Hundreds of raucous supporters packed the upscale Westin Prince Toronto Hotel near Don Mills and York Mills Road yesterday to attend newly minted mayoral candidate Olivia Chow’s first campaign rally and the message was a simple one: It’s time for change.
Chow took the stage and worked the room, even taking a “selfie” of her and the crowd and tweeting it to the masses as a quick nod to Ellen DeGeneres' Academy Awards gag. But she quickly went to work outlining the four pillars of her campaign: children are the heart of the city and if we take care of them, we'll be doing well; small business job creation; “taking the politics out of public transit,” and what she called “minding the public purse.”
After some personal reflections regarding her upbringing in the St. Jamestown neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, and the values that were ingrained in her from her mother, who worked the laundry room at a hotel similar to the Prince, Chow launched her best line directed at current mayor Rob Ford, saying “There is one thing that I think most people in our city agree on, from east to west, north to south: It’s time to pack up that circus tent at city hall.”
Although most of her criticism was directed at Rob Ford, and focused on the importance of bringing “dignity” back to city hall, she did have one arrow in the quiver with fellow candidate John Tory’s name on it, saying, “Hear this, John Tory: there is no such thing as a kinder, gentler version of failure,” likely referring to the conservative candidate's appeal as a viable budget-focused alternative to Ford.
Michael Layton, Chow’s stepson and current Toronto city councillor, hosted the proceedings. Noted filmmaker Deepa Mehta also spoke at the rally, describing Chow as "awe-inspiring" amongst other things, and stressed that Toronto “needs a head of the house, someone to bring dignity to the house,” before finishing up by describing Chow as “compassionate, caring and a helluva better dresser than Rob Ford.” In addition, Dr. Joseph Wong, who welcomed attendees to his ’hood, talked of his long association with Chow, which stretches back 35 years. He got his best reaction from the crowd by taking credit for hooking up Chow with her late husband Jack Layton back in the day. Cute.
It was a good first rally. Important to note the suburban location—a clear message that Chow is far from a downtown candidate—as well as the extremely diverse crowd, which represented a true slice of the city. Also important: just two people in their union jackets on the stage behind Chow, and, if she hopes to unseat the populist politician Ford, the fewer the better.
