What tone will Olivia Chow set at city hall? Experts contrast vision of hope with Toronto’s problems | CBC News

Olivia Chow will officially become Toronto’s 66th mayor Wednesday and experts say she’ll use the declaration of office ceremony to set a new tone at city hall.

CBC Toronto will be carrying the ceremony live. You can watch that above beginning at about 11 a.m. ET in the player above.

Chow swept to victory in the June 26 mayoral byelection and has spent the last few weeks in briefings, meetings and events as mayor-elect. She acknowledged in a recent interview with CBC Toronto that the task ahead is a big one and she’ll measure success at the end of her term in a variety of ways.

“In three years’ time, that life would be more affordable, especially for renters,” she said.

“More seniors and kids will have the services they need to keep them healthy … and that the arts would be as vibrant as it is now, maybe even more so. And TTC is reliable, fast and safe.”

Those are just a few of the pressing issues Chow has pledged to tackle as she takes office. She begins her term as the city faces a billion-dollar budget gap, has a shelter system at capacity every night and is in the throes of an affordability crisis. 

Chow to strike tone of hope, experts say

Toronto Metropolitan University politics professor Myer Siemiatycki said he expects Chow to acknowledge those issues but also give people a reason for hope.

“I don’t think she will want to either send a doom and gloom or a defeatist signal,” he said. “I think she’ll say it’s time to roll up our sleeves and all work together.” 

WATCH | CBC Toronto went for a bike ride with Chow to get a sense of her leadership style:

Toronto’s next mayor is a cyclist, so we did a Q&A on 2 wheels

When did Olivia Chow know she’d won? Is she afraid she’ll fail? What does she need from citizens to succeed? CBC Toronto’s Haydn Watters saddled up for an informal interview ahead of Chow’s official swearing-in Wednesday.

Siemiatycki said the occasion gives Chow a chance to make an agenda-setting address in the style normally given at Queen’s Park or on Parliament Hill.

“It’s the equivalent of the speech from the throne that we are familiar with at the federal and provincial level,” he said of her swearing-in. “She will do a roll-call, naming the challenges and issues, as a way of signaling to Torontonians that she got the message from the public.”

Strategist and consultant Kim Wright said the ceremony will give Chow a chance to visibly “reset” the council term. It’s a rare opportunity and will mark a significant change in direction, she said.

“She can reset council, reset those priorities, and showcase that whatever one thought of ‘campaign Olivia Chow’, ‘governing Olivia Chow’ is a very different conversation,” she said.

Wright said part of Chow’s job will be to reassure Torontonians that she can begin to fix the many problems the city faces.

“All of those very fundamental fears and anxieties Torontonians are feeling about the future of our city really have to be looked at in a very different lens than they have been for the last decade,” she said.

Committee shakeup likely

Chow will likely appoint new chairs for key committees in the coming weeks and also elevate her allies into important roles. Former city councillor Joe Mihevc said the city might also start to get a sense Wednesday of where the fault lines lie for the new mayor when it comes to her allies on council. 

To pass her agenda with 13 votes required, she’ll need to build a coalition. In reality, Mihevc said Chow will need around 16 councillors who she can regularly depend on to help her and ensure she has a healthy margin of support.

The new mayor’s staff have already been busy meeting with councillors and trying to find common ground, he said.

“She has to find sweet spots, she has to negotiate — she has to also define who her enemies are,” he said. “Who will be the minority of councillors that will be on the outside almost always?”

Mihevc said he thinks Chow will enjoy a bit of a honeymoon with voters and they’ll recognize that some problems will take time to address. Some issues, like the city’s financial challenges, have been around for years, he said.

“I think she gets lots of support and benefits of the doubt for at least a year,” he said. “I think it’s been the history of the city of Toronto, certainly since amalgamation, that you might even get the full first term.”

Siemiatycki said he thinks Chow will need some policy wins in her first few months to help ease her transition into the job. Otherwise, it could be a short honeymoon with voters, he said.

“I think she needs to have some quick deliverables,” he said. “They don’t have to be big-ticket items.”

Wright said as a new mayor, Chow will need the “space and grace” to make different choices and mistakes. 

“Really, she’s got a council that is already six months ahead of her on some of these decision making,” she said. “So she’s going to be playing catch up.”