Penalosa bows out, backs Chow as allegiances shift in Toronto

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For some time there, I believed Gil Penalosa had a shot at being mayor in his second try.

The city planner got here out of seemingly nowhere final October to win 98,525 votes making him a decent second place finisher to John Tory.

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Within the byelection to exchange Tory, these 98,525 votes may very well be sufficient to win the entire race.

On Wednesday, although, Penalosa introduced he wouldn’t search to grow to be Toronto’s subsequent mayor in spite of everything and endorsed Olivia Chow. The announcement was made outdoors Metropolis Corridor, not with Chow however with Toronto Centre MPP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam.

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Wong-Tam has been a longtime ally of Chow’s and was one of many first to endorse Penalosa in final fall’s election. The issue for Penalosa is that the individuals who supported him final fall had been both loyal to Chow or to fellow candidate and Metropolis Councillor Josh Matlow.

He had no path to victory left together with his crew of supporters going again to the opposite candidates.

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This can be a little bit of a shake up within the race to be mayor however to be sincere, Penalosa can’t even assure that he may ship all of these 98,000 votes to Chow, Matlow or himself had he stayed within the race. Whereas Penalosa’s turnout final election was spectacular, the third-place finisher acquired simply 34,000 votes, it was a protest vote by progressives who couldn’t carry themselves to again Tory who was the institution candidate.

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So now the NDP wing of council and the voters they appeal to will principally coalesce round Olivia Chow.

Chow’s marketing campaign supervisor, Michal Hay, is not any stranger to profitable campaigns. She held a senior function on Jagmeet Singh’s profitable NDP management bid in 2017. She spent a number of years working at Metropolis Corridor for former councillor Mike Layton and till just lately was the manager director for Progress Toronto, a left-leaning activist group.

Chow’s fundamental competitor for the progressive vote will likely be Matlow, a person who has introduced collectively his personal crew of marketing campaign veterans, together with John Laschinger who labored on Chow’s 2014 bid for mayor in addition to the marketing campaign of former mayor David Miller. He’s additionally acquired the assist of Liberals like Peter Donolo, a one-time advisor to prime minister Jean Chretien.

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Registration for the mayoral byelection opened up simply two-and-a-half weeks in the past and voting day is simply over two months away. There will likely be extra candidates getting within the race and extra who will drop out by Could 12, the date when the candidates are licensed and the poll set.

Proper now, there are 49 individuals who have registered to run for mayor, a kind of, Liberal MPP for Scarborough-Guildwood Mitzie Hunter, has to resolve by that date whether or not she is in or out. Whereas sitting councillors working for mayor don’t have to resign their seats, MPPs and MPs can’t run for mayor whereas sitting at Queen’s Park or in Ottawa.

There’s loads of chatter that Hunter is in search of a approach out of Queen’s Park and the provincial mini-van get together. If she doesn’t win the race to be mayor, she may search for a seat federally provided that a number of Liberal MPs within the Scarborough space are anticipated to retire by the point the subsequent federal election comes round.

That is nonetheless early days within the race to choose Toronto’s subsequent mayor and whereas many candidates are placing out coverage pronouncements, the true factor to observe at this level is who’s in, who’s out and the place are allegiances shifting.

Keep tuned.

blilley@postmedia.com

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