Why Ontario Place is the 'Swiss Army knife' of byelection issues and what else you might have missed this week

The future of a pair of Toronto tourist attractions dominated discussion in the third week of the city's mayoral byelection as an increasingly crowded group of hopefuls tried to gain traction in the race.

Premier Doug Ford's announcement that his government will move the Ontario Science Centre from its current location in the city's east end to Ontario Place made waves — and could have the legs to be a key election issue. 

The debate dominated the news during a busy third week of the campaign as a high profile candidate jumped into the race and a slew of new policy was pitched.

Here's a recap of where things stand.

Ontario Place debate may persist through campaign

Premier Ford made good on his hints last week that his government was planning to move the Science Centre to the waterfront. 

And while that won't take place until 2025, the plan isn't sitting well with many of the candidates who say it pulls a key community resource out of Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park. 

Just days later, a key city committee deferred a decision on a land swap the province has requested at Ontario Place to help it revitalize the site, a controversial vision which includes a spa and underground parking garage. 

Andrew Tumilty, a senior consultant with Enterprise Canada, said it seems likely that the issue will persist throughout the campaign. 

"It's something that resonates ... because people have personal connections and personal memories of the place," he said.

Tumilty, who twice ran former mayor John Tory's election war room, said each campaign can use the issue as a springboard to talk about anything.

"It's almost like a Swiss Army knife of issues where if you want to use Ontario Place to talk about housing, if you want to talk about public spaces, if you want to talk about standing up to the provincial government, or waterfront development … you have that opportunity," he said.

Olivia Chow enters the race

Monday kicked off with a bang as Olivia Chow entered the race.

The former NDP MP had been speculated as a potential candidate and now appears to be the party's standard-bearer in the race. And while there's no official party system in municipal politics, strategists, activists and volunteers all get involved behind the scenes to support candidates.

Chow's entry into the race could impact Josh Matlow. While the veteran councillor is a Liberal, he leans decidedly left, so he and Chow will be attempting to woo some of the same voters.

Gil Peñalosa, the urbanist who finished second in the last mayoral election, had been musing publicly for weeks about making a second run for the city's top job.

So, when he called a news conference on Wednesday, it seemed certain that he was going to register to run and officially jump in the race.

Instead, Peñalosa said he's endorsing Chow. And that could be consequential. 

Peñalosa ran a distant second to Tory, but performed well in the city's core, capturing 10,011 votes in Parkdale-High Park, 9,158 votes in Davenport, 8,579 votes in University-Rosedale and 8,190 votes in Toronto-Danforth. 

Toronto Metropolitan University political science professor Myer Siemiatycki said if Chow can capture these votes it will help in this tight race.  

"For him to be directing his support to Olivia Chow is clearly a boost for her campaign," he said.

Speaking of endorsements, former deputy mayor Ana Bailão has received another from organized labour. CUPE Local 79, which represents 25,000 city workers, has backed her. 

How many people are running now?

As of Friday, there were 50 candidates running in the byelection. 

Compare that to the 2018 and 2022 mayoral races, where 35 and 31 candidates ran respectively and this is a crowded field. 

Stephen Carter, a campaign strategist for former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, said candidates are going to have trouble standing out.

"You need to create a new narrative if you are going to be the successful candidate that captures the imagination and the attention of the Toronto voters," he told Metro Morning this week.

• You can listen to that full interview here.

The complete list of candidates can be found on the city's website, and many of the candidates have launched their own sites where you can read more about them.

Candidate dust-up

The fight on the right side of the political spectrum heated up this week with Brad Bradford and Mark Saunders taking shots at each other.

Bradford defended his past voting record at council, which critics said shows he supports the "defund the police" movement. But he said that movement is about changing a policing status quo that isn't working while also ensuring community safety.

He also slammed Saunders as a "failed police chief" and attacked his record in that role. 

Saunders took aim at Bradford's voting record at council around community safety, accusing him of only caring about crime now that an election is underway. 

Policy, anyone?

The candidates unleashed a torrent of policy proposals this week. Here are some of the ideas that were pitched.

Josh Matlow kicked off the week saying he'd open all libraries on Sundays if he's elected mayor. 

Mitzie Hunter dropped two plans to address homelessness in the city this week. She said she'd open the city's warming and cooling centres year-round, would add 400 new shelter beds and double the capacity of street outreach programs if elected.

For youth, she'd establish five new housing outreach teams and increase financial support for the city's community service partnerships addressing youth homelessness.

On Friday, Bradford slammed bloat in the city's bureaucracy and pledged to introduce mandate letters to hold senior civil servants accountable. Earlier in the week, he outlined another law-and-order policy plank, promising to hire police officers in each division, specifically enforce bail conditions. 

Saunders had a bail reform proposal of his own too, pledging to immediately meet with Prime Minister Trudeau to call for change to the system and Criminal Code.

Bailão pitched a city-wide plan to address food insecurity. She said she'd spend $2 million more to create a dedicated funding stream for organizations that work to help for food security.

She'd also provide access for food banks to city spaces to help lower their overhead costs and direct more of the funding to their work.

Chloe Brown, who finished third in the 2022 mayoral race, promised to consolidate a number of city departments under a new "strong commissioners" system to streamline function, improve communication and increase transparency.

Anthony Furey promised to stop plans to build new dedicated bike lanes throughout the city.

City councillor Anthony Perruzza promised to freeze property taxes, city fees and TTC fares for three years if elected.