voters heading into the Oct. 26 election.

Brad Bradford responded to Olivia Chow over claims his proposed municipal water utility could put Toronto’s water system under provincial control.

Speaking to reporters following an affordability roundtable Thursday, Bradford insisted the utility would remain fully publicly owned, with city councillors sitting on its board.

“It will never ever happen. I can’t be more clear to Mayor Chow that will never ever happen,” Bradford said of privatization.

He compared the proposed model to Toronto Hydro and other publicly owned municipal utilities across Canada.

Bradford also accused Chow of using the issue to frighten voters rather than engage in a substantive debate over the city’s future.

“All fear, no facts,” he said.

Brad Bradford says he would make the Eglinton East LRT his top transit priority if elected mayor, accusing Olivia Chow of failing to advance the long-promised project.

In a statement Thursday, Bradford reiterated much of his earlier promises including to personally advocate for the project at Queen’s Park and Ottawa within his first 100 days in office, with a goal of beginning construction by 2030.

He also reiterated plans to remove 12 kilometres of red bus lanes in Scarborough and "guarantee 15-minute service on key bus routes."

“Scarborough has been asked to accept less for so long that it started to feel normal. It isn’t normal,” Bradford said.

Speaking during question period, Olivia Chow took aim at her mayoral opponent Brad Bradford and Premier Doug Ford Thursday over the province’s removal of major Toronto bike lanes, accusing both politicians of creating chaos on city streets.

Chow accused Bradford of reversing his position on bike lanes after previously supporting their installation.

“My opponent needs to stop changing his mind, and number two, our premier needs to stop interfering with local democracy. Stay on his own lane,” Chow said.

Her comments come after the province began removing major bike lanes earlier this week, a move that has sparked protests and led to several arrests.

Olivia Chow is pledging to create 15,000 new youth jobs across Toronto and prioritize local hiring for the Scarborough East LRT if re-elected.

Speaking at YouthLink in Scarborough, Chow said she would guarantee 20 per cent of construction jobs on the transit project go to local residents, with a focus on youth, and target 15 per cent of apprenticeships for local young people aged 18 to 35.

“A good first job, a paid apprenticeship, a path to a real career: that’s how we give young people a future in their own neighbourhood,” Chow said.

Her campaign says she would also invest $28 million in youth violence prevention, mentorship and employment programs.