The controversy around Rob Ford boiled over again earlier this week, with election misspending added to the list of complaints against the embattled mayor. Add it to conflict of interest allegations, a libel lawsuit, and a misappropriated bus, and you have rampant speculation over who would replace him if the time came.
One name I have heard over and over in these conversations is Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow. Everyone on the left wants her at City Hall. Everyone on the right has resigned themselves to the idea of her running. And speaking for the rest of us, the idea of the late Jack Layton’s wife and closest friend running Toronto sounds pretty cool on paper. But here’s the thing: I don’t think Chow should be mayor.
I don’t think she even wants to be mayor. Despite every paper from the Globe and Mail to the Toronto Sun putting the words in her mouth, Chow has never actually said she wants to run for mayor of Toronto.
Sure, she’s been campaigning a lot in Toronto lately, but if you were MP for a Toronto riding, you’d do your campaigning there too. And what events has she been holding? Transportation infrastructure talks.
This is the issue she is tackling as the Official Opposition transport critic. She hasn’t been campaigning on anything that’s not specifically in her Ottawa job description. You’d think if she were lining up a mayoral bid for 2014, she’d be a little more critical of Rob Ford and how he runs Toronto, a subject she has been curiously silent on.
As evidence of her desire to take Toronto’s top job, columnists point excitedly to statements like the one she gave the Sun’s Don Peat in November: “I love this city, this is where I grew up, and I’ve been hearing from more and more people about asking me to run.” But these columnists would do well to note that as an MP, she can’t afford to speak ill of her city—she may work in Ottawa, but she still needs to be elected by Toronto voters.
Chow is an astute, agile politician, able to press the government on issues and speak to all Canadians while keeping her NDP base. Which of these qualities, precisely, would make her a good mayor? The position is, while politicized, not that political. It is an administrative job, and Chow is, while an excellent leader and a great speaker, hardly an administrator.
Can you honestly see the person who now works as an Official Opposition critic to the Government of Canada spending her time in council meetings fighting for a bike lane on Jarvis?
I’m not saying Toronto isn’t important to her—it clearly is. I am saying there is only one direction in politics: up. Chow has national aspirations, as she should. She can’t afford to focus on local politics, when her gaze is fixed on Parliament Hill.
I think Chow and her vision are what Canada needs. But I think her talents would be wasted in Toronto. Olivia Chow needs a spot on the national stage, not a desk at City Hall.
Mark Grant, Photo Editor
