There are now more than 50 candidates registered for the June 26 by-election for mayor of Toronto. Even among the half dozen front runners, there are many competing claims and positions. Here are two useful ways to distinguish the candidates.

First, take a good look at those who are advising the candidate during the election. As former prime minister Brian Mulroney famously said, “You dance with who brung you.”

Consider, for instance, Mark Saunders, the former police chief. His election team includes a fundraiser for the Ontario Conservatives, a former staffer of both Rob and Doug Ford and a former chief of staff for Premier Ford. 

It is not much different for councillor Brad Bradford. His key advisor was chief of staff to Ford’s education minister Stephen Lecce; another is the founder of Ontario Proud; a third, apparently in a more limited capacity, was Doug Ford’s campaign manager in both 2018 and 2022. Deb Matthews, who was very close to Kathleen Wynne, is also involved with several other Liberals. 

Ana Bailão has a team more mixed: a polarizing right-wing pollster and a former campaign organizer for the Liberal party, as well as several from John Tory’s campaigns for mayor. 

Josh Matlow has more neutral advisors: a veteran campaign manager who is not aligned with any party — he has worked for virtually every kind of candidate — and someone who worked as a communications person for former prime minister Jean Chretien and, long ago, for former mayor Art Eggleton.

It is unclear who is around Mitzie Hunter, but her decade-long political career has been with the Ontario Liberal party (she is a current Liberal Party MPP and will be required to resign that post by mid-May to run in the election), so one can assume those advisors will be Liberals.

Olivia Chow’s life had been with the New Democrats and one can assume they will be her advisors.Another group of influencers are donors. Bradford has announced a fundraiser for members of the development industry, and Bailão has done the same. Those donations could influence those candidates if they become mayor.

The second important way to distinguish candidates are policy announcements. It is easy to announce you will do almost anything if elected, but if the announcement is something you have never even hinted at in the past, it should not be trusted. 

The announcements that should be treated seriously are those where the candidate has been clear about the issue in the past. 

Mitzie Hunter, for instance, has frequently said she favours ranked ballots, so her promise to advocate for them if elected must be taken seriously. 

Josh Matlow has frequently said he wants the city to build housing for the homeless and low-income families, so his announcements that he will do this if elected has weight.  

Ana Bailão also showed a strong interest in housing as a councillor, so her announcements about that should be looked at carefully. 

But the announcements by several candidates that they will build barriers in the subways to prevent people being pushed onto the tracks should be treated as hot air: they have not talked about this in the past, and the cost is far beyond what a cash-strapped TTC could ever meet.

Most of the other candidates have no experience on city council or for other reasons, even if former councillors, can’t at this point be treated as serious contenders. Running for mayor is serious business and political experience is needed to attract enough of a following to run a strong campaign.