Adam Zivo: Olivia Chow's election victory is nothing to be proud of - National Post

Olivia Chow delivers her victory speech following her re-election as Toronto mayor on Monday. Photo by Peter Power/Postmedia NewsArticle contentOlivia Chow may have defeated Brad Bradford in Toronto’s mayoral race, but her unusually narrow margin of victory suggests that many Torontonians remain frustrated with her lacklustre performance.

Although pre-election polls conducted over the past week suggested a tight race, Chow beat Bradford by what would be considered, in most contexts, a large lead: 54 versus 41 per cent, or 13 points.

However, since Toronto was amalgamated in 1998, no incumbent mayor has ever lost a re-election bid. All of them, except Chow, have won by enormous margins: John Tory crushed his opponents in 2018 and 2022, winning by 40 and 44 points respectively; David Miller beat his opponent by 25 points in 2006; and Mel Lastman dominated by 72 points in 2000.

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Rob Ford was on track to become an exception in 2014, as he was polling in second place behind Tory, but an unexpected cancer diagnosis forced him to drop out of that year’s race at the last minute. We will never know how well Rob Ford would have performed at the ballot box, but the final results would’ve presumably been underwhelming, given that his brother Doug, who stepped in as his replacement, lost to Tory by seven points.

So, putting things into perspective, when you exclude Rob Ford — the controversial mayor who was stripped of some of his powers after being caught smoking crack — then Chow’s win was the weakest among all of Toronto’s incumbent mayors. Her victory may have been clear, but it was not resounding.

It isn’t hard to see why Chow, despite her name recognition, had to fight for another mandate while her predecessors enjoyed a cakewalk: polling data consistently shows that Torontonians believe that the city, along with their quality of life, is deteriorating.

A survey conducted this month by Canada Pulse Insights found that 64 per cent of Torontonians think the city is on the wrong track, with affordability, crime and homelessness all being top issues. Another poll conducted by Build Canada similarly found that 61 per cent of respondents believe Toronto is a worse place to live than it was four years ago, and 60 per cent think that city hall needs a major change in direction.