Chloe Brown is latest candidate to run for Toronto mayor
BY BREANNA MARCELO APRIL 11, 2023
Policy analyst Chloe Brown says she’s running for mayor once again because there’s an appetite for change. (Courtesy: @chloebrown4TO/Twitter)
Brown, 32, ran in the Oct. 2022 election and finished third, trailing behind Gil Penalosa and former Toronto mayor John Tory. In the election, Brown received more than 34,000 votes.
WHY SHE IS RUNNING FOR MAYOR
Last month, Brown announced her intention to run for the top job once again.. She says the reason she’s running this time around is because there’s an appetite for change.
“…When John Tory was here, he was the defender of the status quo and now that he’s gone, people are actually embodying that change. And I really want to help them with the resources that they need and the direction because I realized that the mayor’s office cannot continue the way that it was. It must change,” Brown told Now Toronto on Tuesday.
Brown is competing against numerous high-profile candidates, such as former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, former city councillor Ana Bailão, urbanist Gil Penalosa, Toronto-St. Paul’s councillor Josh Matlow, and more. She says what separates her from her competitors is her fresh energy, youth, and her courage to run despite inconvenient circumstances.
“A lot of these characters have come out saying that they have years of experience building consensus and look where that consensus has brought us. We have a housing crisis and a homelessness crisis,” she said.
“With the new energy that I’m bringing, I really believe that it’s an opportunity for them to learn from us as young people to actually create a world where we’re all accepted because a lot of these candidates have spent their political capital creating these conditions and they’re forcing us to leave the city,” Brown added.
LESSONS SHE LEARNED FROM THE 2022 ELECTION
Compared to the last election, Brown believes this year will be different because she’s giving the utmost amount of effort.
“I was giving a B- effort. This time, we’re going for A+ and what that means is that I’m showing people how rapid development happens from October. Till now, I’ve been able to come up with new programs, I’ve been able to refine my policies,” she claimed.
She plans on showing the city change as soon as possible. To achieve this, she’s attending workshops, town halls and learning as much as she can about how to make the city a better place. Brown says this is the defining quality which makes her particularly different from other candidates.
“I’m not just treating this as a popularity race. I’m treating it as a civic education opportunity and that means looking at voters as equal shareholders of the corporation of the city of Toronto, not just talking down to them, like they’re needy children with a wish list. That’s how I’m going to distinguish myself and that’s how I’m going to win this time,” Brown said.
WILL SHE USE THE ‘STRONG MAYOR POWERS’?
Many candidates have expressed their thoughts on using the so-called strong mayor powers and so far, reactions are varied. Recently, Ana Bailão said she would use the strong mayor powers in an interview with Now Toronto.
Brown, however, intends to use a different approach which she called the strong commissioners approach. According to her, this approach involves bringing together similar departments and divisions under a commissioner and this requires giving people the power to make decisions themselves.
“The city doesn’t need a strong mayor, they need a strong commission of senior management of workers of residence because we all have the skills at this point to deliver on these projects,” Brown said.
Now Toronto will be interviewing and profiling a number of mayoral candidates in the coming weeks leading up to the by-election on June 26.
Source: Now Toronto
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