Toronto's mayoral race gets more congested with transit pitches and record number of candidates

Getting around Toronto isn't easy.

That applies whether you're taking transit, driving a car or riding your bike. And it might be the one thing Toronto's growing ranks of mayoral candidates can agree on, judging from the tone of their announcements this week. Candidates on the election trail were increasingly tuned into the plight of weary commuters.

The pace of those announcements accelerated as the deadline to sign up for the race — or drop out — draws closer. Meanwhile, the city kicked its efforts to recruit thousands of workers into high gear, and even more new policy was released.

Here's a glimpse of where things stand after the fifth week of the campaign.

Transit, traffic woes could be wedge issue

The future of transit in the suburbs and the Gardiner Expressway motored onto the campaign trail this week, with a number of candidates presenting contrasting plans for both.

Brad Bradford wants to cut two years off the billion dollar Gardiner East rebuild. He says a tweak to city bylaws would let construction go on 24/7, accelerating the project.

And he slammed candidates who want to tear down the section east of Jarvis Street that council committed to rebuild in 2016. 

On the same day that Bradford made his pitch, Olivia Chow unveiled her plan to build a dedicated busway to replace Scarborough's aging light rail trail. She unveiled that announcement a day after the city's executive committee endorsed a plan to run on-street priority bus lanes instead of the off-street busway to replace the SRT.

Ana Bailão and Mitzie Hunter have subsequently said they support building the busway.

The city wants the province to pay for the $60 million dedicated lane and the nearly $3 million still required to advance the design work.

Chow says she'd pay the $60 million to build the lane on the path of the SRT by pulling down the Gardiner East and creating a boulevard.

With candidates on the left promising a Gardiner tear down and those on the right vowing pressing to stay the course on the expressway rebuild, it's likely to be a wedge issue.

Zachary Spicer, an associate professor of political science at York University, said in the past, candidates have successfully drawn suburban votes with promises to address the city's road woes.

Former mayor Rob Ford used promises of battling gridlock to great effect, Spicer said.

"The sort of Rob Ford way of thinking about getting around Toronto is one that is top of mind for a lot of folks right now," he said.

Meanwhile, Hunter introduced a plan to build new transit, including the Waterfront East LRT and what she's dubbed the North York-Scarborough subway, a line running across the city's north end. 

This all happens against the backdrop of newly begun construction of the Ontario Line downtown. Closures of parts of Queen Street began this week, inconveniencing transit riders and drivers alike for the next four years.

Candidates Mark Saunders and Anthony Furey called on the city to re-open King Street to all traffic.

Saunders also wants to speed up construction on lane closures on Richmond and Adelaide. 

Bradford wants to double down on King's transit priority status, which he says will use existing streetcar infrastructure and ease congestion in the area.

Record number of candidates

As of this week, a whopping 73 people have now registered to run for mayor. The city says that's a record. 

With the deadline to drop out of the race coming up May 12, at 2 p.m., expect to see some last-minute entries and a few names possibly exit the race.

City staff have said for months that this is the largest byelection in Canadian history.

This week they began to actively recruit thousands of people to fill temporary jobs to run both the advanced polls and voting stations on election day, June 26.

Andrew Tumilty, a senior consultant with Enterprise Canada, said with the rapidly swelling field, it's becoming increasingly difficult for candidates to break through. 

Beyond the five to 10 candidates with some name recognition, he isn't sure how the others in the race can gain any traction.

"It's not just how big the overall field is … but it's how many more prominent names you're seeing run this time," he said.

Tumilty, who twice ran former mayor John Tory's election war room, said each campaign is searching for a signature issue to make their own. Five weeks into the campaign, the problem is no one has found it yet.

"You have to be looking for an issue that you can kind of grab on to, and that people can immediately identify with you," he said. "John Tory did that with SmartTrack, Rob Ford did that with the 'Gravy Train' and David Miller did it with the island airport."

Meanwhile, Bailão snagged another endorsement from a sitting city councillor, with Nick Mantas announcing his support. Shelley Carroll, Chis Moise and Paul Ainslie have all backed her bid for mayor.

Chow received the endorsement of the United Steelworkers Toronto Area Council.

Policy planks you may have missed

Josh Matlow announced a road safety plan aimed at redesigning the city's most dangerous intersections. He says his City Works Fund would increase traffic safety spending to $56 million, up from $23 million, over two years.

He also pledged to team up with the federal government, Indigenous leaders and other local politicians to fight the province's plan to develop parts of the Greenbelt. 

Saunders unveiled his housing plan this week, promising to cut approval times for development applications and make both the city and builders more accountable.

The former police chief also promised to create more rental housing by permitting one to two more floors per rental or condo building "where appropriate."

Bailão also introduced her housing plan. She pledged to create an "anti-displacement and evictions prevention unit" of 30 staff. She also said she'd ensure that 20 per cent of all new homes built in Toronto by 2031 — a minimum of 57,000 — are purpose-built rentals.

Former city councillor Rob Davis said if he were elected mayor, he'd ban AirBnB and other short term rental activities. He says that would release 20,000 rental units back onto the rental market.

City councillor Anthony Perruzza has pledged to freeze property taxes, city fees and transit fares for three years if elected. This week he challenged other candidates to declare whether or not they'd raise property taxes.