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Or sign-in if you have an account.“We have all of the ingredients to make this one of the best cities in the world — the best city to raise a family, to build a business and unlock our potential. But right now we're falling down on those basic things,” says Toronto mayoral candidate Brad Bradford. Photo by Dave GordonBrad Bradford is once again vying to become Toronto’s mayor, pitching himself as the planner-turned-politician who wants City Hall to tackle congestion, crime and the cost of living.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. 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Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorBradford, a city councillor from the city’s east end, first sought the mayor’s chair in the June 2023 byelection triggered by John Tory’s resignation. In that race, which saw multiple candidates splitting the centre-right vote, he finished eighth, with just under 10,000 votes.He emerged determined to try again, and early signs are good: As of mid-May polls show Mayor Olivia Chow in the lead, but Bradford in second place.Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againBorn in Ancaster, Ont., in 1986, he was first elected city councillor for Ward 19, Beaches–East York in 2018. As chair of council’s planning and housing committee, he has championed measures to speed up approvals, promote office-to-residential conversions, expand modular housing, and make it easier and cheaper to build rental homes and multiplexes.If elected on Oct. 26, he will be the first professional urban planner, and Toronto’s first Millennial mayor. Dave Gordon interviewed Bradford for the National Post. The interview has been edited for brevity.What convinced you to run again?One of the things that changed in my life was the arrival of my second daughter. I see the world and the city differently. I see it as a young father.I see it as someone who has to have a conversation with my wife about which parks we’re taking our daughters to, because too often the parks have become a mess. I see it with the commutes — that have Toronto as the most congested city in North America.We are paying more money in taxes. We are getting less service.We have all of the ingredients to make this one of the best cities in the world — the best city to raise a family, to build a business and unlock our potential. But right now we’re falling down on those basic things, that really play a big role in our quality of life. I want this to be a city that we can be proud of again.What would you change, as mayor?Crime, congestion, cost of living.With respect to crime, leadership and tone starts at the top. We need the rule of law to apply equally across the board.The collective bargain that we have as Canadians and Torontonians is that there are rules on the books. The vast majority of us agree to respect them. But if you don’t, there’s going to be consequences. And those consequences must be applied equally across the board.I will be actively engaged, and sit on the police board. The reason I mentioned that, is Mayor Chow decided to depart from the previous mayor, and not sit on the police board. Mel Lastman sat on the police board. John Tory sat on the police board. That’s where the tone and the direction is provided. For two reasons.Safety is job No. 1 of any government. It’s the most important thing is keep all of our residents safe.And number two, the police budget is the largest line item in the city budget. So from a fiscal discipline and financial sustainability perspective, you want to be there. Mayor Chow has abdicated that responsibility. She’s delegated it away. In my view, that’s mayoral malpractice.Congestion, number two. The most important thing we can do is get people back on transit. Transit ridership is 20 per cent less today than it was in 2019.It’s a staggering number. You think about any other line of business, if you had 20 per cent fewer customers than you did seven years ago, you’d be out of business. Now you ask the question: Why are people not riding transit? Because it’s not safe, and not reliable.So I introduced a three point plan for safety and reliability on the transit system. It starts with police officers in all of our stations. There is a deterrent factor that comes with a uniformed officer.For congestion, we’re going to invest in technology.A Canadian-based company has the best traffic AI software in the world. They install cameras at intersections and they monitor traffic flow in real time and can make light timing signal adjustments down to the second. Intersections are responsible for 30 per cent of the delay in your driving.On the cost, the third C; the biggest bills you get every year is your property tax. Mayor Chow has increased that 25 per cent, over this course of council.On the housing side, we are going to reduce the cost to build housing in Toronto by expediting the timelines, cutting the taxes and the fees associated with development, which are always passed through to the end user, the renter, the first time homebuyer, the new Canadian. We tax housing more than cigarettes and alcohol. Thirty to 35 per cent of the cost of a unit of housing in Toronto is taxes, fees, and delays.Antisemitic violence has increased year over year — how do you intend to face that?We have become a global centre for this type of abhorrent behaviour, and it’s putting Toronto on the map, for all the wrong reasons.That’s why I led the charge to create bubble zones, actually called safe access zones. It’s delineating a perimeter around places of worship or faith-based community centres, because we’ve seen those come under attack.Mayor Chow fought me every step of the way. It took three different attempts to get that through council.I was able to put together a coalition of the willing at council … and it has been helpful. Because if you are a first-year constable, trying to determine in that moment what is free speech versus hate speech, is a very difficult task. But if you have a clearly demarcated perimeter around a place of worship … you can do your protesting here, but you can’t do it there; when you cross the line, that makes it clear for everybody.The other thing was, I led the charge for the injunction on Al-Quds Day lately. The premier followed the next day. It’s regrettable that it wasn’t done sooner. In light of the fact that we’ve had three synagogues shot at that past week, and the U.S. consulate.This is an event that historically has been quite controversial. A lot of antisemitic messaging, genocidal messaging.I will never stand at a podium (as Chow did) and offer a declaration of a (“Palestinian”) genocide, that I am unqualified to opine over. Because my job is in Toronto. My job is taking care of this city. She’s actually driving division and pulling the city apart.Progress Toronto accuses you of voting to cut police funding, but then says you switched gears. Could you explain your current position?It really was a reallocation of the money there — from the police budget, to the mobile crisis response team, which is where we have police officers, social workers and street nurses responding to particular types of calls. We didn’t have that at that time. I think it was 2020. We have that now. It’s actually very valuable.But look, a lesson learned would be it should not have come at the expense of the police budget. We just needed to find a funding offset for it.The answer is we needed to fund both. So that’s actually the nuance of that, that nobody ever talks about.I was out with 51 Division a few weeks ago on an overnight, and I was with the mobile crisis response team and they provided two naloxone injections to a guy who was effectively dead on arrival and brought him back to life.But look, this idea of flip-flopping is a bit torqued. I think reasonable people when they are presented with new and different information or anecdotal experiences are permitted to evolve their perspective on things.What projects wasted taxpayer money recently?There’s lots of waste and inefficiency at City Hall.Our budget is $19.5 billion operating. That’s bigger than five provinces. And I can tell you there’s lots of room to deliver better value and performance.We spent millions of dollars to put stickers on your recycling bins to tell you that we don’t pick up your recycling anymore.We purchased half a million condoms to give away at the World Cup.Mayor Chow hired 200 information agents for the TTC, as soon as she was elected. The information agents are the folks that wear the red smocks and stand outside of the station and tell you where the station is. But they don’t do anything for safety.They don’t do anything for reliability. They don’t do anything for the $130 million a year that we lose in fare evasion. Was that the best use of 200 new full-time staff? I would suggest not. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.