After election victory, Chow to face budget pressure and new deal with Ontario

TORONTO — Negotiations with the province to help relieve Toronto’s budget pressures loomed over Olivia Chow’s election victory on Tuesday, as she vowed to be the “mayor for everyone.”

Chow took her first question from reporters hours after she held off challenger Brad Bradford in Monday’s election and convinced voters to back a second term of her progressive agenda.

“There’s a firm belief that we are stronger together. And the majority of the people of Toronto spoke out so loudly, with such enthusiasm,” she said.

“They know that we can take better care of each other.”

Her peacemaking political style earned her approving words from Premier Doug Ford during the campaign, who stopped just short of endorsing her in the contest.

Now, Chow will likely look to summon that goodwill as she looks to negotiations with Ford on a new Toronto-Ontario fiscal deal. The city has projected a 2027 budget hole of around $1.1 billion. Transit ridership continues to lag behind pre-pandemic levels while a softening real estate market is expected to squeeze the municipal land transfer tax.

Chow inherited a $1.8 billion shortfall when she was first elected in 2023. She sought to plug the hole with two sizable property tax increases and a major deal with Ford’s government. Ontario assumed maintenance of the city’s expressways and provided $1.2 billion in operating dollars for transit and shelters, while Chow dropped the city’s opposition to the Ontario Place redevelopment.

That deal is now set to expire at the same time as Chow has campaigned on a promise to keep property taxes at or below the rate of inflation. She reiterated that tax pledge on Tuesday while highlighting that the city had secured its first credit-rating upgrade in more than two decades during her first term.

“I do know the budget very well. I just hope that there is no surprises from outside the City of Toronto, but I don’t expect any,” she said.

Asked on Tuesday how quickly she planned to hash out a new deal with the province, Chow said she had exchanged texts with the premier earlier that morning.

“And no matter which level of government, whether it’s a federal or provincial government, they want to work together and they want do the best they can for the residents of Toronto.”

Chow managed to stave off her challenger on a night where several incumbents were toppled in Ontario’s municipal elections, including Mississauga’s Carolyn Parrish, Hamilton’s Andrea Horwath and Windsor’s Drew Dilkens.

Premier Doug Ford congratulated Chow on the victory and says he will “work with anyone to drive the economy to make sure we protect communities and companies and people” from U.S. tariffs.

Chow will preside over a council with a boosted progressive bloc as she seeks to make good on other campaign promises to cap weekly transit fares, introduce free school lunches and strengthen renter protections.

The departure of rival Bradford from council heralded the political resurrection of former Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith, who aligned himself with Chow in his successful run in Beaches East-York after a failed pivot to provincial politics. Chiara Padovani, a tenant organizer, defeated Toronto’s longest-serving councillor Frances Nunziata in York South-Weston.

Voter turnout was around 46 per cent, the highest it’s been since 2014. Chow’s 13 percentage point victory over Bradford would mark the narrowest win by a sitting mayor since the city’s amalgamation.

The dust barely had time to settle on Monday night’s election before Chow, 69, was asked about her long-term political future. As she stood outside city hall, she brushed off a question Tuesday about whether this would be her last run for mayor.

“I’m going to spend every moment of today and the next four years working hard for the people of Toronto,” she said. “As to the future, let us take one day, one week, one month, one year at a time.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2026.

Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press